Solo Female Traveller in Afghanistan (What is Kabul Like)

i've been planning this trip for over two years and i can't believe it's finally happening i'm about to travel to afghanistan on my own yes the same afghanistan that you always hear about in the news the devastation is everywhere eight people have been killed female journalist was shot dead eight kilometers away from kandahar city the political history in afghanistan is extremely complex and very very volatile and it's way beyond the scope of this travel vlog but let me give you a couple of quick historic facts that could help you with the understanding of what's actually going on here in afghanistan afghanistan has been in a state of war to varying degrees over the last few decades and a big pivotal event in this history is the 1979 soviet invasion which gave rise to a lot of instability all across the country and then of course an event that you might all remember the 2001 american invasion of afghanistan now the most important key player in the politics of afghanistan today is the taliban a terrorist organization responsible for countless bloody attacks all across the country the taliban's goal is to take control over afghanistan and implement a very extreme very strict version of the islamic sharia law so given this volatility and all the conflict why would anybody want to travel to afghanistan well i hope that this series shows you that there is a different side to afghanistan the one that you don't really see in the news one that is inspiring and beautiful where afghan people are fighting to build a very different kind of future for their country but before traveling to afghanistan i had to spend some time preparing for my trip all right i've just come out here with nina my friend who's from syria so what are we doing right now oh we're bang them basically a safety um outfit so i need to be wearing an abaya for most of my time in afghanistan and also ideally a hijab which is a head covering we will teach you how to do that after 10 days of self-quarantining in istanbul and two coveted tests i was finally ready to pop up this is where the journey finally begins i'm just in the taxi on my way to istanbul airport here we are this is the airport and i'm about to say goodbye to istanbul and turkey [Music] oh my god i'm so excited i feel like my anxiety levels and excitement levels are going up to a degree i haven't experienced in a really really long time or if there's just the fact that i'm going to afghanistan where i've been wanting to go to for years i was there almost boarding just arrived at the airport in kabul and i'm about to go through immigration and this is probably a good point to blend in a little bit more [Music] i'm finally through immigration my passport has been stamped i'm officially [Music] they'll be helping me and taking me around not just kabul but afghanistan in general so cool what's the safety situation for tourists coming to afghanistan for tourists the safety is not so bad so because the tourists are is always moving so it's not staying in one place a diplomat or a person who is working in afghanistan for he cannot come to to to this place as we as a tourist do because he's not allowed because when he people know him very well when he come out he has to be careful but tourist low profile you gave them the local clothes going low profile cars that's not so bad for toys so yeah but taliban as everywhere at the countryside on the big roads if we travel to other provinces there is big risk and there could be tolerant checkpoint so that's why we use most of the destination flight not by road compared to tourists how would you say is the safety situation for normal people living in afghanistan yeah normal people uh also have uh concern when we are like traveling to to another province we are not using our uh android phones with what has and so we have we don't use we don't take our documents what has that if you have official documents that show that we are working for government for international organizations so we are very careful so we we we are local clothes we don't go with the genes and this so still it's it's a challenge for afghans but afghans knows how to all right here we are look at that gate there's no sign no sign that this is uh only they receive a guessed through emails through wow advanced booking is that for safety reasons yeah so this is why we are here wow look at that two gates i think this is the first time that i've seen security this tight in a guest house oh welcome to my crib this is my room but i'm not staying here very long actually i just need to quickly get changed into an abaya which is a long black cloak to blend in even a little bit more i mean kabul is not the safest of cities in the world in fact it suffers from regular terrorist attacks usually by the taliban and so you know even though tourists aren't usually targeted it's always good to just err on the side of caution all right and here is the headscarf which is the finishing touch all right and this is the final look done let's go today ghul and i are planning to just walk around kabul and get to know its streets and its markets a little bit better and i am super super curious what it's going to be like because i have so many expectations because i've been meaning to come here for such a long time and i'm just curious to see if those expectations will match up to what kabul is really [Music] like [Music] just randomly found ourselves in a music shop where these guys make instruments by hand one and a half months used to make one you've just entered a kite shop you may associate afghanistan with um kites a little bit if you've come across the novel the kite runner by um hosseini probably one of the most famous books about afghanistan my hobby i love every village every street of all children love guiding and waiting for the season so love [Music] that is a kite with two messies on it since we're in a kite shop in kabul offered to teach me how to fly a kite in his house so we're going to choose a couple of kites here and then later on today we're going to play [Music] so you can control it [Music] it's ready really perfect so this is a bone fixing doctor apparently i don't know if i need any bones fixed but i'm gonna go inside and check it out this is you really oh wow look at you amazing good tell me what do they do here what what happens in this little shop so the this shop it's a boom so they come here traditionally different cities wow and why would someone come here and not go to the hospital so this is from a long time ago from so people used to also they are very experts on this okay people believe so if i had a broken bone could this gentleman fix it yes in case you guys ever need a bone fix just come out here to kabul [Music] you know what i've read about this bird market in so many books about kabul and about afghanistan that it feels completely surreal to actually be here for real and see it with my own eyes and it's exactly exactly how i picture it [Music] walking through the bird market honestly is an experience unto itself there's birds absolutely everywhere you hear them you see them you smell them never been to a place like this insanity [Music] is taking me to probably the oldest cafe in kabul 17 yes [Music] ah that's why this is my first cup of proper afghan tea here in kabul cheers [Music] oh it's so delicious super fresh sweet amazing this here is a local bakery with a beautiful tan door right there this is like an actual little factory line so there's a boy here who needs to go into little balls there's another guy there who rolls it in some flour and then passes it on to this guy who molds it into a beautiful little bread and he passes on to the back that guy who then does something else i don't know exactly what he does and then that guy passes to that guy but then puts it in the tandoor and then the last guy passes it on to the guy who sells the bread on street level amazing it's a whole system it's beautiful simple efficient fresh bread okay honestly i don't know how this happened but here we are dressed up in these beautiful clothes all of us doing a little photo shoot at the queen's palace just because welcome to kabul so tell me about this area okay so i live in this park around there so i remember 20 years back when i we were coming to this hill and this this part was all green agriculture trees but after the taliban gone so this place now become houses it was all builded in 20 15 years and now there's no land left no agriculture you don't recognize it no no i i remember the green how green it was but not anymore [Music] it's been a really really long day of walking and exploring the city but we have just arrived here in front of ghoul's house where we're gonna try and fly some kites and have dinner let's go after ages do you still remember it yeah i'll try is it ready all right [Music] rules of this game what's going on so now we have to find someone to fight i have just learned that the purpose of flying a kite is to make it a battle with another kite so you have to find another kite somewhere up at this guy and to fly into it and fight with it for the domination of the sky he's an expert and it looks very very hard so i don't know if i'm gonna be trying out it's like a hundred meters away how far can it go as long as oh there's a tree in the way we have one more kite only so we gotta make this one count here we go again future check that out there's an actual battle happening in the sky right now i don't know who's winning no idea what's going on but something's happening [Laughter] oh no oh there it is no [Music] sorry i told ghoul that i was vegetarian and i didn't expect that his wonderful family and the ladies and his family would cook an all vegetarian feast but it's all vegetarians that can eat everything that's amazing oh my god what a day it's been and i can't believe i still cannot believe i'm here in kabul afghanistan one of like my top travel dreams finally coming true it's not like what i imagined it would be it's much more lively and colorful and vivid and i felt more relaxed than i thought i would and definitely very welcomed i mean everybody who got to know the fact that i'm a tourist was extremely hospitable and welcoming and i think a lot of that is due to the fact that i had an amazing guide who knows everything about the city ghoul i mean i really owe this trip to him and i know it's not the same if you live here or if you're afghan yourself but as a tourist which is the only role that i can speak of so far it's just been heartwarming and so much more incredible and rewarding than i expected i'm ecstatic to be here and this is only the beginning of my afghanistan stories there's so much more to come and i cannot wait to share this beautiful country with you from my traveler's perspective all right see i i knew it i've been telling you all along i've been telling you all along the world that belongs to the brave alright i hope you enjoyed this tour of kabul keep exploring and i'll see you in the next video [Music] you

Channel: Eva zu Beck

Views: 497,496

Rating: 4.9109616 out of 5

Keywords: afghanistan, kabul, afghanistan travel, extreme travel, travelling to dangerous countries, dark tourism, solo female travel, female travel vlogger, eva zu beck afghanistan, afghanistan culture, afghanistan food, dangerous travel, the most dangerous places to travel

Id: GX9MjxeNGiE

Length: 20min 26sec (1226 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 20 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/pach1nk0]

I haven't watched the video yet so won't comment on the content. However I don't like this solo-traveller videos at all and even get disgusted by them for multiple reasons.

Firstly no one can deny the fact that Afghanistan isn't safe (there's literally no European Union embassy left in Afghanistan because of security reasons for example) so a solo traveller tempting fate by proving something ridiculous like "even though all common sense says I shouldn't do it, I still achieved this" is very dumb imo.

Secondly, if something happens to these people we Afghans will be portrayed in the media of all countries like savages etc while it's not even safe for us. When an Afghan looses their life no one bats an eye but when a foreigner dies there the country and the people, even the diaspora will be scrutinized because of some dumb solo traveller too high on dare devil adrenaline rush.

Thirdly, these people don't realize their privilege. They can move and stand anywhere but our people can't even get a chance at a decent life in the countries of the foreigners and are treated like savages (Jungle of Calais for example) with some even dying during migrations in their search of a better life.

[u/Shansab101]

This article names Eva Zubeck directly: 'How western travel influencers got tangled up in Pakistan's politics'

/u/pach1nk0 this woman is very dodgy lol