Mar. 1-2, 1978 - Afghanistan

March came in like a lamb.  We had almost decided to leave Afghanistan since it was so cold and overcast but this morning it was sunny with blue skies.  We contacted another couple – Gary and Karen from Australia – who had expressed an interest in going to Bamian.  We arranged to hire a taxi for 3500 ($20 each) with a driver to leave tomorrow.  Found a good restaurant with pizza – seems to be popular with Americans.  Visited the Kabul Museum.

Up at 6:30 the next day to pick up Karen and Gary at their hotel.  Sunny clear morning – no breakfast.  Drove for 4 hours along a valley with snow topped mountains along the side of a torrential river.  The road was paved only the first 70 km; the rest was dusty gravel.  Stopped for tea at a tea house in the village of Char Bah.  Buses were stopped there too.  The village is mud houses with colorful shops selling oranges, raisins, nuts, scarves and miscellaneous household goods opening onto either side of the road.  The shopkeeper usually sits cross-legged in the center of his goods with a scale close at hand. His counter weight for a kilo might be a stone; anyway that is how one man weighed out our oranges.  I bought a small bag of almonds but they tasted like marzipan or something unusual.

The tea house had a wood stove and raised platforms covered with rugs to sit on.   However we took the more conventional seats at some tables in the back.

On again, this time climbing a 9,200 foot pass into the snow.  The road surface was slushy but plowed.  Beautiful mountains.

Flat tire by a stream.  The driver patched the tire right there using a “hot patch.”  His spare was balder than the flat so I don’t blame him.  Took about 1 hour.

Arrived in Bamian at 4 with enough time to climb to the top of the large Buddha.

The statue had been previously defaced but the Taliban dynamited in 2001 because it was decreed that the statues were “idols” and therefore forbidden under Sharia law.  So glad we got to see this.

Cold wind blowing and it was colder than Kabul so we didn’t feel inclined to wander around sightseeing.  Our hotel had a wood stove which was pretty tempting.  They wanted to charge 600 AFS for a room but we bargained to 400.  It was worth it for the heater and inside toilet.  We found out later that there was a hotel for 20 AFS but I liked ours.

Found a bakery with great shortcake cookies to hold us until dinner (first food of the day besides the oranges and almonds.)  Dinner was at 6 with rice with carrots, raisins and lamb stew. Excellent!