On the ring road to Kabul, via Herat and Kandahar. We spent the first night in the very basic Najib Hotel in Herat, and the next two two nights in sleeping bags beside the road.
Richard Mellor
Kabul itself wasn't very interesting. But north of Kabul was another story: we drove with fellow travelers Richard and Jasmine Mellor to see The Red City (Shahr-e Zuhak), the lakes of Band-e Amir, and the Bamiyan Buddhas.
Shahr-e Zuhak. Once home to 3000 people, founded between 500-600 AD, around the same time as the Buddhas of Bamiyan were created. The fortress was later ransacked by Genghis Khan. My picture is of one of its watch towers. Very little remains of the original fortress. The kids were great though.
The Bamiyan Buddhas. The larger was 175 feet high, and originally covered with painted stucco. Constricted around 500-600 A.D., they were destroyed on the order of Mohammed Omar, the leader of the Taliban: "Muslims should be proud of smashing idols. It has given praise to Allah that we have destroyed them." The statues were destroyed by dynamite over several weeks, starting on 2 March 2001.
The lakes of Band-e Amir. The lakes formed from mineral-rich water that seeped out of faults and cracks in the rocky landscape. Over time, the water deposited layers of hardened mineral (travertine) that built up into walls that now contain the water. Band-e-Amir is one of the few travertine systems in the world.