Travels and Day 1

D.C. to Dubai ----

I very much dreaded the long 12.5 hour flight. Very much dreaded it. I had wished even that I would have a layover in London or something. It would have added extra travel time but at least it would have been some stretch time. It was very much as pad as I thought it was. Luckily I got a Bulkhead seat on the Boeing 777 that provided some added leg room and 2 of the five seats were empty that provided extra room and there was a personal video screen that even provided my own choice of movies. I watched 3 of them. Wanted (Angelina Jolie movie), Diminished Capacity (Alan Alda, Mathew Broderick), and a movie that I just saw the DVD previews for Journey to the Center of the Earth (Brenden Fraiser). United also had a neat feature that lets you track your flight geographically and gives information about the flight. E.g. Airspeed (up to 680 mph) outside air temperature (UP TO -61 DEGREES) and altitude. That all eased the pain and I still was able to squeeze in a few minutes of catnapping but still……

Dubai ---

Having never traveled out of the country before I do not have anything to gauge the entry into Dubai but I can say an hour long line at passport control was painful after the above flight. I cannot say much about Dubai this go around because I only had a few hours there. It turned out that I was able to squeak 5.5 hours of sleep in. What I saw of Dubai from the air and the trip to the hotel it was everything I have heard, a desert resort. Fairly expensive desert resort but really not by D.C. standards. And it was beautiful. Oh and my driver both ways drove a new BMW seven series. WOW nice ride!!!!

Dubai to Kabul ---

I will associate long lines with Dubai for sure. I have waited longer to get on a plan before but that was just a couple years post 911 and during the big carry on bottle scare. But I saw why they told me to be at the airport 2 hours ahead of time. Yes 5 a.m. I was there. Up at 3:30 a.m. The flight to Kabul was packed. But it was a good flight.

The geography from Dubai to Kabul was very diverse and interesting to look at flying 40000 feet above. The landing into Kabul was everything that I expected for sure. Kabul sits in the valley between mountains. Very striking, steep, and sharply jagged mountains. Kabul sits narrow valley along the Kabul River, overlooked by the Asmai and Sherdawaza mountain ranges, in the east-central part of the country. It sits at approximately 1800 feet and is definitely has a dry arid climate that is effected by the mountains. The flight for sure is very affected by the mountains as the plan makes a series of pretty hard turns on its downward path to Kabul. Good thing that it had not been long since I had flown prior to this one. Although the sharp corkscrew like turns were very smooth they could have been fairly nerve wracking otherwise.

My arrival in Kabul was very surreal. Almost déjà vu like. I had done so much research, had watched a recommended movie (The Kite Runner), etc. It was just as I read about. It is a city effected by many years of on again and off again war. Even further back than the Russian occupation, followed most recently by the Taliban and subsequent NATO war with said Kabul and Afghanistan history is marked by war. From burned out and blown up buildings to an ever present force of security both from Afghan security forces, U.N. Security forces, and Blackwater, contracted security all armed. I even saw an armed posse of DEA yes U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration folks at the airport watching those of us coming into the country. There was probably an even greater show of force as it seemed we had a few dignitaries, from the reception, on our flight. Attorney General of Aghanistan, Abdul Jabar Sabet, among them.

How can I tell you what I saw beginning as early as I was exiting customs at the airport? Extreme poverty are two words that I can use to describe the vision that unfolded before me. As soon as I left customs folks young, old, etc. were attempting to carry my bags for me. Hordes of folks. Literally every where I went. Finally after going two hundred or so yards with about 175 lbs of bags, I gave in to an older gentleman who quoted me 2 dollars American to take them the rest of the way (probably about ½ mile) to the vehicle sent to pick me up.

Off to the road, if you can call it that. No lane markings, if you are lucky there is a median separating the folks from hitting head on but in many cases the median is not there. They just drive, trying to respect the rights of each other, but the main roads are very wide and there were up to three to four vehicles forging their way to destinations all around. The roads are fairly smooth UNTIL you leave the main thoroughfares and then they become kidney busters. It is there you are in the neighborhoods and see the real Kabul. Poverty, street beggars, people living in amazingly poor conditions. You know the big storage things they rent out and can put on a train and trains transport many across the U.S.? Googling them they are called train/sea storage containers. Those make "nice" homes for a few Afghans. Many others, however, are relegated to tents, lean-tos, junk yards, etc.

I was taken today to the grocer and as soon as I was exiting the store and getting into the vehicle to come to the house at least ½ dozen children descended on me. Maybe it was the color of my skin, my dress, the fact that I had a driver and escort, but they descended on the Range Rover like flies on sugar. Finally, and this struck me very sharply, I do feel safe here. I am safe here. 5 of us live in a house with armed guards. Yes, armed. I knew they were armed but I expected maybe 9 mm handguns strapped to their hip, however, I was shocked as both times we pulled into Park Place (yes the name of my new home) that a guard dressed in a very official security uniform met us holding an AK-47 complete with fixed bayonet covering the road with finger on the trigger for us. I really did not expect that degree of armed welcome. You can imagine how I felt at first sight of the heavily armed man. I really did not know what was up until he waived us inside the walls of my new home and then followed behind us and locked the heavy gates. I will write about walls in my next web log. I do feel safe but it is somewhat alarming even after 14 plus years in the military, to live in a place where a fully armed guard is needed.

Well enough for Day 1, Kabul……More Later.