Kabul Blue

After passing by the de-mining facility at the base of the hill, a dusty, table top, plateau spreads out before you, and above the City. We're in Teppe Maranjan which is thought to be the oldest continually inhabited part Kabul, and the site of the mausoleum of King Nadir Shah, and his family before and after his assassination in 1933.

It's a significant site for the people of Kabul: fought over by the Taliban and Mujaheddin during the 1990s, today it is the gathering place for families on a Friday afternoon. Here you can buy, and fly a brightly coloured kite, or have a pony ride on any one of a dozen decorated ponies, or buy chai from dozens of young boys running from one customer to another with a thermous full of green tea. The site of a large kite festival during Nauruz (New Year, which was last week) - today there are only a dozen or so, but it is still early they tell me, later the place will be packed as people, ponies and kites fight for space.

Down below, and in the distance, the green of the (Olympic) Stadium has a game of cricket in action. An ancient (destroyed) fortress, now home to international forces dominates the landscape, as does a white "unmanned airship" anchored to the ground as it's sister flies the skies above Kabul, watching.

As I drive through the city, signs of past war are evident; high, razor wired walls patrolled by soldiers in full gear are numerous; police road blocks and checks are constant - but the people are friendly, open and welcoming. It's quiet in Kabul this morning, it's Friday, but soon the gatherings will start as families and friends meet together in the parks and mosques.

On Chicken Street shop keepers are selling Afghan carpets, for only $10,000 and all kinds of other souvenirs. One of my overwhelming impressions is that there is a lot of blue! Lapis Lazuli is mined in Afghanistan and it is everywhere. The famous Herat Glass is coloured by it, lumps of it, polished and raw decorate shop windows, all kinds jewelry and containers are made from it, and of course the mosques are tiled in it. (Kabul too has a blue mosque.)

It's a city of blue, of dust, of mountains and 5 million people - people who in the main are just hoping and praying for peace and a future. (Simplistic I know!) Afghanistan is a beautiful country.

Kabul - I'm Here

I created a new record today - my domestic, Herat to Kabul flight was only an hour late, which makes it "on time".

Like many countries getting into, and out of, the airport is quite an adventure. It starts by travelling the most dangerous road in Herat, in my case and mostly, uneventfully but then the fun starts. Thanks to an Afghan team mate I sat in the car, on the side of the road, while he checked me in - only one problem - I din't know he was doing it and he didn't check my luggage on. But I knew no different, just assumed I did it when I eventually got in the terminal.

So, checked in we headed for the secure entry, we were scanned, searched and yelled at by security who then noticed a VIP sticker on the dash board. So in we went, to an empty airport complex - driving innocently before a soldier ran from out the bushes and flagged us down. But we were permitted to go on another 50 meters before I was asked to get out and drag my luggage into the building, where I was shown to a seat. One at a time we were shown to the xray machine and our luggage was scanned. No one else seemed to have luggage but even at the machine I was not told I should have checked luggage.

Pointed to a seat, still no one said what is this over-sized luggage. By the time we walked out onto the tarmac to get on the plane people were so concerned about the Minister of the Interior being on our flight that it was too late. So I lugged my luggage onboard, and they stowed it in a toilet and closed it. The flight was on time because of the VIP, and at the other end I didn't have to wait for the carousel.

Life is never dull!