Well one year ago today I arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan. It is hard to believe.
I am sure you have all heard that there were no elections this past week. However, I had my escaper the lockdown plans already in place, therefore, I still jumped to Dubai, despite only haven been there a couple of weeks back. After all, I am sure you have heard the news; things have been pretty stressful in Kabul. First the big U.N. attack and then the country was informed by the Ministries of Health and Education that all public and private institutions would be closed for 3 weeks due to H1N1 virus. Many speculate that the closure was election related and meant more to control public gatherings than to prevent the spread of Swine Flu but who knows. It sure put a shock in the people. The green masks are now what I consider the latest Kabul fashion statement. Though the numbers of H1N1 reports are relatively low and mostly isolated to military bases all of were closed. Thus the speculation of politics came into play. After all they did not want an Iran repeat. You cannot imagine he scramble of dealing with a shutdown with no notice! With hotel being reserved and flights paid for, I went for the trip to Dubai.
Dubai was much cooler than even in September when I passed through. Although still humid, temperatures hovered around 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat index though made it feel 7 to 10 degrees hotter during the day, although the evenings were pretty nice. Still warm enough to be in the pool and at least one of the days I took full advantage and lay around poolside for a few hours taking a dip now and then to cool off.
I stayed at a different hotel than usual and in a different area. It was quite a nice break. The hotel was not too far off the Dubai Metro which is now about 1/2 open but running. It goes end to end of one of its routes but many stations are not open yet. I did utilize it at least one day for the heck of it. I must admit it was a great ride, although I went the wrong way on it, going quite some way out. It was super clean including all the stations and best of all is much better air conditioned than the D.C. Metro. It was actually a very pleasant experience.
Beside the great location, the hotel was overall pretty nice. It featured 3 restaurants included in which was the Sherlock Holmes English Pub, a quaint little dining/drinking pub. The pub had a live cover band which was made up of two Philippinos. The music was o.k. for the most part. But they really should stay away from the country and southern rock genres. You southern rockers out there can truly appreciate how my skin crawled when I heard Skynard being sung by a Philippino female. Their rendition of Dixie Chicks was also pretty darn terrible.
As usual, I ate American Food and shopped and walked. I hung out a bit with my friend Kevin, who taught in Kabul last semester, but deserted us this year for Sharjah. Each night a couple of his colleagues joined us for the food and fun.
It was not quite Deja Vu as I got on the plane to Kabul for my anniversary trip today. I am now the experienced Kabuli but I could not help but smile as a few newbies were headed my same way, all wide eyed and full of the same up and down feelings I had one year ago today. Oh and yes, contrary to the news about the U.N. decision this past week, folks are still arriving, new contractors are coming, etc. I do admit the shock that winter is settling in sure hit home after leaving warm Dubai and coming to Kabul where he high today was around 50 with a pretty stiff cool breeze coming off fresh snow powdered mountains. Brrrrrr
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