Panjshir Valley

On a whim, some of us decided to head to the Panjshir Valley for a day trip.  Not to get too into a history lesson, Panjshir is famous for both its beauty and because it was where Ahmad Shah Massoud held off the Soviet Red Army during the Soviet occupation in the 80s.  If you don't know about Massoud and his story, it's definitely worth a quick google.

Panjshir is about 2 1/2 hours or so outside of Kabul, and it was definitely cool to get outside of the city for a day, especially somewhere as beautiful as Panjshir.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves - but the photos don't even come close to giving justice to the awesomeness of the Panjshir Valley. 

My Weapon

Just one photo - but I really liked it so I thought I'd put it up.

Lake Qargha

A few days ago some of us went to Lake Qargha, about 9km outside of Kabul.  Apparently it's a man made lake, and it's also located right next to the Kabul golf course - which is basically huge fields of dirt with really awful looking greens (or browns should I say).  The lake area was pretty cool overall, it was like a big Afghan tourist spot with little shops and even a small amusement park.  We didn't try any rides, which is probably good because they looked pretty haggard.  There were also swan paddle boats you could rent, which was definitely the last thing I thought I'd see in Kabul.  We ate at pretty nice restaurant overlooking the entire lake.  The food was tasty and really well priced - plus you couldn't beat the view.  Below are some pictures from Lake Qargha and the drive into the area as well. 

Dogs

Kind of different than previous posts. I've seen a ton of dogs in Kabul so far.  I don't know why, but I think it's pretty interesting to watch the dogs and how they navigate the city.  Sometimes I feel like the dogs here have a little community of their own. Most of the time they are just chilling in the shade, and when they're not doing that they're usually rummaging for food or something. I took a couple of photos of just a few of the dogs I've seen so far.  I also found a bunch of puppies - you could definitely tell which ones were and weren't going to make it.  Anyways... just something different I thought would be cool to show some photos of.