No Crop Tops Anywhere!
The Chinese are not wearing crop-tops on the streets of Kabul. Far from it.
Our ride back toward the Khyber Pass early in the morning was marked with a sign forbidding all foreigners from entering the region. Of course there was a Shell station just before you hit the winding roads leading through the mountains. The villages along the way were lively and boys in each of the towns wore different coloured uniforms to school. A sight that was amazing in itself because I had never seen so many kids on the side of a road waiting for their rides to get to school. Once we arrived at the last town on the Pakistani side of the pass we had to get out of the car and walk a few hundred meters to cross into Afghanistan. No passenger cars are allowed to cross here at all. Only large trucks smuggling arms or flat screen TV's can drive through the pass. Apparently it is a well known fact with the locals that the foreign military in Afghanistan is using this route to smuggle various products in and out of the country. I was surprised at the number of people, hundreds, that were walking across the border this early in the morning. This is one of those experiences that I won't quickly forget.
Once on the other side we arranged for a car to drive us to Kabul. Our driver made a quick stop off to buy himself some Hash and then proceeded to smoke it the entire way back in his cigarettes. The unpaved roads and the dust made the ride less than comfortable and I was comforted by the thought that at least our driver was not getting nauseous. Four hours of crazy driving later we arrived in Kabul and headed straight for the bus depot to hire a car to drive us to Kandahar. There was no end to the haggling. Thankfully, none of us had to participate in it and our cousin took care of it. In the end we had to pay more than was agreed upon before we transferred all our luggage into the car that was to drive us southward. It was two o'clock and the worry was that we were not going to reach Kandahar before dark. In Afghanistan being out after dark is not a good thing because getting lost is quite easy, plus the added banditry on the roads doesn't make for a safe ride. The last time my mother visited in 2001, it took 24 hours to drive to Kandahar from Kabul. The road has now been paved and the ride has been cut by at least 18 hours to a more manageable five to six hours.
Our ride back toward the Khyber Pass early in the morning was marked with a sign forbidding all foreigners from entering the region. Of course there was a Shell station just before you hit the winding roads leading through the mountains. The villages along the way were lively and boys in each of the towns wore different coloured uniforms to school. A sight that was amazing in itself because I had never seen so many kids on the side of a road waiting for their rides to get to school. Once we arrived at the last town on the Pakistani side of the pass we had to get out of the car and walk a few hundred meters to cross into Afghanistan. No passenger cars are allowed to cross here at all. Only large trucks smuggling arms or flat screen TV's can drive through the pass. Apparently it is a well known fact with the locals that the foreign military in Afghanistan is using this route to smuggle various products in and out of the country. I was surprised at the number of people, hundreds, that were walking across the border this early in the morning. This is one of those experiences that I won't quickly forget.
Once on the other side we arranged for a car to drive us to Kabul. Our driver made a quick stop off to buy himself some Hash and then proceeded to smoke it the entire way back in his cigarettes. The unpaved roads and the dust made the ride less than comfortable and I was comforted by the thought that at least our driver was not getting nauseous. Four hours of crazy driving later we arrived in Kabul and headed straight for the bus depot to hire a car to drive us to Kandahar. There was no end to the haggling. Thankfully, none of us had to participate in it and our cousin took care of it. In the end we had to pay more than was agreed upon before we transferred all our luggage into the car that was to drive us southward. It was two o'clock and the worry was that we were not going to reach Kandahar before dark. In Afghanistan being out after dark is not a good thing because getting lost is quite easy, plus the added banditry on the roads doesn't make for a safe ride. The last time my mother visited in 2001, it took 24 hours to drive to Kandahar from Kabul. The road has now been paved and the ride has been cut by at least 18 hours to a more manageable five to six hours.
posted by LOTC at 3:49 AM
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