K O N G'S S H O R T N O T E ON
A F G H A N I S T A N (http://pazu.com/afghanistan/)
Road
is bad and food is dull, but with some of the holiest places for Muslims,
best sceneries in the world, and the place that you can shock your friends
by saying "I've been there!" (sorry to say this), there are just too many
reasons to go to Afghanistan. So after 23 years of wars, Afghanistan seems
to be back on the list for travellers again.
This short note is made by a Hong Kong
Chinese named Kong (aka Pazu on the internet), and it's me. I've tried to
make it in the familiar "Lonely Planet format", some information below are
from my own research, some are from other travellers. The travel notes that
I've got from a friend (made by an anonymous Japanese and a Korean Mr Yaan)
has been very helpful in preparing this short note on Afghanistan. I suggest
you also take the "An Historical Guide to Afghanistan" with this note, see
below for more detail. Note that I cannot take any responsibilities if the
information is wrong. I tried to keep all the information in one web
page only, and make the format as simple as possible (only two pics, no funny
colors, no indents, etc) because I hope that you find it easy to print this
note out, I'll be very happy if you can find it a good companion for your
trip in Afghanistan, comments are always welcome.
CONTACT
Please contact me at http://www.pazu.com/gossip.html
Homepage: http://www.pazu.com/
My photos: http://www.pazu.com/a/album.html
Date: 10 Dec, 2002
Revised: 10 Mar,
2003
F A C T S
F O R V I S I T O R S
PASSPORT
It's common sense that you need to
have a passport to go to Afghanistan, but because of the very frequent checks of
passport by police, you should always carry a valid passport. The trouble is
that whenever you apply a visa or extend your visa, you need to put your
passport at the embassy or office for 24 hours, a photocopy may help, but a
Japanese tourist was "caught" without a passport (but with photocopy) and was
arrested and sent to a prison for 2 hours for interogation (and beaten up!). The
lesson is, be patient with the Afghan police.
VISA
Afghan
visa:
It is quite easy to get an Afghan
visa. A 30-day (or sometimes only 15 days) costs US$30 and you need to pay the
money in US dollar cash. In Pakistan, the best place to apply a visa is Peshawar
(but not for Japanese). The visa section for foreigners is open on Tuesday or
Thursday only, a letter of recommendation (which should cost you some money too)
is officially required, but you can always ask to be an exception. It takes 1
days or 1 week to get your visa. The Afghan embassy in Islamabad usually gives
15-day visa only, but you can get an extension in Kabul. Note for Japanese, the
Japanese government complained to the Afghan consulate in Peshawar that they
gave out visa to Japanese too easily, so now Japanese must have a letter of
recommendation from their embassy to get a visa (which is almost impossible to
get except you're working for an NGO). But if you find the right staff, you can
pay him a baksheesh of US$100 to get a 30-day tourist visa without a letter of
recommendation, this is of course a scam, but all people think (no matter what
the truth is), Japanese money is just too easy to get.
Pakistani
visa:
If you go to Afghanistan from
Pakistan and plan to go back to Pakistan, you can make your single entry
Pakistani visa to be a re-entry one in Islamabad, but not in Peshawar. It takes
24 hours and you can get it done in the Passport Office. It's free for Japanese
and Chinese (mainlanders), Rs200 for Hong Kong Chinese. Note that if you have a
30-day visa, they will give a re-entry visa PLUS a 60-day extension (that's a
total of 90 days) for the same price.
Or you can apply a new Pakistani visa
in Kabul, it takes 24 hours and they usually give only 7-day transit visa, but
ask them to check the book with price list for different nationals, it states
very clearly that you can get a 15-day transit visa for the same price. With
good reasons and a long letter written by yourself, you can get a 30-day tourist
visa without too much problems, just tell them how much you love Pakistan, and
state all the places you want to go back and travel in Pakistan. The visa is
free for Japanese and Chinese (mainlanders), US$10 for Hong Kong Chinese, US$35
for Australian. You need to pay the US dollars cash on spot, 2 photos is needed.
Iranian
visa:
Kabul is probably one of the best
places to apply an Iranian visa, no letter of recommendation is required, just
24 hours and US$50, you can get a tourist visa of 30 days. Friday close. I'm not
quite sure if it's the same for British and American.
VISA
EXTENSION
It's easy to extend your Afghan visa
in Kabul. Go to the Afghan Tourist Organization (ATO) near the airport (a taxi
ride from downtown is Af40), get a letter from a staff and pay $5 for 2 weeks
and $10 for 4 weeks, bring small banknote as they usually don't have any dollars
in the drawer. Take the letter to the Passport Office near the Indian Embassy (a
taxi ride costs another Af 40), go to the visa section for foreign nationals at
the first floor (ground is the first floor), get a piece of form, then go to the
second floor and ask the boss to give you a signature, go back to the first
floor and pay the new visa tax $20. One photo is required.
You usually need to wait 24 hours
(and leave your passport there), but I really can't see any reasons why they
can't do it right away. If you ask to get the extension immediately, the staff
will then ask you to go to the second floor again and asked his boss's approval,
the boss will probably be very very very angry to see you again, "WHAT THE HELL
ARE YOU DOING HERE?" will be his response, "BORO boROOOOO!!!" (DAMN OFF!) will
be his shouting, go back to the first floor again, just tell the guy downstairs,
"your boss said you can solve the problem for me!", he will then give you an
extension immediately. Note that the extension starts from the date of
extension, not from the date of expiration of your previous visa.
COST, TIPS AND
BARGAINING
Foreigners in Afghanistan live in two
totally different worlds. Those NGO or journalists with tons of money to spend
can stay at hotels targeted for foreigners, cost US$25 - 60 /night. Restaurants
for foreigners costs $5 - 10 per person. The UN has some special domestic and
int'l flight service in Afghanistan, but the price is a good surprise to all
travellers. Afghanistan can also be a very cheap place to travel. Cheap
guesthouse (in Kabul) costs $3/person, local food with rice or kebab is $1 per
meal. Transportation by bus or even hired taxi is cheap, e.g. from Kabul to
Bamiyan costs $4 by TownAce. Tips is not essential but seems like a common
practice in restaurants for foreigners. You can pay the bill in US dollars and
give the baksheesh in Afghanis (Af 5 or 10). Though there are not any written
foreigners' price, foreigners are expected to pay more than local people, e.g.
local pay $3 in the same hotel for a double room, foreigners pay $3 for one bed.
MONEY
(PS: This part is a bit outdated but
as you guys may still find it interesting so I keep it here.) The name of
Afghan currency is Afghani, but what made things a little bit confusing is
that there are 3 types of Afghanis: Daulati, Junbishi and new Afghani (known
as Karzai, the president's name!). Daulati is the currency used in Kabul and
all around Afghanistan, while Junbishi is only used in Mazar-i Sharif and
around. The two banknotes look very similar but the value of Junbishi is only
half of Daulati. It's very confusing indeed but luckily, the Afghan government
has printed some new Afghani lately, whose value is officially 1000 times
higher than the Daulati (that is 2000 times higher than the Junbishi). People
now prefer the new currency and want to get rid of the old one, the exchange
rate for the new one is usually a little bit lower than the old one. In Dec
2002, $1 = Af 58000 old Afghani, or Af 52 new Afghani. At the time of research,
the Afghan government said they were going to replace all the old Afghanis
before 5 Dec 2002 and people were queuing outside bank to change all their
money into the new currency, IN MAR 2003 BOTH OLD AFGHANIS ARE ALMOST UNACCEPTED
EVERYWHERE, SO MAKE SURE YOU GET NONE. You can always pay US dollars or Pakistani
rupees (called Kalda) for anything, but with a less better rates, and it'd
better to have some US dollars as you can sometimes pay only US dollars for
visa extension or application.
EXCHANGE
RATE
The exchange is very unstable, so
just keep this as a reference.
(Note: In this guide Af refers to the
new Afghani, Karzai, unless otherwise
stated.)
US$1 = Pakistani Rupees (PRs)
58
Af 10000 (Daulati) = Af 5000
(Junbishi)
Date: 8 Nov 2002
$1 = Af 72500 old Afghani
(Daulati)
Rs1 = Af 1250 old Afghani
(Daulati)
Date: 3 Dec
2002
$1 = Af 58000 old Afghani
(Daulati)
$1 = Af 52 new Afghani
(Karzai)
INSURANCE
I've asked some insurance company and
they said they won't cover Afghanistan in their so-called "World Plan", so you
may think Afghanistaion is in the space... Make sure you insurance plan has
covered Afghanistan in their plan, or if you can claim money back if you are
unlucky enough to step on a landmine. Some almost-impossible-to-see text at the
insurance leaflet will tell you they won't cover casualty of war.
POST AND
TELECOMMUNICATION
Postcard arrives safely from
Afghanistan, though it takes 3 weeks to China. The price is difficult to tell,
I've mailed postcards twice, one time they asked me to pay Af 25 /card and the
other time Af 11. A letter to China costs Af 18 or 25 (with the same weight...).
If you are a stamp collector you can go to the Central Post Office in Kabul
(near Spinzar Hotel), the staff are just too happy to show (and sell) you their
private collections. A Bamiyan stamp (after bombing, without the Budda) makes a
very good souvenir (Af25). Int'l calls are surprisingly cheap in Kabul, in the
CPO it's only Af 17 per minute to Hong Kong and Af 16 to China. There are some
delays in the voice connection and they count the minute even when nobody picks
the phone up. You can even have a mobile (GSM) in Kabul, you can buy a SIM card
from the CPO for $150 plus a letter from your organization or company, or you
can buy your card without a letter from any dealer in Chicken Street, Kabul for
$200. A recharge value card costs $20, 50 or 100, 1 cent buys
you one unit, 10 units per local call and 65 units per int'l call. AWCC (Afghan
Wireless) is the only mobile company in Afghanistan in 2002, but a new one is
coming, which should be cheaper and (said to) have a better coverage.
DANGERS AND
ANNOYANCE
Afghanistan is never a safe place to
travel, road accidents, bomb, landmines or whatever you can think of, can be
happened in Afghanistan at any time. But there are more and more travellers in
Afghanistan now and there's a very big int'l community (mainly NGO) working in
Kabul. Pickpocket is not very common but take care when you go to the bazaar,
which can be very crowded and you may even think it was some kind of a festival.
The night curfew in Kabul was cancelled in 3 Nov 2002, but you can still almost
find nothing on the street at night. The Mama Najaf Hotel in Bamiyan is
notorious for their small thieves (stealing shoes, small bags and so on), always
lock your door with YOUR OWN LOCK.
BOOKS, NEWSPAPER, RADIO, TV
BOOKS: "Lonely Planet Central Asia 1998" has a very small section on Afghanistan and is pretty useless. "An Historical Guide to Afghanistan", published in 1977, is still surprisingly a good companion to travel in Afghanistan. You can buy this book in Saeed Book Bank in Peshawar for PRs700 or at the old bookstores in front of the Spinzar Hotel in Kabul for PRs220. There's a very good Kabul map at the back of the book, make sure you get this too. The map is still quite accurate. Note that there are two editions of the book, one published in 1970 and the other in 1977 (still 25 years ago!), so make sure you've bought the "latest" one. NEWSPAPER: "Kabul Times" is available in Kabul only, though it's sometimes difficult to find. The listed price is Af1 but you usually need to pay Af3 for it. "The News" (published in Pakistan) has a section of Afghanistan and is a very good source of the latest news, you can buy it easily in Kabul. RADIO: BBC and VOA is available in FM in Kabul for two or three hours at night time. TV: Most hotels or restaurants for foreigners have satellite TVs with BBC, FOX, CNN, CCTV, but no NHK. Sometimes you can even see porno from Turkey!
INTERNET RESOURCES
Lonely Planet Thorntree (http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/)
is a forum which I found very helpful and Central Asia is the border for discussion
about Afghanistan, you need to register to post there. Don't miss the Kabul
Caravan (http://www.kabulcaravan.com),
the most comprehensive e-guide to Afghanistan to day! The author of this website
is writing an Afghanistan guidebook for Lonely Planet. Afghanistan Afghan
(
LANGUAGE
The two main languages in Afghanistan
is Dari and Pastho. Dari is the Afghan Persian, with some words different
from Iranian Persian
THINGS TO
BRING
Night time can be long and boring, so
bring some books, you can buy or exchange some English books in Kabul. A torch
(flashlight) can be very useful as power cut is just too frequent. Kabul has a
very comprehensive stock of imported goods in Flower Street in Kabul, you can
even buy a Dell Computer there! Hot drinking water is always available (free or
cheap) in the restaurants but probably not in the cheap hotels, if you use hot
water to make your tea or brush your teeth, you may want a small thermo flask.
If you plan to stay in the communal hall in restaurants you may want a sleeping
bag too, blanket is provided but just not enough.
BEGGARS
There are quite a lot of beggars in
Kabul, especially around the Chicken Street where foreigners go and buy
souvenirs. Don't encourage begging, but after 23 years of war many women became
widow and in a society where women are still very suppressed, begging sometimes
can be their only way of living. Pay what the local pay the beggars, and never
give money to children.
SUGGESTED
ITINERARY
If you have 3 weeks, you can make a
round trip of Afghanistan by going to Kabul, Ghazni, Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-i
Sharif and Bamiyan. The trip from Herat to Mazar-i Sharif and Mazar-i Sharif to
Bamiyan can be a problem as there's no public transportation, but you can hire a
jeep, it won't be too expensive if you can share the car with other travellers,
see the section below for more information. If you have only 10 days to 2 weeks,
you can go to Kabul (2 days) -> Bamiyan (3 days) -> Kabul -> Mazar-i
Sharif (3 days) -> Kabul. Ghazni seems like an interesting place to go, with
lots of historical sites, check An Historical Guide to Afghanistan for more
information. Kabul is a nice place to spend more time. If you have one week,
it's still nice to go to Kabul and Bamiyan only.
GETTING THERE AND AWAY AND
AROUND
International flights fly from Kabul
to Dubai and Islamabad, a flight to Urumqi is coming soon in 2003. Domestic
flight from Kabul to Herat costs $130 (or $34 for local). There are some flights
operated by the United Nations but extremely expensive, e.g. flight from Kabul
to Herat costs $650! The land transportation, options are otobus, Hi-Ace,
TownAce and shared coralla taxi. The bus is usually cheaper but takes longer
time, some bus can be quite nice inside. Hi-Ace and TownAce are basically the
same, but Hi-Ace is cheaper but more crowded. TownAce (pronounced as TUUN-NACE)
is around Af30 more expensive but takes only 7 people inside. There are AT LEAST
3 land-crossing borders in Afghanistan open for foreigners, one from Herat to
Iran, and one from Quetta to Kandahar, the most popular one seems to be the one
from Peshawar to Kabul via Jalalabad. I've used the last one only, check the
section below for more information. You may have difficulties to find a car in
the end of Ramazan (Eid festival), or it tends to be more
expensive.
FEMALE
TRAVELLERS
Female foreigners don't need to wear
a burqa (head-to-toe cover dress) but cover your head with a head scarf and no
bare arms if you don't want to get too much attractions and better to travel
with other man. Some suggest that foreign women should be conservative but never
disguise as a local (e.g. wearing a burqa) as the Afghans will usually tolerate
the outsiders doing stupid thing, but not the local women. Travellers can stay
in the communal hall of local restaurants for free, but it would be very strange
if a woman stayed inside, and you may have trouble to do this, even with other
male travellers. An American NGO workers were gang-raped in Mazar-i Sharif, so
be careful. And I haven't ever met any women (local or foreigner) eating in any
local restaurants (only in restaurants for foreigners), I think it should be
okay if you go there with your male friends, but I can't imagine how much hassle
you would have if you go there alone. There's a beauty parlour at the end of the
Flower Street, it may be interested to go inside, of course for women
only.
ACCOMODATION
If you don't mind to lose a little
bit of your privacy, you can stay at the main hall of most local restaurants at
night for free, lock your luggage. Cheap accommodation costs around $3 - 5,
which means no running water (use bucket), frequent power cut, dirty beds (but
no bugs!). Expensive hotels costs $25 - 60, mainly for NGOs, with satellite TVs,
hot shower and so on. You can always take a hot shower in the Hammon, the local
hot bath, for Af 15. NGOs of your countries can usually offer you some "special
service", e.g. taking a free shower, free internet, even free food, free drinks,
nice chat, even a job offering.
***************************************************
PESHAWAR
(PAKISTAN)
***************************************************
In case you go from Peshawar to
Afghanistan...
PLACES TO
STAY
Tourist Inn Motel near the Cantonment
Station is quite a good place to stay, though at the time of our stay one
Japanese lost $2000 in the dormitory, all Japanese said it was the son of
the owner stole the money and the owner said it was the other Japanese who
stole the money. Some Japanese wrote down something bad about the owner in
the guest book so the owner just threw it away (but he said the book was stolen
by a Japanese journalist). Lock your lugguage if you plan to stay there. The
place is a favorite for backpackers and it's a place to meet someone to go
to Afghanistan with you. Hot shower, free kitchen and a dorm bed costs Rs100,
or double room for Rs250 (or Rs230 if you plan to stay for one month).
TRANSPORT FROM PESHAWAR TO AFGHANISTAN
The Khyber Pass leading to
Afghanistan lies inside the Tribal Area, officially you need a Tribal Area
permit to enter this area. You can arrange a tour at the PTDC or Tourist In
Motel (about Rs2000/car, 4 people) but it's easy and cheap to arrange all the
permits and car by yourself. Go to the Home and Tribal Department (opposite of
Peshawar Museum, ten-minute walk from the Tourist Inn Motel), the office opens
at 9am to 11pm, go there one day before your trip, get a permit from the
interesting and talkative Section Officer, it takes only 30 minutes, they'll
check your bag when you go in the department and you can't bring in your camera,
so put it in the Motel (and lock it!). Then find a taxi (Rs500 - 600) and take
the driver to the Political Agency on the day of your trip, the P.A. will
arrange you an armed guard who will probably ask you for a baksheesh (Rs100),
but you can really choose not to pay him because they are on their duties to
take you there. At least this is the official way of going to Afghanistan for
foreigners, but you can always go without a permit, but it's illegal so take
your own risk. TO GO THERE WITH A PERMIT, take a bus near the Jan's Supermarket
(near the Motel) to Kakhanai Bazaar (Rs5, 1 hour), there's an Hi-Ace (Rs50, 1.3
hr) near the Khyber Agency to Torkham border. The driver sometimes refused to
take foreigners or charged them more but you should pay not more than Rs50.
Never let the police saw you going with a big backpack, never sit in the front,
don't ask too much questions (only ask "Torkham?"), use a head scarf to cover
your face and head, no glasses, use local dress (Shalwar Kameez, which you can
buy second hand from laundry shop for around Rs30 only!), and never go in a
group. Note that if you are found out by the police in the Tribal Areas, the
police will usually just send you back to Peshawar without penalty. The owner of
the Motel claimed (though never believe him 100%) there was a Japanese who was
caught inside the Tribal Areas without a permit and was charged $400 but I've
seen some Japanese sent back from the Tribal Areas (in a group too) to Peshawar
without paying any money.
TRANSPORT FROM AFGHANISTAN TO
PESHAWAR
Just a few months before you can go
back to Peshawar from Torkham border without an armed guard, but the rule's now
changed. You need an armed guard and they will ask you to take a taxi (Rs600)
but you can insist to take a bus to Kakhanai Bazaar instead (Rs50, you probably
need to pay for your guard too).
**************************************************
KABUL
**************************************************
You can buy a map of Kabul easily in
the bookstores in Kabul. There's a Kabul map at the back of An Historical Guide
to Afghanistan, though more than 25 years old, it's still quite accurate. Note
that the location of Pakistani embassy and Afghan Tourist Organization (ATO) has
been moved to a new location.
ORIENTATION
Kabul is small enough to walk around
on foot, but being so dusty and crowded at daytime, it won't be a bad idea to
travel on taxi sometimes. Downtown is the area around Spinzar Hotel, all taxi
drivers know Spinzar Hotel so it makes a good landmark. Cheap hotels and Central
Post Office are around there. The Old City is south of the Spinzar. Chicken
Street is 15 minutes away from Spinzar and is the place where you can buy
souvenirs (mainly carpets), go a little bit north is Flower Street where you can
buy imported goods, even Chinese-made soy
sauce.
MONEY
The bank in front of Spinzar Hotel
doesn't change money, there are a big compound of exchange shops near the Pul-i
Khishti Mosque (10-minute walk from Spinzar), but the gold shops at the same
area usually offers a better rate. Beware that they will usually tell you a
lower rate in the beginning, check some more shops before changing money, and
don't change too much as the Afghani are just too unstable. The Old Afghanis are
not accepted anymore, so make sure you get
none.
BOOKSTORES
There're some old bookstores in front
of Spinzar Hotel, they sell maps and postcards and you can find "An Historical
Guide to Afghanistan" for PRs220. Habibi Bookstore in Chicken Street is a little
bit greedy and books are overpriced, but can be bargained down. Good
English-Farsi Dictionary (Farhang Moaser) costs Af160 but with Arabic script
only, which is good to show to local people, "Colloquial Persion" costs $6. You
can exchange books (2 for 1, with a little selection...) in Behzad Bookstore
(Flower Street).
EMBASSY
(Check the visa information above for
more information about Pakistani and Iranian
visa.)
China Embassy: Phone 2300109; Mobile
070277227, visa section opens, 15-minute walk from Spinzar Hotel. You can pay
the visa in Afghanis.
Pakistan Embassy: 10-minute walk from
Chinese Embassy.
Iranian Embassy: close on
Friday.
INTERNET
Internet is available at the
Intercontinental Hotel in Bagh-e Bala at $5/hour, Paktek in Wazir Akbar Khan at
$4/hour and Mustafah Hotel at $5/hour. Try the NGO of your own country, they may
let you use the internet for free.
TELEPHONE
(Check also the Post and
Telecommunication section above). Local call made from hotel is usually free.
Mobile phone number starts as 070.
THINGS TO
SEE
"An Historical Guide to Afghanistan"
lists some good place to see in Kabul, I highly recommend you to buy one. Here I
just list some of my comments on the place.
OLD PALACE (near Bagh-e Bala):
Very much destroyed, but still quite
stunning to see. You can still feel the glory of the Afghanistan 23 years ago,
it's somehow quite sad to see a place destroyed like this. Try to find some
postcards of the Afghanistan 30 years ago and you may want to ask for a stop on
war.
ARG:
Can't go, it's an army station.
BALA HISSAR:
Can't go, it's an army station, but
you can look from outside. Opposite of Bala Hissa is a village and quite
interesting.
ID GAH MOSQUE, PUL-I-KHISHTI MOSQUE,
SHAH-DO-SHAMSHIRA MOSQUE:
Interesting. You can buy some corns
outside the SDS Mosque and feed the pigeons. SDS Mosque was rebuilt by the
Turkish Government in 2002. Free entrance, but the Mosque is usually locked. You
can go in the Pul-i-Khishiti Mosque, and you need to take off your shoes, but
for "security reasons" you can take your shoes inside the praying hall, there's
some shelves for shoes inside.
KABUL
ZOO
Animals lovers would be very sad to
see the condition, the only interesting animals are pigs (I've been traveling in
Pakistan for 4 months before I go to Afghanistan, which means I haven't seen a
pig for 4 months!). The lion is from China and the emergency food from London.
Entrance Af5.
PLACES TO
STAY
Spinzar Hotel is $20/single, with shared
bathroom (hot shower), $40/room with balcony and hot shower. The location
is convenient but not too many foreigners staying inside. Highly recommended
is the Mustafah Hotel near Chicken Street, there's no sign outside but it's
very famous. It's next to "Shoaib Photo Studio" and a pharmancy. Very popular
for NGOs. $25-35/single, $40/double, $60/double with attached bath, all rooms
have hot shower. Very good communal area for watching satellite TV, playing
snookers, and chatting with other NGO guys. Highly recommended for low budget
travellers is the Zar Negar Hotel. The price for local and foreigners are
listed below (foreigners' price in bracket), the owner said he needs to pay
"foreigner tax" for the police (for protection) and that's why foreigners
should pay more! Af150 (Af300)/double, Af210 (Af510)/triple, sometimes they
will let you to stay in a one-bed room for Af150. All rooms are without toilet
and shower, use bucket water only, frequent black out. At night time if there's
electricity, you can watch porno (satellite TV) at the reception! The owner
said he's going to install TVs in some rooms soon! There's a restaurant inside
the hotel compound and they have hot drinking water (usually free, but sometimes
they ask for baksheesh). The staff can be very lazy at meal time and will
just tell you to "boro, boro" (go! go!), talk to their boss instead, his name
is Baryalai. Near Zar Negar Hotel is Jamil Hotel, they charge $5 per bed and
the staff seems not as friendly as the Zar Negar folks.
PLACES TO
EAT
The restaurant inside Zar Negar Hotel
(with different owner) costs Af50 for pulao (rice with meat). There're some
local restaurants and hawkers (selling chicken soup and mantoo, a Chinese
dumpling) near Zar Negar Hotel. The food everywhere in the local restaurants are
almost the same. If you don't mind to spend a few more money, Popo'Lano Italian
Restaurant makes a good choice, Af60/soup, Af200/lasagna, Af220/steak,
Af40/capaccino, bill are in but not too many foreigners
staying inside. Highly recommended is the Mustafah Hotel near Chicken Street,
there's no sign outside but it's very famous. It's next to "Shoaib Photo Studio"
and a pharmancy. Very popular for NGOs. $25-35/single, $40/double, $60/double
with attached bath, all rooms have hot shower. Very good communal area for
watching satellite TV, playing snookers, and chatting with other NGO guys.
Highly recommended for low budget travellers is the Zar Negar Hotel. The price
for local and foreigners are listed below (foreigners' price in bracket), the
owner said he needs to pay "foreigner tax" for the police (for protection) and
that's why foreigners should pay more! Af150 (Af300)/double, Af210
(Af510)/triple, sometimes they will let you to stay in a one-bed room for Af150.
All rooms are without toilet and shower, use bucket water only, frequent black
out. At night time if there's electricity, you can watch porno (satellite TV) at
the reception! The owner said he's going to install TVs in some rooms soon!
There's a restaurant inside the hotel compound and they have hot drinking water
(usually free, but sometimes they ask for baksheesh). The staff can be very lazy
at meal time and will just tell you to "boro, boro" (go! go!), talk to their
boss instead, his name is Baryalai. Near Zar Negar Hotel is Jamil Hotel, they
charge $5 per bed but the things are all the same as Zar
Negar.
GETTING
AROUND
There're some buses in Kabul but I
really have no clue how they operate. A taxi to almost everywhere is around
Af20-40, a taxi to the Airport (and the Afghan Tourist Organization) is Af40. A
taxi to the several bus terminals (see below) costs around Af40.
**************************************************
BAMIYAN
**************************************************
An Historical Guide to Afghanistan
has a very good and informative section on Bamiyan. Don't miss.
ORIENTATION
Bamiyan is a very small town and the
two Buddhas are just about 15-minute walk from the Bazaar. All buses stop
outside Mama Najaf Hotel.
PLACES TO
SEE
Officially you need a permit to go up
to the head of the Large Buddha (the one on the left hand side), it means you
need to pay some baksheesh to the police and ask them to take you up. BEWARE:
it's higher than 50 metres and the wall are full of cracks... There is a school
and a hospital near the Buddha.
There's a very beautiful lake near
Bamiyan called Band-e Amir, you need to hire a car to go there and in winter
time the road can be dangerous.
PLACES TO
STAY
Mama Najaf Hotel is probably the only
good place that you can stay, but beware of the small thiefs there. One Danish
lost his shoes in the hotel, three Japanese said someone entered their room (and
they've locked it!) though nothing was lost. Always lock the door even if you
just go to the toilet, not kidding, my small bag (with no money) was stolen when
I went to the toilet! Clean room and nice blankets on the second floor is $10,
you can take a maximum of 6 to 7 people inside. Rooms on the first floor are
very dirty, $6 per room. Or you can stay in the communal hall for free though
you should really bring your own sleeping bag. Food is available all day even in
Ramazan.
GETTING THERE AND
AWAY
Car goes from Police Socta Bus
Terminal in Kabul early in the morning (5 to 7 or 8am), the trip takes 8 eight
hours and costs Af230 (TownAce, 7 people inside) or Af200 (HiAce, very crowded).
The road is quite bad.
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MAZAR-E SHARIF
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ORIENTATION
Mazar has been isolated from the
other cities during the civil war, they had their own currencies (Junbishi,
check Facts for Visitors for more information), not much was destroyed and the
city is still in quite a good shape. It's a very small city and the landmark, of
course, is the Shrine of Hazrat Ali.
PLACES TO
SEE
Shrine of Hazrat Ali is on the back
of new Afghani one. Entrance fee $5 but nobody checks at the side gate. Put your
shoes outside (Af1) or bring a plastic bag. Inner chamber with the tomb of
Hazrat Ali is open to Muslims only. Thousands of white pigeons outside the
shrine, local say the site is so hol that a gray pigeon will turn white in 40
days if it comes here! If you are lucky enough you can see the Buzkashi match,
the national sport of Afghanistan, the place is east of Mazar. The boss of Aria
Hotel plays Buzkashi too, ask him for more
information.
PLACES TO
STAY
South of the Shrine is the Aria Hotel
($7/triple, Af150/single), clean toilet but no hot shower. Near Aria Hotel is
the Aamo Hotel, $10/triple or Af400/double, no single room, hot shower. There's
a hammon (public bath) NW of the Shrine, Af15/private
room.
PLACES TO
EAT
There are two restaurants near Aria
Hotel, Af40 or Af50 for pulao. You can find a pickled carrot called "acha", the
taste is very similar to Korean kimchi. You can even find some "mantoo", it came
from China to Uzbekstan then to the northern Afghanistan, local will be very
surprised if you tell them this
story.
GETTING THERE AND
AWAY
Car goes from Sara Shumari Bus Terminal
in Kabul early in the morning (6:30am), an otobus ride costs Af200 (11 hrs)
and TownAce costs Af300 (9 hrs). Even if you take the earliest otobus from
Mazar, you'll arrive in Kabul at night, so it'd better to take a TownAce.
The road is okay but you need to pass through the Salang Tunnel, if you are
claustrophobia, you may want to take a plane, I'm not kidding! There's no
public transport to Herat but you can hire a jeep for $170/eight people, you
probably need to stay one night at Maymana.
K O N G'S S H O R T N O T E ON
A F G H A N I S T A N (http://pazu.com/afghanistan/)
This is the end of the note. You can just print out the above and the following is just a postscript.
Isn't
it nice to shoot an AK-47 in Peshawar? It's Kong, and do you see a dog on
my shoulder? His name is A-fu whom I adopted in Islamabad of Pakistan, probably
of Thai origin. I gave him the name A-FU because I wanted to go to AFUghanistan
when I first saw him in a toy store. A-FU also means "wealthy" which
is quite a common Chinese name. A-FU accompanied me throughout Pakistan, Afghanistan
and China, but unfortunately I lost him very mysteriously when I arrived home
safely in Hong Kong. So, for the fun time given by A-FU, this website was
made in the memory of him.
Here're my Asian photos: http://pazu.com/a/album.html
I've found some sites about Afghanistan prepared by other travellers, and they were kindly enough to have put a link to my note (and said my note is good), so as a gratitude I'm going to put their links here too:
Very comprehensive, the author is the Lonely Planet researcher in Afghanistan.
http://talesofasia.com/afghanistan.htm
Interesting travelogs and other tales of Asia.
Another traveller to Afghanistan.