Afghanistan — turning back the clock 100 years!
While Afghanistan is a vast country blessed with beautiful mountains and ancient villages, much of the country is still too dangerous for most travellers. However, currently some pockets in the northern areas including the Wakhan Corridor have been declared safe enough for travel. Cross the small bridge across the Panj River near the Tajik town of Khorog and explore the little mountain village of Shughnan.
The relatively safe north eastern region of Afghanistan is best approached from the border crossings at either Khorog, Tajikistan or further south at Ishkoshim, Tajikistan. Once stamped on the Tajik side, walk across the short, narrow bridge to the Afghan side where you will go through similar procedures. The Afghan officials will soon wave you off with a “welcome to Afghanistan and be careful” in their broken English.
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The nearby village of Shughnan is about a five kilometre walk from the border crossing all along the Panj River. While there directly spills out onto the small street, a large sleeping area is available on the floor. However, the sight of many old men sitting around, suggested that the inn was quite full. A single room might be available if you are brave enough to walk in and inspect it.
Lets rather move to the third option: with almost no English spoken in the village, show by putting your hands to the side of your head that you are looking for a place to sleep. Most people will shake their heads indicating that they have no idea where you can sleep and that they are amazed about what a tourist would do in a place like this.
Don’t despair. Sooner or later someone, most likely a younger person who studies some English at school, will come up to you and ask: “you want sleep?”. You immediately will start to profusely smile and say “yes, do you know where I can sleep tonight?”Hopefully the good Samaritan won’t point you back to the travellers inn, but will lead you down to green pastures where a local family will be overly excited to offer you a bed on the floor. Take it with a smile. This is your lucky day.
Good idea to ask one of your new friends to lead you back to the bazaar to buy a few items for dinner. Don’t expect to find any restaurants in the village as people only eat at home. As you wander around the bazaar looking for something edible, you will find several reasons to immediately become a vegetarian. You certainly would not want to stop by the butcher’s shop. Continue on to buy a few veggies such as tomatoes and onions and maybe potatoes and bread.
As little is grown in this mountain village, the condition of fresh vegetables and fruits is quite dismal. Back at your new guesthouse your hosts will be glad to take your offerings and prepare a nice dinner consisting of your tomato and onion salad, Afghan bread (team hopefully beats Pakistan.
By around 10pm you will be in pain from sitting so long on the floor, at which time you should suggest its time for you to get in your bed, prepared on the floor. With just a few blankets between your body and the floor, you hopefully will get a good night’s rest and wake up the next morning with breakfast served right in your bedroom. As you most likely had to share the room with several other people of your gender, together you will enjoy breakfast consisting once again of naan-e Afghani, rice, yogurt and milk-tea, as the tomato and onion salad sadly was finished last night. Once again enjoy the meal and head out the door after warmly thanking your hosts with a nice tip in the hand.
It’s your second day in Afghanistan and there is much to explore. People are generally very friendly and overwhelmingly surprised to see a foreigner in their midst. Before long you will have met some amazing characters, including several men with machine guns who are there to keep the village safe from conquerors and of course the unwelcome Taliban. Enjoy your time in Afghanistan. When it is time to leave, you will look back on this visit as one of the highlights of your travelling life!
A few more photos of Shughnan Village, AFGHANISTAN
Further Reading: Afghanistan on Globerovers blog
Originally published at www.globerovers-magazine.com on December 27, 2014.
