April
23, 2012
“My Very First Mission – ‘Official’ Get-Away from Kabul in Life”
Location: Kabul, Jalalabad from the aircraft and Faizabad in Afghanistan
Right now, I am flying to Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan province in Afghanistan. This UNHAS aircraft is very small. I am sitting at the very back row of plane.
As usual, when I travel, there always is something stupid . This time, it was I did not check my E-ticket yesterday and it was when we got to the Kabul International Airport that I realized our departure time was 08:30 instead of 09:20 which was written on their schedule. Since we planned to leave early, we made it! YEY!
The reason the departure time was different was that apparently the same flight was stopping over at Jalalabad which was not mentioned in the schedule I had (so, I was not a total idiot! J ). Since this is my first time to get out of Kabul (except for Panjsher where I went on ‘illegal’ picnic – I will write about it another time), I was excited like a little girl who was taking an airplane the first time in her life.
The first destination was Jalalabad. One of the top 5 largest cities in Afghanistan, dominated by the Pashtuns. A Japanese NGO worker from my hometown was found beheaded in this city a few years ago. I had never had good impression about this city since this news, honestly.
I started to see lots of green with tiny yellow-brownish houses made of mud bricks as the airplane started landing. I only knew desert-like Kabul city view. No trees. Only dust and many cars on roads. But here in Jalalabad, there was full of green! Such a big difference! I totally understood why many fruits and vegetables available in the bazaar in Kabul were coming from Jalalabad. I did not have a chance to get out of the aircraft so I could not feel the temperature, but it must have been warm.
After the brief stop at the airport, the airplane took off again. The next
scenery which was waiting for me was mountains covered with SNOW! The contrast
between the green Jalalabad and white “nowhere” (I don’t have any clue where I
was when I saw those snowy mountains) was so funny. I felt that I was
experiencing summer and winter on the same day...
The final destination, Faizabad, was rather small comapared to Kabul or Jalalabad. It looks more like a "village" to me. The first thing I found was a huge river which runs through the city. This reminded me of Budapest, Hungary. The Duna also divides the city into two parts. Of course, the color of the river and its surrounding are completely different, but at least there is a river with water! In Kabul, there is a river with no water but garbage and pee & poe though...
My first mission in life starts here in Faizabad!!
“My Very First Mission – ‘Official’ Get-Away from Kabul in Life”
Location: Kabul, Jalalabad from the aircraft and Faizabad in Afghanistan
Right now, I am flying to Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan province in Afghanistan. This UNHAS aircraft is very small. I am sitting at the very back row of plane.
 |
| Almost empty cabin... |
As usual, when I travel, there always is something stupid . This time, it was I did not check my E-ticket yesterday and it was when we got to the Kabul International Airport that I realized our departure time was 08:30 instead of 09:20 which was written on their schedule. Since we planned to leave early, we made it! YEY!
The reason the departure time was different was that apparently the same flight was stopping over at Jalalabad which was not mentioned in the schedule I had (so, I was not a total idiot! J ). Since this is my first time to get out of Kabul (except for Panjsher where I went on ‘illegal’ picnic – I will write about it another time), I was excited like a little girl who was taking an airplane the first time in her life.
The first destination was Jalalabad. One of the top 5 largest cities in Afghanistan, dominated by the Pashtuns. A Japanese NGO worker from my hometown was found beheaded in this city a few years ago. I had never had good impression about this city since this news, honestly.
 |
| Jalalabad from the air |
I started to see lots of green with tiny yellow-brownish houses made of mud bricks as the airplane started landing. I only knew desert-like Kabul city view. No trees. Only dust and many cars on roads. But here in Jalalabad, there was full of green! Such a big difference! I totally understood why many fruits and vegetables available in the bazaar in Kabul were coming from Jalalabad. I did not have a chance to get out of the aircraft so I could not feel the temperature, but it must have been warm.
 |
| Snowy in the middle of nowhere from Jalalabad to Faizabad |
The final destination, Faizabad, was rather small comapared to Kabul or Jalalabad. It looks more like a "village" to me. The first thing I found was a huge river which runs through the city. This reminded me of Budapest, Hungary. The Duna also divides the city into two parts. Of course, the color of the river and its surrounding are completely different, but at least there is a river with water! In Kabul, there is a river with no water but garbage and pee & poe though...
My first mission in life starts here in Faizabad!!
 |
| Faizabad from the air! There is the river right next to the wheel in this pic. |
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