Kabul, Day 1

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Hello, everyone. I am now back in the US from Afghanistan and am posting photos and my journal from the 10 day trip to this blog. I was unable to post from Afghanistan due to security problems that made it difficult to get to reliable and"fast" Internet connections. It's good to be home!

Day 1 - Dubai to Kabul

I knew the trip from Dubai to Kabul would be "different" as soon as I arrived at the airport. Ariana Afghan flights have been relegated to Terminal 2 of the Dubai airport - no fancy stores or palm trees, no food court...lots of people in turbans and robes, carrying burlapped bundles rather than luggage.

I met up with our tour group after flight check-in - it wasn't hard to pick out the members of the group in the departure gate area. There were 11 women and 1 man in our group. We debated "when" we needed to get the scarves off of our shoulders and put them on our heads - and fumbled about how exactly to do "the scarf thing." Most of us waited until we began boarding the plane.

In addition the women in our group, there were a couple of Western women who worked for NGO's on the plane, and one female flight attendant, but otherwise it was all men.

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Photos

Terminal at Kabul International Airport
No, I am not kidding.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
No worries about airworthiness and safety of Ariana here...A member of our group sleeping on the flight to Kabul.

Inside of terminal at Kabul International Airport
Where's the duty free shop?

Food market in Kabul
We stopped here to get US money exchanged. They told us we only needed $100 converted to Afghanis for the entire 10 days. I ended up giving Afghanis away, literally, on the street, on the last day. There\'s just not much to buy - and what you do buy is ridiculously cheap.

Driving through Kabul
Lovely, huh?

Pakistani truck in Kabul
The Pakistani trucks are painted like carnival rides.

Park near Intercontinental Hotel
We went for a late afternoon walk here. It was one of the nicest places inside the city.

Mosque in park
Mosques seem to be everywhere.

Comments

[dkmich]

Silly me.
I found this comment box, and I think I sent you an e-mail. I would have left my comments here. Welcome home!