Anyways. The internet connection was down. As was the power. As usual. So I didn't have anything to do but try to sleep some more. But the noise from the traffic outside, and the excitement of being here, kept me awake. I hadn't really planned anything for the day, but I talked to my host previous afternoon about a guided tour of the historic district.
When he woke up, I talked to him and he arranged for me to go with a colleague of his. I had a quick breakfast consisting of delicious afghan bread with queen jelly honey. And some orange juice. Breakfast for champions.
Our tour consisted of five stops. Shah-do Shamshira mosque, Mandowi market, the bird market (Kah Furoshi), Murad Khani (the original buildings of Kabul) and Bala Hissar (an old fortress). We would walk most of the road. Which suited me fine. I like walking. It gives me a better look and feel of a place. And I love markets. That is the place where most people go. So you meet all kinds.
They are normally messy, hot, smelly and packed with people, carts, and noise!
My host gave some instructions on how to stay safe. Always move. Never stop anywhere more than 15 minutes (it takes time for locals sympathetic to Taliban to decide any action and set things in motion). Never publish your destination to the taxi-driver. Only make him drop you off at a street close by and walk from there to your destination. Watch young men and boys. Especially in a group. So I was ready for street-life of Kabul.
First stop, Sha-do Shamshira mosque. Built under Amānullāh Khān, the first king who tried to modernize Afghanistan after western design, after the last Anglo-Afghan war. When Afghanistan freed itself from british influence. I wanted to take a lot of pictures, but the area was packed with honking cars, and loads of people going to and fro. My host had already warned me of kids and young men snatching cell-phones and cameras from people's hands, and I didn't want that to happen. So we walked past it and I found a spot on one side where nobody was. Except a couple of guys sitting on the stairs. The mosque is not in use at the moment. But will be opened again this year. It did look kinda unusual for a mosque. With a more roman style with columns and such.
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| A little of the chaos surrounding the mosque. |
Second stop, the Mandowi market. Like the markets I have been to many places on the globe. Packed with everything from spices to the latest fashion. I love it. I tried taking some images, but I am also weary at markets since not everyone likes it. So I shot a few images here and there while walking. And I see that there are two reactions I get when people see me. Most ignore me, some take a note of the "merican", and others stare. And I often heard people talk of "camera". So if it wasn't obvious from my looks, it sure was obvious from my camera that I was not local. And the fact that I walked around like I had never seen a market before.
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| Love the guy resting in his wheelbarrow on the right... |
Third stop, Kah Furoshi, the bird market. As the name suggests, they sell birds there. All kinds of birds. Small and large. We walked through and I could'nt help but be amazed at the variety of both birds and cages. They even had one cage where the owner sat inside the cage. For whatever reason. Maybe he felt the birds would be lonely without him? I snapped a few photos here too. But since the street was so narrow, It made it hard to take any good photos without putting the camera in people's faces. So I started filming instead. From my hip. Holding my camera like I was resting. I watched the video afterwards. It wasn't too bad.
This market has existed for a long time. According to an article I read, the bird market brings distraction and comfort to a war-weary people. Birds are a passion. At the market one can buy birds and bird-feed.
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| Turkeys, chicken and roosters. |
Fourth stop : Murad Khani. This is where one can see some very old buildings and building styles from the old Kabul. It was a maze of closed streets and low ceilings. I did take a few pictures here and there, as my guide led me through. But after far too short a trip, a guy stopped us, smiled and started talking to my guide. At first, it was smiles and laughter. And I knew they where talking about me, because the word "tourist" occured here and there in the convo. But it soon became apparent that the guy didn't like me taking photos. His smile vaned, while my guide tried to keep the discussion on the low. Finally, he sighed, and said "He wants to check your photos.". I said "sure", and showed him the photos I had taken. He was pleased, and shook my hand. "No worry!" he said and waved us goodbye. "He wanted you to kill your photos!" my guide explained later. "Why?" I enquired. He bobbed his head. "He is afraid of...you know...explosion." In other words, he wasn't sure I was just checking the area for a place to attack... Well. This IS Afghanistan. Terror is part of life. So being paranoid is very understandable. Most of the pictures below are in black and white. As I felt it was fitting given the old age of the place.
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| Detail of the building material. Mud with straw as reinforcement. |
I wanted to buy a afghan woolen hat, or pakol as they are called in the native tongue. So my guide took me to a stall where I guy sold different colors. I picked one. 350 afghani or "affs" as they are referred to by expats. About 5 dollar. Not too bad. I was epecting a lot more. Here is a selfie of me sporting my new Afghan look. With my pakol (or "pakul" depending on the source...) and a beard to sport.
Of course. This is not enough to fool the locals into believing I am one of them. Guess there is something "western" about me that I cannot shake off. But I do see less people staring when I walk with this hat. But the caps is definitely a dead giveaway...
Fifth stop, the Bala Hissar fort. From the fifth century AD. Our taxi arrived in front of a heavily guarded gate. My guide got out of the taxi, and started talking to the guards. They shook their heads and it was obvious that his pleeding with "tourist" didn't impress them much. He came back to the car. "It is military area now. They won let us in." We headed back. But then our taxidriver suggested that we could drive around the fort and take pictures of the wall at least. So I did get some pictures.
And then he drove us further. Into the something that resembled more of a suburban area. Maybe not a slum, but definitely not with the creature comforts of the central areas. Up a steep hill where the road was mostly washed out. And kids pushing heavy ice-cream carts up the same hills to sell ice-cream. Here I got to see the wall up close. With the locals as on-lookers. They probably don't see many tourists around those areas. Just the thought of how old these walls are, makes me smile. Too bad I wasn't able to get up close and personal.
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| The road up the hill |
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| The road up the hill from the top |
As we drove back to the markets, we drove past a small lake, where the local car-wash obviously was. I snapped some photos from the car as we drove.
At this point, we were getting hungry, and we first walked around in the Murad Khani area. But my guide shook his head and frowned. Nah. Too dirty. He had gotten instructions from my host to make sure I didn't eat something that could potentially make me sick. So we got into a taxi and drove to west Kabul, and found a nice place where we had some of the best lamb kebabs I have ever had. So juicy! So succulent! So tasty! My mouth is running in water just by the thought of it. Served with delicious bread, and a natural yoghurt as dessert. Just an awesome meal! A perfect ending to a wonderful walk through history. Literally.
Tomorrow, I go out of town for a couple of nights. On my own.
Ragnar
Time traveller
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