What’s it REALLY Like as a Tourist in AFGHANISTAN

hey everybody ava here and welcome to afghanistan yes that's right i'm traveling here for the next two weeks and you might think i'm completely mad for even being here in the first place given the security situation in much of afghanistan but i'm not here to bring you more news items no i'm here as a simple tourist i'm here to see some of the heritage the culture some of the nature the beauty of this country and i hope that in this vlog you'll see a slightly different kind of afghanistan the one that you don't often see in mass media this is going to be a crazy roller coaster tour all right first things first what on earth is that behind me i'm here with my guy to afghanistan ghoul hi so gould this place looks absolutely insane incredible what is it this is buddha buddha of bomyan this is the second largest standing buddha in the world but unfortunately this was destroyed in 2001 by the taliban here's how this place looked just 20 years ago the buddhas of bamiyan used to be actual giant statues of the buddha built in the 6th century they stood here for 1 400 years at the heart of the ancient silk route that is until the taliban blew them up in one of the most heartbreaking acts of cultural destruction [Music] so the crazy thing is you can actually go inside the monastery complex and we're going to go all the way to the top of of the buddha but first i want to show you this place this used to be one of the places where the monks that lived here meditated wow that's unbelievable this is original paint from 1 500 years ago they say it's actually probably the oldest example of oil painting in the entire world can you imagine one thousand five hundred one thousand six hundred years ago being a monk right here in bamiyan in this buddhist monastery and then meditating every day with this view a view that's remained unchanged since then [Music] i'm gonna venture a wild guess and say that you've probably never heard of this place well not until now and this is only the beginning now before we move on to our next destination we've got a small errand to run and that is getting a local dress tailor-made at the local tailors in the city let's go [Music] all right we have come to the taylor to get me sized up and get a camis which is a sort of like a longer shirt made for me custom custom-made i'm just standing here on the second floor of the bamiyan bazaar which is the main bazaar or marketplace of bamiyan the town that we're in right now here i've got nazima yeah and together we're going to be going to bandyamir yeah what can you tell us about bamyan i think it's the most beautiful class in the maybe world in the world yeah and you can see the clear weather the blue sky everything here is neutral yeah if you come you'll like it absolutely i'm loving it it's so beautiful out here next up a quick roadside snack before we keep going is like one of the most popular street snacks in afghanistan and it's vegetarian it's got some potatoes and some spring onions inside it's absolutely delicious deep fried just amazing i think one of my favorite dishes that i've tried so far here all right here we got some freshly made bolani with some spicy chili sauce let's try [Music] fast bite so good it's still warm fresh off the pan light and delicious we have just come to the crafts bazaar there's plenty of shops here where women specifically women sell beautiful handmade handicrafts dresses jewelry rugs carpets all sorts of beautiful local things so let's see what we can find ah how does it look good nice so we're about to get an upgraded version of this hat with some amazing jewelry oh my god deluxe wow yeah look nice how is it oh my gosh yeah right i feel so special wearing this it's almost like a crown for a princess [Music] you know it feels quite special to be able to take a look around here in this shop and see so many unique things and souvenirs this is definitely not your typical souvenir shop with you know fridge magnets and stickers now this is really special really really special you rarely get to see this kind of stuff [Music] all the rugs and carpets that you see here behind me are made by hand by women who work here locally and all of them are created with natural dyes so beautiful but you know what the saddest thing is that there's nobody here to buy all these beautiful items and pieces of jewelry and carpets because there are barely any tourists in afghanistan for understandable reasons the situation in terms of security is not great yet so very few people come to visit but maybe that will change in the future hold on i need to make a quick disclaimer before i keep going afghanistan is not a safe place to visit even bamiyan the province that i traveled to which is probably the safest of all afghan provinces experienced a very recent terrorist attack and without trying to glorify danger or risk because i really am not that kind of person i just need you to keep in mind that traveling to afghanistan carries a lot of risk you could get yourself stopped jailed captured kidnapped or worse so i'm not recommending that anybody travel to afghanistan without doing proper research and due diligence and risk assessment all right that in mind let's keep going check this out looks like we have supplies for several days so where are we going and why do we need all this stuff now we are going for adventure trip to bandyamir and we will stay one night here with the local people amazing let's do it [Music] we're just on our way to bandi amir lake which is one of the most popular tourism destinations well made by popular tourism destinations i mean it's still not very commonly visited because there aren't that many tourists here mostly domestic tourists so i thought i'll take this opportunity to ask who behind me who is my guide to talk a little bit about tourism in afghanistan and whether it's even good for afghanistan to have tourism at this point i think afghanistan has a rich history and afghanistan has a rich culture afghanistan has unique people i am sure this tourism or tourists can can change the the concept and the view of the people and help help us to get back to the to the normal life that we had in 60s 70s so i think tourists will help economic and also tourists will help afghanistan connected with the world yeah yeah and that's a really interesting perspective because tourism can sometimes be harmful but sometimes it can really if done in the right ways it can really help revive an interesting culture it can help um support natural places and national parks and i think that's why it's always important to consider that you know places like afghanistan even though they don't have tourists right now they could in the future and i hope that they do yeah we hope yeah meanwhile the road was taking us further into the mountains we were about to enter afghanistan's very first national park bandiami some call it the grand canyon of afghanistan whoa the wind is so so strong but this is the spot where we get to see the lake for the first time it's covered with ice and snow back in the car please [Music] we can make it you think yeah we will this snowy road was barely passable even for a 4x4 some of the locals that we ran into on our way weren't quite as lucky just got a shovel to dig them out meanwhile nazima and i are here comfortable and warm in the car having some lunch success gore told us some pretty terrifying stories of how he got stuck on this road a few years back road assistants would not be able to help you out here oh we have just arrived in our guest house for the next couple of days and we're staying with a local family which is amazing it turned out that we were the only visitors not just in the guesthouse but in the entire village our host stoked the fire in the buhari and invited us for a few cups of that famous green afghan tea [Music] good morning we've just come out on a walk around the lake which is going to take us a few hours and we're here in the middle of the main village of bandyamir which in normal times gets quite touristy yesterday the lady who is hosting us told us that 20 30 years ago there will be a hundred cars here every single day filled with tourists but right now as you can see we're the only ones here [Music] yeah because it's winter we can actually walk across the lake on the ice i haven't done this since i was like four years old in poland when the winter is back home used to be quite cold but here we are frozen lake [Music] amazing [Music] the funny thing is that we've been hearing rumblings underneath the ice and you know when you're in the middle of a frozen lake you hear this like these deep cracks sounds a little bit scary let me put it that way [Music] what about you [Music] wow now let's pause for just a second i have a question for you after what you've seen so far would you ever travel to afghanistan let me know in the comments below i'm super curious to read your answers oh my god look at this oh i still have some way to go [Music] i think the fastest way to come down [Music] do this this feels like climbing everest right now oh my god [Music] it took us some time to get out of the snow but after hiking 14 kilometers we came back to the village feeling cold and wet but oh so accomplished finally we've arrived we're back home back in the guest house and hopefully soon we'll be getting some warm tea oh to recover from that long walk oh all i want to do is lay down for a minute so we are so chilly so far that we've grabbed sleeping bags and good news is we got back just in time because it literally just started snowing and raining outside so lucky yes [Music] this is what i've been waiting for for the last couple of hours like coming back from the mountain i was just dreaming of food like this warm and fresh and delicious [Music] um [Music] what do we have here uh rice and milk and with butter it's going to be very delicious homemade food what's the name in sherbringe sherbringe milk branches rice milk and rice [Music] all right let's have the first our first taste of sheer bridge local rice pudding hmm that's really really good it's very filling very creamy delicious i imagine this is the kind of food that would give you a feeling of warmth and strength in a very very deep dark winter this this is quite special we're here at the lake bandi amir lake dressed up in traditional afghan clothes and we're about to do a little photo shoot so when do you wear clothes like this we were in new york some traditional class also for reading for tv use but today we don't have a special occasion we're just looking pretty we rented this clothes for a couple of days and we even have a horse to accompany us on our photo shoot all right let's do it we were just out here taking pictures nazima was on the horse and suddenly the horse decides to just follow its own path go back home and nazima on top here are the results of our photoshoot that morning and this is how we've come to the end of this vlog and there's one more burning question that i'm sure you're all wondering about and we're going to ask google because he is the local expert and the local guide so how does the situation the safety situation in bamiyan compared to the safety situation in other parts of afghanistan bombing is like paradise it's safe people are calm and you can check you can walk you can go anywhere that belongs to banyan so bonyan is safe i i invite everyone to come to bombia so do i so make sure that you check out ghoul's instagram page and you give them a shout if you want to come over here to bamyan or any other part of afghanistan now we are going to continue on to another village where we're gonna have some more adventures so make sure that you subscribe to my channel and watch the next vlog alright keep exploring and i'll see you in the next adventure [Music] bye you

Channel: Eva zu Beck

Views: 652,638

Keywords: afghanistan, afghanistan travel, is it safe to travel to afghanistan, is afghanistan safe, kabul travel, bamyan buddha, bamyan travel, bamyan afghanistan, silk route travel, band-e-amir lake, band e amir lake, solo female traveller, eva zu beck afghanistan, afghanistan culture, afghanistan food, extreme travel, adventure travel, dangerous travel

Id: gOChk-crMQM

Length: 19min 54sec (1194 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 27 2021