Bagh e Babur

Bagh e Babur is a large historical park located in Kabul. It is said to be the last resting place of the first Mughal emperor Babur. The gardens are thought to have been developed around 1528 AD, when Babur gave orders for the construction of an "avenue garden", in Kabul. This was described in some detail in his memoirs, the Baburnama.

Like many tourist attractions in Afghanistan, you have to be searched thoroughly before you enter the park. You then enter a beautiful wide open space with bazaars, a rug store (which was gorgeous, however, we were not allowed to take photos of it), and jewelry stalls.

You go a little further, through another security check point (an old man in uniform, a large rod/stick, who sits in a chair and looks at your tickets), to enter the actual park. everything is uphill from there, literally, you climb a beautifully landscaped mountain to the top of the park which has an open white marble masjid (mosque), and a grand restaurant and museum. There are green feilds of fruits trees on both sides of the pathway, and all you can see is families having picnics and old men laying under the shade of not so ripe pomegranite trees and ripe mulberry trees.

Bagh e Babur is a must see attraction in kabul.

Afghan Public Schools

In Kabul, my aunt had connections at a local elementary school for girls and boys. We took a little trip there to see the classes, kids and teachers and we were guided quickly through the school.

However, from what our eyes could see, a few things were apparent, 1) There was a lack of classrooms/seating space 2) The education being taught was extremely basic and in some subjects, in particular English, many errors were being made on behalf of the teachers - who might I add were probably not even qualified, some had just completed grade 12 and 3) They were in need of help and funding even though they were a much better off public school than most others.

National Museum of Afghanistan

Im back! So I didn't keep my word and update as much as I could, but, in my defence, there I had very limited acess to internet. If it was available, it was hard to ask for it, and if I had it, it was too slow to do anything with. And so, everything I put up on the blog will be out of order, but it will be more in quantity :)

First off, after my intro rant, I would like to say that going to Afghanistan will open your eyes in sooo many ways whether you have travelled before or never travelled before, like myself.

Afghanistan has developed a lot in the past decade. Especially within Kabul, you will see many new buildings, shopping centres, proper roads, street signs in some areas that no one listens to, super markets (completely modern like Superstore/Costco) etc. However, you will always see the impact of decades of war around these buildings, in the face of beggars, bombed houses, ancient markets, dirt roads, stalls etc.

The land, the people, their societies and surroundings were so different than the Canadian life I was used to. It's hard to explain so I hope you can see what I saw through my pictures although even these pictures are not enough to give you the full image of Afghanistan - it's close though ahah.

This post has pictures of The National Museum of Afghanistan. The museum located in Kabul, was built in 1922 by King Amanullah Khan. It has been looted several times, but still survived with artifacts dating back several millenia.