Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
We were in Mazar for nearly a week. During the day, we played cards and walked
the dusty streets, stopping every half hour for a melon or diving into a chai house
to escape the intense heat. I stood outside the mosque, transfixed by its interlacing
design of spheres and the opulent facing of lapis. Some believe it is the tomb of the
cousin and son-in-law of the prophet Mohammed, Ali ibn Abi Talib. Not far away
were the ruins of one of Alexander's great cities, the ancient Bactrian settlement of
Balkh, once the centre of Zoroastrianism. We could not explore it; the bags and the
team might have arrived from Termez at any hour.
After a few days, the heat and the anxiety began to wear us down. Terry con-
cluded that Afghanistan was a country 'with only two meals, kebab or kebab with
rice, and one song.' But the kebabs were delicious and the pilaf rich and subtle
with spices. The songs may have sounded all the same, but there were at least two
themes, love for a beautiful girl and prayers for the love of Allah. At night, we
pulled our mattresses up onto the roof into the cool night air. Horse-drawn bug-
gies trotted past with bells chiming in unison on secret liaisons well into the early
hours.
After a week, the bags from Termez had still not arrived. Zawada summoned
Terry and me to Kabul to complete new paperwork. Voytek had argued our case
for Bandaka with Zawada over the phone, and I was now able to add my voice.
'It is the best plan Anji. It will mean more peaks are climbed by your expedition.'
Andrez agreed after some hesitation. Peter Holden had arrived from the UK and
absorbed news of our current situation and the tale of our journey over beers and
food at a hippy restaurant on Chicken Street. Walking back to the hotel we spotted
a British registered truck with the words 'Carlisle Kishtwar Expedition' emblaz-
oned in bold but very dusty letters on its panels. I scrawled 'Barrow Boot Boys
of the expedition members and, until then, the Carlisle lads could not solve the
mystery of who played the prank.
We haggled with Afghani officials for two days over our permits. Bandaka, they
said, was impossible. We settled on the necessary bribe for the Mandaras Valley. It
was settled but it seemed our plan for Bandaka was now ruined: 'It's perfectly nor-
mal,' Andrez said, almost relieved that we had just one destination.
News came from Mazar that the bags had finally arrived and the team were
about to move east to Faizabad. We headed north to Kunduz travelling by bus to
save money. Zawada wanted to hire a jeep. It was Polish National Day, so perhaps
we should have been more generous, but we were dangerously low on hard cur-
rency.
