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Before the Russians invaded, Afghanistan was a country on the "overland trail". Many travellers passed though on their way to India or Europe. It was a country which had not fully entered the twentieth century.

Afghanistan

Mrg
2004-09-14 17:01:23

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and used sticks to get around (the kind with elbow supports). Back home, I used to have people saying to me, "Aren't you lucky to be able to travel?" and "If it wasn't for the mortgage and the kids' education, etc etc. I would like to travel." Even after telling them of the American couple and their kids, I knew that they never would go anywhere. You either have the travel bug or you don't.

I have only been to Afghanistan in winter time so my image of Kabul has always been small hotels with wood stoves in the rooms - the room rent usually did not include firewood. I usually stayed at Sigi's in the area known as "Chicken St" - an area of small hotels and restaurants catering specifically for foreign travellers. When I say restaurants, my image is that of a small room crammed with people all talking at once about their experiences, an atmosphere thick with tobacco smoke and cooking smells, a quilted blanket across the door.

Most of the people who ate there did so because they had had their fill of curries or kebabs, depending on which direction they had come from. The favored food at the time was a kind of omelette with onions. Of course, if real Western food was required, the Khyber Restaurant was the place to go. They actually served hot dogs and hamburgers, Coca Cola and espresso coffee. This was not in the Chicken St area but worth the trip - just once, for it was usually outside the budget of most travellers.

Changing money was a novel experience. Afghanistan (then) was the only place I have been to where the "black market" rate was actually lower than the bank rate. After India, where people constantly pulled at my sleeve muttering, "Change money, change money?" this was a surprise. The reason for this was simple. To change money in a bank took a long time, with a lot of paperwork and running around (and a bank charge) - it took so long that most travellers were prepared to ...