THE AFGHAN SERIES, DAY 14
KABUL
Box camera and Afghan theme park. I could probably name a few of the things that come to your mind when you think Afghanistan.
A THEME PARK IN AFGHANISTAN…
However Afghanistan offers many things you wouldn’t believe and it was one of the reasons why I wanted to travel it so thoroughly.
WHERE IS KABUL?
Kabul
THE CAMERAMAN OF KABUL
Box cameras are hard to come by where ever you are but in Afghanistan there is only one and only one man who knows how to work it. Haji Mirzaman has been a cameraman for longer than I’ve been alive and offers locals and tourists an opportunity that will soon no longer be possible.
His camera which is anything from 50 to 70 years old is the last of its kind here in Afghanistan and is an art to operate. As part of the process, you are welcomed into his home in traditional Afghan style while he does his magic, a process that takes around 20minutes.
Box camera and Afghan theme park
DAILY INFO….
- HOTEL – LANDMARK HOTEL
- FOOD –
Chicken soup
Lahmajun - ATTRACTIONS –
Box Cameraman – Haji Mirzaman
Minarets of Ghazni - STEPS – 10,400
FAMILY
His family is also in the same line of work but as is the way with the younger generation they have moved on from the older technology and instead run the film processing shop. Here they scan, adjust and print the photo ready for you to take home and frame it. All for the price of around $20 – $40.
Box camera and Afghan theme park
RELATED READ: PETRA, AN INCREDIBLE WONDER
THEME PARK WORLD
Another place I had found while scouring the internet was a theme park, something I thought was too bizarre to believe so I had to check it out.
I’m not a fan of any sort of rides that goes around in circles, absolutely not for me as I’ll be back to how I was feeling in Jalalabad (LINK). But after a short walk we came across some haunted house. I didn’t expect it to be too bad but there were locals standing outside contemplating going in or not. After a bit of talk, I persuaded them to join us.
Beyond the first door it was dark and at times quiet but the real issue was the worker who’s job it was to scare us but all he done was shout in our ear and slap us across the head every 2 minutes. It was complete jokes and I have no idea how he even seen anything as every time I went to retaliate with a left hook he was gone.
Box camera and Afghan theme park
FACTS ABOUT KABUL:
- Kabul is one of the most developed cities of the ancient world. It is a history-lover’s paradise.
- Kabul was once the center of learning Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Hinduism.
- Today, Kabul is the scene of many terror attacks.
DODGEMS
When going to a funfair, the dodgems are usually as eventful as it gets for me. Chasing around trying to inflict damage onto little kids shouldn’t normally be classed as fun but sure if they can survive living with the Talibs they can survive a few head ons. A lot of fun but the park was surprisingly quiet.
Box camera and Afghan theme park
TODAY’S YOUTUBE VIDEOS
If you want to see today from a different perspective, and catch a few different stories from the front row, then check out today’s YouTube videos below.
FINAL THOUGHTS
A slightly different experience for our last full day in Kabul but again a lot of fun and great to be continually surprised by amazing experiences.
NEXT UP
Tomorrow we head west to Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban!! Click to read.
SAFE TRAVELS, DS x
159/229
This post was part of The Afghan Series, for the entire series click here or for episode 1, click here.
To watch the video of my trip, head to my highlights on my Instagram.
