Day 3, Wednesday August 7th- Dubai Goodbye, Salam Kabul !

Burg Al Arab

Its about 1am, we just finished dinner, Scott and I walked around the boardwalk area, also next to their port where shipments of goods come in on these old school looking pirate ships, seriously.....products imported were things like basic home appliances, car parts- like tires, old used 1940s-1950s model style bicycles...we definitely saw people around town here and in Kabul riding those....water bottles, soda, crates of food goods, etc....OK and these products were protected by security guards who would sleep on top of the shipments...they were like homeless people, but I am almost positive they worked for the pirate ships....however if I tried to steal something (which of course I would never do ), nobody would have noticed....went  back to our hotel room at the Carlton Towers...went to bed around 2am or so... the outside heat was about 115 degrees, our hotel AC was on blast about 65 degrees or so...that was nice to stay indoors

Next morning, woke up about 7am or so... Scott wanted to take me to the souks , which are like bazars or specialty shops...spices, gold, food products, electronics, etc....well they were all kind of closed, things open up around 9am I guess....lots of men wearing pajama style dresses on the streets, looking at us funny because we are dressed western style...

however Dubai is a very modern city with lots of tourists and business ... we walked around a little more, took some nice pictures...went back to our hotel ...I took a quick nap, Scott and I went to the outdoor hotel swimming pool, water was like 90 degrees like a hot tub, I swam some laps, we rested on the lawn chairs .... headed back to our room...started to get ready to go to the airport because our flight was at 2pm and we wanted to be there by noon, checked out and took a taxi ....so we are at the Dubai airport, checking in our bags, paying an extra $150 for additional check in bags...urghhh.....we definitely knew we both wanted to come back to Dubai and spend some extra days....its modern, lots to do and see...On our way to our boarding gate, we stopped at the Costa coffee stand, got a small sandwich and coffee for the flight....

we boarded on Fly Dubai, our seats were all the way in the back...the flight was full, a few businessmen, missionaries , a bunch of emirates looking people with their white dresses and head wear and beards, many are perfectly manicured 5 o'clock shadows... most people wearing sandals...it was a 2-3 hour flight, I stayed awake reading time magazine and blasting my ipod to western tunes...looking out the window flying over a bunch of middle eastern countries....on our descent to Afghanistan and Kabul, I could see mountains and fields, villages, and farms...lots of potential...Our landing was smooth, we arrived at Kabul International Airport....
immigration/customs was fairly easy....went to baggage claim and there was a beggar trying to get money from us, grabbing a cart and wanting our bags...airport police did not seem to care, the beggar followed us outside and insisted that he help us for money, so we gave him about $7 or so....we found our ride, not a taxi exactly, but the guest house where we are staying at, one of the English speaking workers picked us up in his Toyota corolla station wagon with the steering column on the right side... some of the cars its on the right, some are on the left ...its weird, I guess its Pakistani influence

As we were driving, it had just hit me, we safely and officially finally arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan...we made it ! OK...so driving around we see a lot of military vehicles representing different departments and countries...its not just US or Afghan military....most of the vehicles are Toyota brand ...land cruisers, 4 runners, corolla, I even saw one Sequoia, seriously....and then there is the poor people walking on the streets and riding the old school classic bicycles again...saw some young people riding motor cycles....lots of road problems...lots of potential, we can see western billboards and advertisements and even stores/shops with western influence...we drove past a GOLS's GYM fitness center, seriously....

we arrive at our guesthouse, in a better part of Kabul I think, the Guzargah neighborhood...its about 6pm local time....there are 3 bedrooms downstairs (one for the manager) and 3 bedrooms upstairs...2 bathrooms, and one dining room with a common area ....scott takes the small bed by the window and I take the bigger bed on the wall side....the beds are not really comfortable...but oh well, we have a desk, and share a closet...we start unpacking and settling in, they give us the rules of the guesthouse so we can all respect each other....

the guest house is actually managed by an NGO called Afghans 4 Tomorrow, non profit with headquarters in Colorado and possibly Canada ? We are called to dinner at about 7pm on the first night....we meet Frank who is about 60 years old, been working in Afghanistan for about 8 years in the ministry of finance and education, he helped start up the American university in Kabul, he is originally from Ohio and will finish his duties in December...Frank is a great resource and gives us great tips and dos and don'ts and is trying to hook us up with a meeting or dinner with very important officials, like ambassadors and others who are highly influential . Zach is about 25 years old, he is from Canada and studying and traveling , taking notes on cultural anthropology and sociology, he was in Afghanistan for about a week only, previously he was in Cairo for a month or so, and prior to that in Jerusalem I think...he is on his way to China now....wow...  I forgot what we ate...like soup, some salad, plenty of bread (nan)...I drink tea and water ...

after dinner, I got on my computer a little, then I fell asleep by 10pm, I was exhausted...