Arrival in Kabul

Kabul is not as I expected it to be. I can't say that I am sure of what my expectation was either. In any case, I am surprised.

In many ways, it reminds me a lot of when we lived in the desert in California when I was a kid. Hot. Dry. Wind blown. Dusty. You have some of the same rituals, like shaking your shoes out before you put them on to make sure there aren't any scorpions inside. You can sit outside at night under beautiful starry skies and in the evenings when it cools down, you hear kids out in the street kicking a ball around. At the same time, it appears very similar to some other developing countries I've seen.

In general, (this is going to sound terribly naive) Kabul is surprisingly calm, in the sense that it doesn't feel dangerous; it just feels busy and crowded. However, I am told, that is one of the dangerous things about it: you become fooled by a false sense of security, and expose yourself by letting your guard down or not being as alert as you should be. (I imagine that after some time here my opinion will have changed on this subject.) Here at the fort there is not much to worry about as we live in sort of a bubble, but I want to take advantage of the time here to see what life is really like in Kabul. The city itself is madness! It is a crowded, bustling city. People everywhere, store fronts lining every street, a bit of everything for sale. Traffic is atrocious and the smog to go along with it. Although there is a lot of reconstruction under way, it is sometimes difficult to see in the midst of everything else. Everything is still very run down, the devastation of war readily visible. Parts of the city still do not have running (or drinkable) water, sewage or electricity. Many (including us) that do have electricity are run off of generators.

My computer is down at the moment so can't post any of my photos, but will see what I can find in the mean time.