I took the picture below at breakfast the morning we departed Mazar-i-Sharif for Herat (By the way, the breakfast you see the gentlemen below consuming is the classic Afghan meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner – naan bread, meat cooked on a skewer and green tea to drink). Now these guys look mean and hard, … Continue reading
After departing Bamiyan, we headed up north to Pul-i-Kumri… Arriving in Pul-i-Kumri , where else could we spend the night but where “respectable guests” stay? Unfortunately, the guests were far more respectable than the hotel: The street in front of the hotel, as usual, was filled with men trying to sell all manner of goods … Continue reading
It takes several rough hours on a dirt track to reach Afghanistan’s first National Park from Bamiyan, but the beauty and solitude in just getting there is worth crossing the world for. Band-I-Mir has been described as “the Grand Canyon flooded with deep sapphire lakes, bluer than the cloudless sky, with sheer golden cliffs plunging … Continue reading
As we arrived in Bamiyan in the afternoon, we decided to walk across the valley (a short walk) to where the giant Buddhas (now only niches) had been: I thought this was an interesting alleyway: Bamiyan became a front line between the Taliban and Northern Alliance in 2001/2 and the modern town was almost destroyed. … Continue reading
Bamiyan Became notorious in 2001 after the Taliban essentially destroyed Afghanistan’s premier historical tourist site… Bamiyan is a fairly isolated central mountain province in central Afghanistan and the town lies in a fertile valley that is only 15 km long and 3 km wide. The views are incredible. The background to this surprising place is … Continue reading
The National Museum bears testimony to the traumas of the last two decades. Until 1992 it contained one of the finest collections of art and cultural artifacts in Asia: 100,000 pieces from two milleniums of Afghan history. During the fight for Kabul, mujahedeen armies occupied and looted the museum; the structure was shelled in 1993 … Continue reading
After several days stuck in Peshawar, Pakistan because of heavy fighting in the Khyber Pass, we finally got the green light to move through very early in the morning. Tensions were running quite high as the tribesmen had been killing each other only hours before and were still freely roaming around the area with twitchy … Continue reading
The Velvet Rocket 