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Kandahar Dispatches

Bamiyan to Kabul

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Friday, April 20, 2007 | 01:25 PM ET

By Chris Brown

In the little Afghan mountain town of Bamiyan, they have high hopes for tourism. Though the famous, giant stone Buddha statues that welcomed visitors for over 1,800 years were destroyed by the Taliban, there's still much to see — beautiful cave murals, magnificent mountain views and a very pleasant street bazaar.

As I wrote in my last post, Bamiyan may also have the distinction of being the safest place in Afghanistan. Don't let the problems in far-away Kandahar to the south deter you, the locals told me. "We want Western and Asian tourists to come back."

Indeed, for decades before the Soviet invasion there were plenty of tourists in Bamiyan. One hotel owner recalled that in the 1970s tens of thousands of people were drawn every summer to the area's Buddhist culture and used to pitch tents at the foot of the giant statues. We were also told that there were more than 30 hotels in the tiny town to cater to the many buses that brought foreigners in.

Now, it's hard to imagine a bus even making it to Bamiyan. It's roughly 170 kilometres by road between the capital Kabul and the former tourist town.

Cameraman Pascal Leblond and I, along with our Afghan translator, were unable to get a flight out of Bamiyan and so we were forced to do the drive ourselves. The route had only just reopened the day before because of an avalanche and flooding, so we were relieved it was even an option.

We were warned, though, that it would be a "rough" eight- to 10-hour trip. "Rough" didn't even begin to describe it.

For scores of kilometres at a time, the road was little more than donkey path — no gravel, no road bed — as it hair-pinned its way alongside mountain streams (and often right down the middle of them) reaching its zenith at the Shibar Pass, some 3,300 metres above sea level.

We stopped for gas once (it costs roughly 50 cents Canadian a litre) at a mud-brick hut that had a lone pump, powered by a generator outside.

Passing the rusting hulks of former Soviet tanks on the way, the route became much greener as the elevation decreased before the road literally became a river. Our four-by-four made it possible to wade through, but only barely.

Eight hours of shaking and rattling later and with great thanks to our young driver, we made it to Kabul. The scenery was breathtaking and clearly the stuff of great holidays. But not before the route from Bamiyan to Kabul gets a new, more vehicle-friendly road. And with all of Afghanistan's other problems right now, the many millions (indeed, probably hundreds of millions) that would cost is not on any international donor's to-do list.

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Comments (2)

Kelly O'Brien

........

I recall seeing a documentary called "The boy who plays among the Bhuddas of Bamiyan". It was an interesting look at the people and their lives in the town of Bamiyan in Afghanistan. Bamiyan was once a very beautiful and thriving town, but alot of it was reduced to rubble by the Soviet Invasion. It was interesting to see how many of the people in the area live in the caves that surround the region. Definetly worth watching!!!

Posted April 24, 2007 11:12 AM

Karen

This past weekend I read An Unexpected Light, Journey's in Afghanistan by Jason Elliot. I would heartily recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more and understand this area which is so much in the news, but about which we know so little. As soon as I saw the name Bamiyan - I was excited to read this article about such an incomparable area.

Posted April 23, 2007 02:15 PM

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