Kabul to Jalalabad Road - Day 2

Monday we traveled east from the capital city to Jalalabad city in Nagarhar province. Generally, the mode of travel is a USAID flight. Unfortunately, all flights were grounded for a few days due to an incoming US dignitary. This meant the only way for us to get to Jalalabad was by road mission.

I’ve heard about and seen pictures of the “Jalalabad Road.” Every time Art visits, he drives the road to J’bad. He has never flown. It is one of the most beautiful drives in the world, and also one of the most dangerous. The road winds through the mountains, with one side against the mountain and one side against a steep drop into the gorge. It’s a good solid paved road, but people drive without rules here. The river running through could be a world class whitewater destination, if you didn’t have to worry about being shot out of the water.

The road starts with a military checkpoint. When we arrived, there was a nice traffic jam. No one was moving, due to an accident that had happened overnight. A large truck, probably stacked twice as high as the crate, had crashed into another truck and tipped over. Everyone was out of their cars, standing around. It was a great picture opportunity, except our windows were not tinted so everyone was staring in at us. I felt uncomfortable being too obvious with my picture taking, though I did take a few. Once all of the cars coming towards Kabul had passed, we were pushed to the front of the line and followed a military vehicle onto the road. After leaving the guesthouse around 8:30, we were finally on the road at 10am.

Unfortunately, my camera battery had started flashing red while we were at the checkpoint. I had charged it in Dubai and for a few hours in Kabul, so I was puzzled as to why it was already dying. I must have fried the charger somehow. I was pretty upset because 1) it's a beautiful drive, 2) it's a beautiful drive we weren't even supposed to do, 3) I love taking pictures. So I would scope out pictures, turn on the camera, take the picture and turn it back off. I did this the entire ride, and the battery actually lasted until Jalalabad. I didn't take quite as many pictures as I would have on the drive, but this forced me to scout out the pictures more.

We started out making good time. Trucks lined the side of the highway in our direction, but we were not moving. There were a few oncoming cars and trucks we literally had to squeeze between, but we survived. Traffic headed to Kabul was very bad and didn’t seem to be moving at all. The views from the road were beautiful. There is no snow on the mountains yet, but the whole thing reminded me of driving through western Colorado in the Glenwood Canyon.

Once we were out of the mountains, (about an hour) we rendezvoused with a car from Jalalabad to take us the rest of the way. Our guards were out in full force while we switched cars. This one has tinted windows so I can take pictures unnoticed. It was another 2 hours to Jalalabad.

Trucks line the highway

The road hugs the cliff

Cliff hugging

Overturned truck blocking traffic

Patroling guard before the switch

Beautiful landscape, drier this year than in the past

Raging rapids

Many people travel on top of carts

Kabul river is extremely dry

Local lunch at the office - cilantro yogurt and beans

We arrived in Jalalabad and went straight to the office. They were kind enough to fix a late lunch for us, and we were shown were we can work while we are in town. Then we had a security briefing before heading over to the Mughul Khan hospital, to meet Dr. Mirwais Shegiwal. He is the one who owns the hospital and will be helping us set up the lab. He is quite the business man, let me tell ya. We toured the 4 story hospital with an awkward design, and saw the room which will be the new lab. They told us it would be cleaned out by tomorrow.

Finally, we made it to the guesthouse. There are 12 people staying at the compound, including the 3 of us. We each have private rooms, laundry service Sun-Thurs, two awesome dogs, internet access, a flat screen TV and a cook. The place is protected by armed guards, 24/7. There was some mention of body armor during the brief, but that never happened. There are three buildings, and I live in the safe room for my building.

I was feeling pretty tired and still a little sick by this time. I managed to make it to dinner, which was more American than local. Then I excused myself and passed out for a good night’s sleep. I only woke up one time when I heard a distant far off boom. No worries though, I'm already in the safe room.