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Thursday
23rd July
Hit the Afghanistan border town about 8:15
in the morning. It took us 6
hours to get through both customs! This included a ¼ hour
drive through nomansland between the two borders. We learned that a man
got stuck here a few months ago, for the Afghanis let him out but the
Iranians wouldn’t let him in as he didn’t have a
cholera certificate. He drove up and down between the two borders for a
couple of days (the Afghanis wouldn’t let him back) until in
desperation he tried to crash the border and was shot.
We were beginning to despair of getting through the Afghani red tape
until it transpired that one of the customs officers had a friend who
wanted a lift to Herat. When we offered one we were cleared in 5
minutes!
Drove straight to Herat and booked into a
hotel recommended by a friend
where you could sleep on the floor for 1/- a night. We took to
Afghanistan like ducks to water. The people were very friendly, food
was cheap and hash, although illegal, could be bought at any shop. We
went window shopping in the evening, mostly looking at fur coats, which
seemed to be $6-10 depending on size and complexity, which is pretty
good considering that for the more expensive ones the decoration is
done by one bloke with one needle and takes him about three weeks to do
a single coat.
The tea here is superb – 2 1/2 d
buys a pot of nice green tea
with enough for 4-5 small cups.
Friday
24th July
Decided to spend another day in Herat, and
spent it being shown round
by two Afghanis we’d met the previous night. The town has a
fabulous mosque, with detailed tiling on the outside, and also one or
two ruined mosques and tombs. I found some root-beer tablets on one
stall – exactly the same as I used to buy in Washington DC 15
years earlier. The American influence is pervasive!
Saturday
25th July
Changed some money at the bank after a wait
of an hour or so, and then
drove to Kandahar, arriving just after dark. Found a hotel that would
let us sleep on the veranda for 1/- and ate out in the town on
“pilau”, which is the main Afghani dish –
a heap of rice and a small side dish of meat.
Sunday
26th July
Drove to Kabul, picking up a female French
hitchhiker and after calling
at the Post Office went straight out to the reservoir, about 10 Ks out
of town, where there was a sort of campsite, free. The water was dirty
and smelt, but we had a swim anyway, and then drove in to the Khyber
Restaurant, which specialised in western food, although the prices were
high.
Monday
27th July
Looked round Kabul, and also went to the VW
agent to have a few things
done up on the ramp. Very good service, and only 10/- for 1
½ hours work, which is pretty good. Tried the local
milkshakes. These are 10d each for ½ pint, fresh mango,
banana, peach, apple or chocolate. Delicious. I had five in one
morning! We also changed some money on the black market. They give
around 30 Indian rupees to the pound instead of the official rate of
18, so I changed £20. We later (too late) discovered that the
rupees were cheap only at the expense of poor emigrating Indians. They
are not allowed to take money out of India, so they smuggle out cash
only to be royally fleeced by the money-changers whom they have no
choice but to use.
Went back to the reservoir and cooked
our own meal with an American we had met at the VW garage. He had
crashed into a border barrier in the dark and couldn’t open
his doors. He had a Combi like ours and had been climbing in and out of
the windows for several days, which is no mean feat!
Tuesday
28th July
Did a bit more window shopping, and a bit
more to the van, and then,
after collecting our Pakistan Road permit which we’d left the
day before, we set off for the Pakistan border. We hit the border just
after it closed, so after a quick meal in the local eating place
(charpoys in the open air, pilau 10d to be eaten with fingers) we
kipped down in the car park. Didn’t get much sleep as there
were a lot of mosquitoes around and the ground was very hard.
Wednesday
29th July
Much to our surprise we went straight
through the border (entering
driving on the right and exiting driving on the left) and were clear by
about 8:00, so we had a quick cup of tea and then headed for the Khyber
Pass. This is a really fantastic place, heavily fortified, with a
superb view and a large fortress at the top. One could almost feel the
atmosphere of an invading army as one climbed up and met dugout after
dugout.
We drove right through Pakistan, which had a
very odd countryside, being
made up of familiar sceneries put together in an unusual way (the only
description I can give). The dress of the people is very much like the
Afghanis, but they seem a bit poorer and a bit more careless in their
appearance. And of course at monsoon time the countryside is much
greener than Afghanistan.
Soon after dark we got within 2 miles of the
Indian border, where we
were stopped. We also managed to pick up a puncture. We were at
Ferozepore, and the border was closed, so we pulled into a little tea
shack for a cup or two, stood us by an English-speaking Pakistani, and
with his help rented charpoys at a 1/- a time and kipped down by the
roadside. We later found out it is illegal to camp, or even leave the
road, within 10 miles of the border. Things are still rather unsettled
there.
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