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Wednesday
19th August
Pam and I were still fairly tired in the
morning, so we stayed in the
guesthouse and washed clothes while the others went to look round a
farm. Lunched at the Sondhis' and then shopped. In the evening we went
to dine at the house of the Minister of Tourism (the same man who'd
financed our dinner at the Pinjore Gardens).Superb dinner of course.
Several members of the household wanted to hear my guitar, so I gave
them a few songs, ending up with 20 minutes worth of Alice's Restaurant
(which went down surprisingly well). The Minister produced some amazing
whiskey, from a private supply made years ago especially for a
maharajah.
Thursday
20th August
By the time we had said our goodbyes and got
our spare tyre back from
the garage (unusable, but need for the Customs), we made a very late
start, but eventually hit the road, crossed the border, and made Lahore
just before dark. Stayed in a cheap hotel near the station. A huge vote
of thanks here to George, who every night from now on would help me
unload the sitar from the roof-rack where it travelled so it could be
locked in the van, and load it up again in the morning.
Friday
21st August
Set off about 9:00 a.m. for Islamabad, to
get our Afghanistan visas.
The embassy, however, was shut until the following morning, so we had a
quick look round the town and then found a cake shop. The town is all
very new, rather like Chandigarh, and was intended to be the new
capital.
Drove out to the nearby new dam, but the
water was too dirty to swim
in. Drove back into town and had dinner, and then camped out by the
dam.
Saturday
22nd August
Made the Afghanistan embassy by 8:00 a.m.,
to find a large queue of
people already there. Hung around until 1:00 p.m. when our visas were
ready. This was relatively quick – the others there had been
waiting since the previous day. They were all very friendly, and asked
us about the short-haired people they had heard about in England who
didn't like Pakistanis (they meant, we worked out, the current skinhead
fondness for Paki-bashing).
Set off for Afghanistan, reaching Peshawar
towards evening. Decided to
push on over the Khyber Pass, and this developed into somewhat of a
race against time. We just beat the sunset, despite having to stop and
put our last ½ gallon of petrol in when we ran out on the
way up, but were too late to cross the border. Spent a very jovial
evening having a smoke with the Customs officers and having a last
Pakistani tea. The locals are all Pathans, looking rather fierce with
their beards and rifles. One could just imagine the North-west frontier
as it was.
Sunday
23rd August
Crossed over first thing, and made Kabul
about lunchtime. On the way we
had to stop to let a military procession go by. Very large, it must
have been just about the whole army. We were told it was a big holiday
for a week, celebrating independence from Britain (in 1919).
Booked in at the Najib hotel ( a 3-bed room for 9/- and 1/- each for
the rest of us on the restaurant roof). It was good to be in
Afghanistan again, where everything was cheap and it was cool in the
shade and at night.
Went along to the VW garage, but it was
shut. The differential had
begun to growl in India, and we wanted to know if it was serious.
Monday
24th August
Hung around the hotel most of the day, doing
the odd shop. Marvellous
fruit milkshakes here, if you ignore the way they transport the ice
(big blocks, completely uncovered). Stayed off minced beef, having
watched the flies covering it being chopped into it.
Tuesday
25th August
Garage still closed. Mike ill, so got a
doctor who diagnosed Asian
Flue. We'd got the doctor's name from the British Embassy, which is an
incredible white building, complete with swimming pool and tennis
court. Met Gus and Paul, two more Petrians, whom we'd just missed in
Kathmandu. They also decided to stay at the Najib, after finding that
the beds in their hotel had been given to someone else.
Wednesday
26th August
Garage still closed. Spent the afternoon
looking round Kabul zoo. This
had animals such as dogs and cats, but also a cage labelled "Wild
Sheep" with a sheep in it that looked just like a lion. It also had a
rabbit labelled "Porcupine", wolves, leopards, lots of small animals
(mostly African) and a Tibetan Yak, which stole the show.
Ate at a place Gus and Paul showed us, where
you could get a bowl of
soup and a good steak for 2/6d. We've been eating pretty well, for not
10 mins walk from the hotel is a street full of delicious strawberries
and a baker who sells apple turnovers for 4d.
Thursday
27th August
Got up early to take Gus, Paul and Andy to
the bus station. They were
going on to Herat. Mike and Malc were feeling better, so we decided to
spend the night up at the dam.
The garage was finally open, but they told
us we might just as well get
the diff. mended in England, as it would last us that long and the
£40 bill would eat rather deeply into our funds. However,
they did do a bit of servicing for us, and, as they had some
shock-absorbers just in from Germany, we renewed the two front ones,
which greatly improved the ride. Slept up at the dam.
Friday
28th August
Did a final shop in Kabul, then set off for
Ghazni about 11:00 a.m..
Got there about 2:00 p.m., and spent the afternoon looking around fur
shops. Several of the others found coats they liked, but I was not so
fortunate. Booked in to a hotel (1/- a head to sleep on the balcony)
and then George and I went to bring the van from where we'd left it. On
the way we stopped to watch a game of volleyball, and were immediately
press-ganged into playing. Caused much amusement with our feeble
attempts, and doubled the crowd!
That evening we found celebrations still
going on in the form of a
talent competition, and we were grabbed and placed in front of the
grandstand. It was a pity their music did not, to our ears, match their
hospitality.
As an aside, and as a postscript to this
diary, we found the Afghanis
universally hospitable. For example, we would routinely stop in
tea-houses on our journey, which were ubiquitous even in the midst of
nowhere. All six of us were made welcome in every case. It wasn't until
years later that I realised that these tea-houses are exclusively male
preserves, and that, particularly given the lowly position of women in
Afghan society generally, for Pam and Trottie to be treated as normal
guests was equivalent to women being allowed in a male-only London club
– without being given even a hint that this was in any way
out of order. In both Afghanistan and Iran we found that hospitality
over-ruled all other cultural considerations. What a shame Britain
can't treat foreigners equally hospitably.
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