Band-e Amir is excellent! This is just what we all needed, we’ve spent far to much time in Peshawar, and then a couple of days in Kabul after that. This is the perfect getaway!
The day before we left Bamiyan, a middle aged Aussie guy (peter) moved into one of the rooms across from us. He’s been EVERYWHERE and he travels on his Harley! Pretty sweet. Anyway, he was also interested in going to Band-e Amir and since 4 other English speaking travellers were headed there he decided to go with us and then come back to check out Bamiyan later, rather than sooner. He left his Harley at the guest house and we all spent the next morning negotiating a price to Band-e Amir. In the end we setteled on 1,800 Afghani’s between the 5 of us (The price included sleeping over one night and then driving back the next day), not bad and much cheaper then we were quoted in the first couple of hours, but still a nice fat amount of money for the driver.
We took a Jeepish-SUV type thing, so for the first (and last) time in Afghanistan, were were actually very comfortable, plus the road there was good!! The drive only lasted about 3 hours and the landscape on the way looked a lot like Tibet, beautiful! The lakes of Band-e Amir appear to be in a valley, more like a canyon and when we got to the edge of the cliff overlooking all of the lakes we were all stunned! The deep blue lakes were amazing, perfectly blue and the edges were turquoise. From our view point we could see at least 5-7 lakes spread out between a few miles. Some of them were attached to each other by no more than a foot or two of water, which would eventually make it’s way into the next lake, which would in turn be caught by a natural damn like wall of minerals and other earth like elements. Only small amounts of water are able to escape the security of the walls and would sometimes turn into small waterfalls themselves on the outside of the natural damn. To add to it all, the scenery had once again changed. The color of the cliff’s, mountains and natural stone monuments looked a lot like parts of Utah in the U.S. What we saw from the cliff top looked like an elaborate setting for a fantasy movie.
After snapping a few pic’s we all jumped back into the jeep, all excited like kids on there way to the beach. After the long winding road we finally arrived. We quickly grabbed our backpacks and scrambled towards the main lake, not worried at all about ditching our driver. As we arrived lake side, there were actually about ten shacks set up selling snacks, drinks and other eatable items as well as the usuall cheap tourist items. Next to the shacks, against a cliff wall and further from the water, were three Chai-khana’s (spl?). Chai-Khana’s are common in Afghanistan and they double as restaurants and places to sleep. Chaikhana’s are usually in one big, rough, empty room (no chairs, no tables) and everyone sits and eats on the floor. The kitchen is usually in a separate room and they just make a hole in the wall to make it more convenient to hand out the food. The price of dinner includes floor space to sleep on (no beds though). We all popped into one and having our priorities staight, in true Asian manner, before even checking out the lakes, we had a pot of green tea.
After negotiating the price for the night, we all set out to check out the lakes. The first thing we did was jump right in and after that, I quickly spotted an 8 meter (about 25 foot) cliff and had to try it out. When I resurfaced from beneath the water a crowd had already formed and were clapping and yelling! It was great, the people (sometimes very old) were like little children, curious and playfull. To our surprise almost none of them could swim, which actually makes a lot of sence since Afghanistan is land locked and lakes, even rivers are few and far between. The four of us knew right away that one night wasn’t gonna cut it, but Peter wasn’t willing to take the risk of getting stuck there for a week, with his bike in Bamiyan. So, after exploring much of the main lake, the shrine to Ali (another reason Afghani’s go there) and the surrounding area’s we found our driver and told him that we’d be staying untill we found a ride further westward. Of course when we got back to the Chai-Khana, the dude that we talked to had changed what we had agreed upon and thinking he had us cornered with no other options, raised the price for the night and also crushed us by telling us there was no more fish, wich we really wanted for dinner!
Without missing a beat, we grabbed our backpacks and checked out the other two C-K’s. None of them would even listen to us, I guess the first place had a lot of pull in that area, but we ended up meeting the coolest old dude, who had a modest little place directly under Ali’s shrine, it had a dirt floor, but we were all more than happy to not have to sleep outside for the night on priciple. Not only did he (the coolest old dude) give us a better deal than we had first agreed on at the other place, but he also told us that he had fish for dinner!! Ohh Yeah! Since I got sick hitchhiking in Pakistan, my stomach had been terrible and I just couldn’t take all the cotton seed oil that they cook with in that area of the world. At that point my stomach was becomeing a real problem and I would have to force myself to eat and then quickly run the toilet!
So, for the next six days life was good! Peter did end up leaving the next day (first morning) and we never saw him again, but the four of us had a blast exploring all of the lakes and walking miles and miles to reach the lakes further away. We even took blankets and sleeping bags, made a fire lake side at the furthest lake, and hung out for the full moon, wich made the area completely magical. No mushrooms were needed for that transformation of perception to take place! There is a feeling in the air that’s indescribable in Afghanistan, but much more so in the nights, especially when we were all by ourselves with not a person or light (besides our fire, the full moon and the stars) around for miles! That’s something I won’t ever forget.
We tried to catch a ride further west every day, but no vehicles were heading that way, at least none with any room in them. So,after checking out all of the lakes, we wandered into a near by village, checked out a school and let the kids laugh at our weird looking selves, then headed further into the village. Some farmers spotted us and brought us some freshly picked pea’s, still in the pods! They were delicious! Any change diet at that point was (I thought) more than welcomed! I was low on energy by that point, since my stomach was still bad. It sounded like there was a fish in my stomach (and it had been keeping my friends awake at night for days) and I could feel it moving (my stomach) and hear it making loud noises! So, I decided to stop under the shade of a tree and my friends continued on in the same direction. After a quick rest I headed back to our C-K, but I took a different route back, just to see more of the village. I saw a man working hard to make an extension on his mud house on the way and he asked me in broken English where I was from. I told him America and he almost had a heart attack! He begged me to come into his home and have some tea with him, I happily excepted the invitation.
He started yelling into his house and in secondes his five childeren and wife were there! They all had something in there hands. Blankets, cushions, brooms… They went to work cleaning the area and making it fit for a guest (which they treat as royalty in Afghanistan, make no mistake, these people are amazingly friendly and generous) and in minutes I was sitting down, more comfortabley than I had been since Hunza, drinking tea with his beautiful family! Anyway, tea turned into lunch and he proudly told me that he had some special food that he was glad to be able to share with me. His wife brought out delicious freshly made wheat chapati’s (flat round bread) and right behind it, he was proud to announce, Goat brain!!! You’re really gonna love this! Goat brain is a delicacy, meat in general is a treat, so I did what any greatful, respectful guest would do, laped it up with gusto! The meaty chunks actually weren’t bad, but after a minute or two they were gone. With only a soupy, slimy, liquid remaining my meal got a LOT tougher, but I sucked it up (literally) and finished what was intentionaly left for me, the guest, to eat! The guy was great though and he told me how happy (no, it’s not a typing error) he, and the whole village was that “the Bush got rid of the Taliban!” I was shocked to here that. It’s hard to find someone who speaks English well enough to have a conversation and if they do politics are usually excluded. He went on to tell me that the Taliban had killed six people in his village, and since the village is tiny, it was no surprise that they were all his friends.
After a couple of hours, I finally left and thanked him with my whole heart for sharing, not only what little food he must have had, but possibly the best food in the whole village. The next day we finally found a ride to the next hiccup of a town, ended the last of our easy, comfortable days in Afghanistan and began the hardest leg of travel that I’ve been through anywhere in the world…
Complete Alli Diet review from dietitian’s perspective.