Bus window view
of the road over
the Hindu Kush. It's a long, long
walk home.
This was a slave route
for centuries. "Hind Kush" means
'Hindu killer' |
The Salang Pass crosses
the Hindu Kush at about 11,000 feet. This really gave the Russian engineers
a headache. Eventually they built
massive open-sided
'tunnels' (the black bands in the photo) to protect against frequent
avalanches of snow and scree. The
photo is taken from half a
mile
away, before the road switches
back through a giant
underground
tunnel. |
A barren, stony river bed, high in
the Hindu Kush. |
House with a view.
However, the
Internet, electricity, uh, water ..
are not on
offer. Anyone for a
holiday away from it all? |
Every conquering horde
in South
Central Asian history has come
through
this narrow pass where
the awesome Hindu Kush range
meets the plains
of Central Asia.
And so with today's road. The
hills are littered
with crumbling
fortresses. |
The "Russian" side of the Hindu
Kush, on the road to
Mazar-e
Sharif and Samarkand. All the
houses had round, domed
roofs
of baked mud. Note the heat haze.
A few minutes later we were
in
a sandstorm. Not a fun place. |
The famous blue mosque of
Mazar-e Sharif. You
can't
really sense its impact from
the photograph. This
huge
monument of sky-blue tiles
is set in an ocean of
greenery.
It is a focus of devotion for hundreds of miles around.
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