bagh-i-babur and faizabad

Well, yesterday afternoon I went to Bagh-i-Babur (Babur's Gardens) with Noor. Freaking awesome guy, that Noor. We took a long route around Kabul to get there; it was neat to see parts of the city I hadn't in the first few days. I'd been confined pretty much to Wazir Akbar Khan, the somewhat upscale neighborhood where all the AKDN offices are ("white powder money" people with armed guards live across the street from both the Guest House and the FOCUS office, which somewhat paradoxically makes the respective streets relatively safe).

The gardens are beautiful, it makes me proud to be a part of AKDN when I see the fruits of a project like the restoration that AKTC did six or seven years ago. Urban oasis, indeed, especially given that the rest of Kabul is dusty and drab. I've got pics that I'll upload as soon as I'm back in the States. Also there are restored versions of Babur's tomb (the man himself was an important king ~500 years ago, died in India but loved Kabul so much that they transporte his remains there to be buried), the marble Shah Jahan mosque and the Queen's Palace, which had an exhibit of gorgeous early-19th-century British drawings of Kabul on display. Noor and I wandered around a bit and then had some hand-made ice cream. Some students were smoking hookah on a little slope nearby and motioned me over while Noor went to pay for the ice cream (called shiriakh). Noor came back and when I told him he said, "Oh, let's go over, it would make them very happy." So we did. One of them spoke a little English but most of the time we just sat and they talked with Noor while he translated. Nice guys, engineering students.

This morning I left for Faizabad. The airport must be the safest place on Earth: my bags got searched three times and x-rayed and I got frisked five times. The flight was late but no big deal, the waiting room had plenty of good people-watching and I'm really enjoying Speak, Memory. All Afghans in the domestic room, with two or three exceptions. Very informal, too, when a flight was ready to leave a guy would just come in from the tarmac and yell, "Herat!" or something and then people would crowd into some buses and roll on out to the plane.

The flight was awesome. We went over some really high (glacier-covered) peaks. Beautiful the whole way. Faizabad itself is pretty, although nobody here speaks much English except the AKF logistics/security guy. And no internet in the guest house (I'm at the AKF office). Speaking of which, it's late and I should probably roll on out. Leaving for Ishkahsim at the crack o' dawn tomorrow. Will report more later!