Kabul

Kabul – The First Day of Ramazan

Fantastic breakfast: big bread and bean soup Yesterday people were not sure yet whether the fasting month of Ramazan would start today or the day after. “We are waiting for the announcement,” said Abdullah, a driver from Bamiyan. But today, it was clear that the Ramazan started officially. It is one day earlier than in Indonesia, as Afghanistan was following the trend in the Middle East. For travellers, fasting is not obligatory. Kebab restaurants still prepared their meat and actually you still can eat anything as usual, just not in open way. The restaurant owner made the kebab indoor so that the smell would not invite people who were fasting. The Hazaras are Shiite. Abdullah said that for Shiite it was OK not to fast when travelling, but the Sunni Afghans were very strict about religion and still maintained fasting even when travelling long distance. As Ramazan started, suddenly the number of travellers dropped dramatically. Usually it was easy to collect passengers to go to [read more]

September 23, 2006 // 0 Comments

Kabul – Newsroom Experience

Working in the newsroom Pajhwok Afghan News Agency is the biggest news agency in Afghanistan. I was lucky that I was introduced by a journalist friend of mine to the director of this company. And starting from today I experienced the life in the newsroom. The news of the office came out online and updated in minute basis. The subscription fee might be still high for Afghan standard, up to 200 dollars for big companies, NGOs, and embassies. The website of the news agency is http://www.pajhwok.com, and provides services in Farsi, Pashto, and English. The director, Mr Danish, is a friendly man, and he provided me some books that I might read before deciding to wander around the country. He even promised some assistance from different parts of the country as the News Agency has several local offices in many cities of Afghanistan. Discussing about the photos Mr. Danish requested me to come to the office early to meet with the photographer of the office. They only have one photographer in [read more]

June 12, 2006 // 2 Comments

Kabul – First Sight

Don’t forget, you are in Kabul now! The first image of Kabul for me was the glamorous life behind the shady looking fences. I am staying with an Indonesian friend of mine, working in an IT company with several foreign workers. He got paid well, even that he said it was not enough. The place where he stays (also the same place I am staying now) has some luxurious room, gym room, some servants and security guard. My friend invited me to watch the openning of world cup. He said that it was open air show, with giant TV. I thought that the audience would be Afghani, as the place we were going just looked like a sad house completely walled. But you know that it was not a normal building inside a wall fence, as the area was heavily security guarded, and there were many high class cars parked outside. Inside, there was a bar, with its blinking lights. The bar is famous among expats and well-to-do locals. Its name is l’Atmosphere. It has garden, swimming pool, bar, restaurant, and [read more]

June 11, 2006 // 3 Comments

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