Getting to Kabul

Initially, I was going to spend a month in Thailand and Myanmar supporting the UN in the Humanitarian effort and then return to the states to visit with my family before going to Kabul but because of the amount of work in Myanmar, I extended and then came straight to Kabul.

I flew from Yangon, Myanmar to Bangkok where I worked on my coursework for my advanced class that I will be teaching in Kabul. On July 2nd, I left Bangkok for Dubai. I arrived into Dubai at about midnight and then by the time I went through customs, gathered my bags, and got a ride to my hotel, it was about 2:00 am and my flight from Dubai to Kabul was leaving at 7:30 am...so it was a short night. I got up at 4:30 and headed to the airport to find a mess at the Terminal 2 in Dubai. The line was out the door and down the street. So I stood in line for over an hour to get to the check in counter. Unfortunately, I had to pay an over weight fine for my bags since they only allowed 25 kilos total for the bags and I had a months worth of clothes and souvenirs.

My flight to Kabul was on KAM airlines which isn't the nicest of airlines but it works. I was squashed in the middle sit between two big guys and the guy infront of me leaned his seat back as far as he could get it to go. So my right shoulder overlapped the left shoulder of the guy to my right and the guy to the left overlapped my left shoulder. When they delivered the food, it was a real challenge to eat since I was crouched over the food….eating like a caveman trying to protect his food.

When I arrived into Kabul, it was great to get out of the plane but then stood in another long line to get through the passport control. After I got through the passport control and collected my bags, I then had to fight through folks wanting to carry my bags for me. I finally arrived at the front door of the airport and started looking for my driver…..but he wasn’t to be found. I stood for a long time turning away bag carrier after bag carrier and then gave up and went back inside so that I wouldn’t be hassled so much. I stood inside quite a while and then finally asked a lady if there was another place that someone would meet me. She told me out in the parking lot and offered to watch my bags while I go check….sure enough, my driver was out there. If I had waited for him to come to me, I would still be standing in the airport but how would I have known to go to the parking lot to look for him. Other people had signs for their arrivals so I assumed he would do the same…..oh, well, it worked out.

We loaded my bags into the car and then began the drive across Kabul in stop in go traffic with cars, people, bicycles, and motorcycles going in all directions….it is the ultimate obstacle course….but then add the fear of a suicide bomber or kidnapping and it becomes really fun….especially when you just have an ordinary vehicle and no guards. But some have said that this is a preferable way to travel since it draws less attention……to sort of fly under the radar.

After an hour, we made it to my guest house and dropped off my bags. We then headed for Kabul University and Kabul Polytechnic University to meet the faculty. So off we headed again for the Kabul obstacle course….windows down since the AC doesn’t work in his sportage and being stared at as we cruise the streets. It was very nice to meet all the faculty and right after we left, we got a call from one of the faculty members to go to an Afghan wedding party….so we headed to Jim’s house, he is my driver, guide, and coordinator, so that he could change clothes and then headed to the wedding hall and on to the next Kabul experience.

Afghan wedding parties are huge. They are in big halls and they separate the room so that women are on one side and the guys are on the other and the wall that separates the two sides prevents the two genders from seeing the other. So the guys party, eat, and dance together on one side and the girls on the other. It was a lot of fun and the food was spectacular. I ate so much food that I thought I was going to pop. About 10 pm, we headed back to the sportage, Jim’s mini-4 wheel drive, and the drive back to guest house across town.

The guest house is nice….basically a typical youth hostel, pension house, type set up. I have a room with a twin size bed, no TV, and a common bathroom. There is supposed to be an internet connection but it hasn’t been hooked up yet. So when you are there, there isn’t much to do but sit in your room and stare at the wall. Jim had only been there once before so we drove through a lot of side roads trying to find it….but we did. We had to convince the guards who block the whole road, to let us pass. That night I thought that I would sleep like a rock since I had been traveling so much and then eating a big dinner…and I did for a while but then woke up covered in sweat since my room was an oven. There is no AC and the windows where covered in plastic so no air could come in….so I tossed and turned in wet sheets until morning.