Bamiyan, Buddhas and all.

   

   

    Bamyan is the place of magnificent cliffs, with loads of caves and niches, which surround the town, lots of beautiful natural locations, green fields, waterfalls, and canyons. One can go hiking and camping there. The activities which are definitely not very popular among locals nor foreign tourists.      The biggest attraction that makes foreigners and locals come there are the niches which used to be the place of one of the world’s biggest Buddha statues. Unfortunately, they were tragically destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban who used explosives and rocket launchers to destroy this ancient Buddhist architectural treasures.

   

Two massive holes are all what’s left of those statues, yet still they attract thousands. They are locally called “Buddhas”, even though nothing is left of the real creation.

Bamiyan town, as well as the entire province under the same name, is considered safe and free of terrorist threats. Foreigners are very common there, hence no surprising looks from locals, who can even communicate in fairly good English (shopkeepers and people related to tourism; don’t count on it on the local bazaar J ).

    The town is small, yet equipped in all the more-than-basic-commodities such as running water and constant electricity (unlike for example Lal). Local bazaar is full of seasonal fruit and vegetables (in summer), restaurants offer local food and ice-cream (unfortunately Mazari sheer-yakh cannot be found there), and various hostels and tea houses accommodate travellers. Starting from around $10 per night for a proper hotel room to a few dollars for a place in a common room in a tea house/local restaurant which at nights transforms into a dormitory (in fact, you only pay for the food you order there, sleeping is free; one of the places like this is located in the van station area).

   

Bamiyan can be reached by 30 minutes flights from Kabul ($99, run by Kam Air company); 3 times a week, or by car (shared taxi or a van). The second option will never be recommended by any local as even they themselves are always stressed about the trip. From the two existing roads – through Parwan and Wardak provinces, the better option is the former one that is considered “safer”. Wardak is a literally full of Taliban checkpoints, on which they usually look for government officials, army members, etc. Recently Samad Amiri, the head of independent human rights organization was kidnapped and later killed in that area.

   

To get from Kabul to Bamiyan you can find shared taxis (up to 5 people inside) in the Kote Sanghi area of Kabul (they leave in the morning, so better be there around 6-7 am), the cost is 600 Afs per person and it takes around 5-6 hours to come to the town. Alternatively you can choose to go in a van (locally known as falancoch) through Wardak, which obviously is not recommended at all.

Though I personally haven’t visited surroundings of Bamiyan, there are many places of interest, both natural and historical. The one, definitely must-see (that one I did visit) is located 80 km from the city – called Band-e-Amir. It is the first National Park of Afghanistan where magnificent lakes and water pools are located. With crystal blue water, waterfalls and surrounding cliffs the place is breathtaking.      You can go there from Bamiyan by taxi and pay 200 Afs an entry fee to the park. There are facilities to eat and stay for a night, too. Though the place looks perfect for swimming (the water is the bluest blue), a few decide to do so stating that it’s very dangerous and deep (saying “I can’t swim” in the other words?). Instead you can hire boats or water bicycles to roam around the lake.

    I and my friend are working on a website about tourism in Afghanistan. Though it’s still under construction you can already find more objective point of view about the country and travelling in here, than my writings on this blog (as most of the things I do/did are not very recommendable).

http://authenticafghanistan.com