Monday 10th May
5:30 was getting up time – had delicious porridge before catching the bus – we got front seats too so had a marvellous view. We were a bus load of invalids – J had toothache, the guy next to me vomited the whole way (luckily out of the driver’s window) and the guy behind me – obviously very ill – was being taken to hospital in Kabul. I myself had terrible stomach cramps. Went up to a pass where there was snow by the side of the road and then down through fertile green valleys, lined with trees.
Arrived Kabul about 2.30 and found ourselves a room in the legendary Sigis – free mint tea (the first place we came to). Has a nice garden, German menu and a huge chess set in the garden, but missing several pieces. Went exploring Chicken Street – got Peter tea, chocolate, gloves for Davina and a nice sleeveless jersey for J – I’m going to try seriously to get one, once we’ve changed money. Bumped into Bjorn and Steve, then Linda, Chris and Sarah. Linda staying at Sigis and we went and had supper together – beef stroganoff, good but not enough. After we had a social evening over mint tea.
Tuesday 11th May
We got up at 6, as seems to be our wont, had breakfast and then set off in search of cholera jabs. We got sidetracked en route by a smart Afghan jumper shop, where I bought a fun one with camels and J a lovely thick scarf. We found the tourist office, who advised us to go to the health department, so we went in a scooter taxi, way out in some very unlikely place and I had a painless, free jab.
Exhausted by all this we went and had a good strong coffee at the smartest restaurant in Kabul – the Kabul – found in that part of town it was completely different – shabby blocks of buildings, masses of people, local markets of clothes, bed-making, shoe repairing – everything under the sun. Far too many stray sheep and donkeys for a capital city, but it makes for a nice atmosphere!
We returned to Sigis and had lunch (roast beef sandwiches!) with Linda, Chris and Sarah, and then dashed off to post our letters – have to go and see them being franked as they tend to recycle the stamps! Masses of shops selling touristy things – jewellery, embroidered dresses, etc, leather – everything especially around the Chicken Street area. I managed to get some Lomotil – just as well because after delicious Sigi‘s goulash, I got terrible tummy ache and diarrhoea all night!
Kabul we decided was quite nice, but it did not merit a particularly long visit – although we found an amazing supermarket with such as Cadburys chocolate, brie, camembert and Earl Grey tea (bought some to take Peter). In the evening, we walked down to the Sikh cloth merchants area and did a black-market deal.
Wednesday 12th May
Yet another early rise – this time I felt so ill, I really wondered if I could make the journey. However, once up, I felt stronger but decided not to eat, despite Lomotil. The bus luckily just around the corner, quite a lot of tourists including a Hare Krishna devotee, who sat behind us and chanted mantras a lot of the way! I got talking to him later and he said that Srinagar was the tomb of Jesus, according to lots of evidence recently discovered, and gave me all sorts of people to see to ask about it if we got there. He also invited us to his temple south of Delhi, by the Jamuna – 100 European devotees, hardly any tourists and apparently ‘a very holy place’.
Just outside Kabul we went down a breathtaking the rocky gorge, gorgeous blue/green water, sometimes gurgling river or lake or dam for hydroelectricity. We had a short stop in Jalalabad, then onto the border – took nearly 2 hours to leave Afghanistan – terribly hot too.
Vicky's Big Adventure 