Kabul!

[thewalrus]

It's very muddy here today. Here's some photos from before it all started melting:

http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Feb/DSCN0353.JPG

http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Feb/DSCN0375.JPG

http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Feb/DSCN0376.JPG

http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Feb/DSCN0381.JPG

http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Feb/DSCN0392.JPG

http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Feb/DSCN0394.JPG

http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Feb/DSCN0395.JPG

[Rosscofat]

crraaazzyyyy that road be sweet to longboard down

[BNoel]

Nice pictures and all, but thats the ugliest city ive ever seen.

[Mic]

if the weather were not as "lead soaked", there would be some killer trails. :(

are you working there?

btw...kabul may be ugly, but it has a long history. was once on the silk road. and the taliban and soviets destroyed a lot. i have a stone from the hindukush sitting on my desk, brought over by a former student of mine who visited her aunt and uncle last summer.

[thewalrus]

if the weather were not as "lead soaked", there would be some killer trails. :(


Very little if any flying lead around here, but the trails might be full of landmines... Dangerous, unstable 20+ year old ones left over from the red army.

[knowles]

I totally want to bomb down that road on anything with wheels

[Death Lens]

I totally want to bomb down that road on anything with wheels

pun intended?

those are great photos. Its too bad places like that aren't more accessible.

[knowles]

haha no, pun wasn't intended and it just took me a couple seconds to catch on....I'm a funny guy, what can i say.

[Mic]

Very little if any flying lead around here, but the trails might be full of landmines... Dangerous, unstable 20+ year old ones left over from the red army.

forgot about that danger....right. do you think it will ever come to rest, the region I mean?

[thewalrus]

The north is relatively restful already. Working with an American who was a cop in Kansas City and he told me about his city's 300/year murder rate. Compared to that he feels positively SAFE in Kabul.

The south... is a big problem. If they pull the Canadian, British and US forces out of Nimroz, Kandahar, Helmand and Zabul provinces the whole area will revert to Taliban control very quickly.

I should get some photos of the typical Kabul bike. They're 45 pound singlespeed Chinese bikes like you would see in a National Geographic article about Beijing from 30 years ago. Steel beasts with fenders, chain guards and 36 spoke wheels. Flying Pigeon and Phoenix brand mostly.

[thewalrus]

Top photo, where 727s go to die...

Middle photo, Russian built apartment blocks. Cookie cutter design used all over central asia throughout the 1970s/1980s.

Mountain photo: It really is that barren out in the countryside. We've been joking that if NASA ever wants to fake a landing on Mars it should be done here.

Bottom photos, stripped Russian armored personnel carrier. Too heavy to move and there is no steel smelter in Afghanistan, thus no way to melt it down for its scrap metal value.

http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Jan/IMG_0528.JPG


http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Jan/IMG_0695.JPG


http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Jan/IMG_0702.JPG


http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Jan/IMG_0703.JPG


http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Jan/ReconDay2%20124.jpg


http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Jan/ReconDay2%20125.jpg

[Nate]

epic

[Mic]

Wow, the pics are impressive. A student from a former school told me that a lot of the Taliban are moving around "in disguise", waiting for the re-establishment of their old government....scary.

One of my dreams as a boy was to visit all the places on the Silk Road, seems as if that is not a good idea. First the Russians, then the Warlords and now everybody else.

Sad, since the region has a really "deep" and interesting history.

[Del]

These are some of the most interesting photos posted in a long time, thanks walrus

[BOWMAN]

those are some great pics man, who do you do over there anyways? are you in the military? dont mean to pry, im just really curious

[umbullit]

awesome photos man. really cool to see what it looks like, outside what the press wants us to see.

[strahan]

http://bb.nsmb.com/showthread.php?t=71447
please for everyone's sake.

[thewalrus]

those are some great pics man, who do you do over there anyways? are you in the military? dont mean to pry, im just really curious

From Syriana:

Some trust fund prosecutor, got off-message at Yale, thinks he's gonna run this up the flagpole, make a name for himself, maybe get elected some two-bit, congressman from nowhere, with the result that Russia or China can suddenly start having, at our expense, all the advantages we enjoy here. No, I tell you. No, sir. Corruption charges! Corruption? Corruption is government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulations. That's Milton Friedman. He got a goddamn Nobel Prize. We have laws against it precisely so we can get away with it. Corruption is our protection. Corruption keeps us safe and warm. Corruption is why you and I are prancing around in here instead of fighting over scraps of meat out in the streets. Corruption is why we win.



But seriously. Most of my job involves satellite telecommunications and computer network security.

[Mic]

But seriously. Most of my job involves satellite telecommunications and computer network security.



:eek: the syriana quote is great - great movie by the way. Not scared?

[thewalrus]

OK time for more photos.

Top photos are from the area of Feyzabad.

http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Mar/CIMG0747.JPG

http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Mar/CIMG0750.JPG

http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Mar/CIMG0763.JPG

http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Mar/CIMG0775.JPG

http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Mar/IMG_0645.JPG

http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Mar/IMG_0646.JPG

[Kye]

Whats with the HUGE photos of the plane?

[Mic]

the fourth is really beautiful....there is some serious gnartrails around :rocker: but, well...

[lukkk]

http://fnordsystems.com/bike/travel/2007-Mar/CIMG0775.JPG

talk about global warning in this picture, you can see how much that river has been receding by looking at the rocks on the sides.


ps: or maybe i am too paranoic right now, i just finished watching "the inconvenient truth" :(

[Mic]

i guess it has something to do with the seasons and with how much snow has melted (?). not sure tho.