The trip to Kabul was relatively unspectacular. It was tough saying good bye to Terry and the rest of the family. Mom and Dad called the night before I left and we were able to Skype with Chris, Marissa and Charlotte that evening as well. The toughest part by far was having to say farewell to Terry there at the Manchester airport! After flying to Washington on Tuesday, I was able to visit with John Davis and Corey before catching my flight to Dubai. That 14-hour flight passed rather quickly since I was enjoying the new book Chris had sent me and I actually got a good-night's sleep on the plane.
We arrived in Dubai at about 3:30 pm local time and since I had just eaten breakfast on the plane, I was worried that I might not be able to sleep in the hotel. I stayed at the Intercontinental - Festival City which is about a 15-minute taxi ride from the airport. From my room on the 16th floor, I had a great view of the Dubai skyline including the Burj Khalifa which is currently the tallest building in the world. The air was hot and hazy there so the view was not a bright and clear as I had hoped. So, as soon as I got settled into the room, I went to the hotel gym for a short run on the treadmill. I ate supper at the international buffet in one of the hotel's four restaurants then went for a stroll through the attached Festival City shopping mall. Amazingly enough, I did get a good night's sleep there and woke up refreshed, ready for the flight to Kabul.
I flew to Kabul on Safi Airways, the national airline of Afghanistan, in a relatively new Boeing 767. I would guess that at least one third of the passengers on that flight were Americans heading to Kabul to work in the country in some capacity, but that is just my guess. I wrote "We" earlier referring to the handful of folks I had met who had attended some or all the training prior to coming to Afghanistan. When we arrived at the Kabul airport we were met by an embassy representative who arranged our ride to the compound, a lovely little "gated community" in the heart of the city.
I was put up in a temporary room with two other guys, one from Armenia and the other from Cambodia both of whom are here on six-month tours of duty. When I woke up this morning after another surprisingly good night's sleep, I went over to the dining facility (DFAC) for a cup of coffee, then went to the little gym to go for yet another short run on a treadmill. I soon discovered the difficulty of running right after moving to a location at close to 6,000 feet above sea-level! My short 5 km (3.1 mile) run was exhausting!
The afternoon temps reached into the triple digits and the air was extremely dry and dusty! The smell of the place reminds me of Tuzla, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the smell of automobile exhaust and trash mixed in with cooking fires.
That's it for now. Next time I submit a post, it should be from Kandahar! Until next week...
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