We were on our way to lunch at the Serena Hotel in Downtown Kabul for Friday Brunch. This would be the same as Sunday Brunch back home in Canada.
Mike (our engineer) had to do some work on the airplane. So on the way to the Serena, we dropped him off at the Airport. As we said goodbye to him, Nasir (our driver) went to pull away from the UN Area of the airport. "Uh oh!" he said... "No accelerator." We were all thinking "What do you mean no accelerator?"
After a short investigation we found out that the gas pedal cable had broken. We were stuck. Thankfully we were stuck at the airport, and not in the middle of downtown Kabul. This was probably the best possible place to have this happen, rather than inside the compound at The Baron. If things were to go any further south, we could have retreated into the safety and security of the UN Area of the airport.
Nasir (Driver) and Laurent (Base Manager)
"Working on the fix"
We called Mike, who came back out with a tub of lockwire and some tools to see what we could do. The repair that we decided was best was to twist some lockwire together, and feed it through where the broken cable was to re-attach everything and get us back on the road.
Mike making the new cable.
Repairs Complete - Brunch, Here We Come!
Well with the repairs done and back on the road, we proceeded into Downtown Kabul. Passing through the "Kabul Ring of Steel" which is a series of 25 Afghan National Police (ANP) Checkpoints around Central Kabul, we made our way towards Massoud Square. A simple handshake and greetings from the ANP Official and we were very quickly on our way.
Massoud Square pays homage to General Ahmad Shah Massoud, a political and military leader in Afghanistan. He was the central figure of the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980's and the leader of the United Front which fought against the Taliban Advance during their takeover of the country. He was assassinated 2 days before 9/11.
Massoud Square
We arrived at The Serena slightly later than planned, and our person that we were meeting was waiting patiently drinking coffee.
The food and the hotel is wonderful, though like anywhere they are very particular about photographs. Many different kinds of food adorned the restaurant. From Tempura, to Local Dishes, to Ice Cream and Mousses for dessert. Western Food was also available.
I did manage to take a couple of photos in the courtyard of the hotel as it was being set up for some sort of event later that day.
We spent about 3 hours at the hotel just eating, and talking, and having a great time. I also went to the gift shops and bought some small gifts for folks back home. Though the real shopping days will be coming up, hopefully with a visit to the local bazzar, known as "Chicken Street"
The Courtyard
A View of the Serena with the Kabul Airport 'Aerostat' in the background.
Little Old Me
On the way out of the hotel, I met a beautiful little Afghan girl and a small boy, who was selling pens in the street. I gave her $2 and didn't take a pen, just to be nice.
She kept saying "Hazi Ambigi" which translates to "Please take another"
I said, "No no Tashakor" (No Thank You).
We got back into the truck and made the trip back home here to The Baron.
All in all it was a wonderful experience and I hope we get to return before I come home...
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