Matharu's Rants and Raves » holiday

A trip into the heart of Afghanistan during August 2009

Kulvinder Matharu — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:37:56 +0000

Afghanistan? What? Where? You mad?!

Most of our travels within the country were through central and northern Afghanistan. The trip was quite exhausting and security concerns increasingly played a part especially during the elections with the risk of rocket attacks, suicide bombs or IEDs. However, I did think that the security forces were over enthusiastic in protecting us…we tried to avoid them whenever we could. The reason being that they invariably curtailed our movements or detained us for our “protection”. They obviously were very sensitive about ensuring that we didn’t attract undue attention from the Taliban. There was one point when we were escorted by several armed vehicles to get to the next town; what a day that was as we travelled from checkpoint to checkpoint and waited hours while the roads ahead were checked. Being flagged down by masked gunmen was taken in its stride, especially in light of being roughed up by armed guards at one checkpoint. We only had a couple of real security concerns during the trip and what appeared to be a direct rocket attack that made me dive for cover!

This wasn’t really a holiday…more of a photographic assignment for me! Still, it was an excellent trip. We were roughing it quite a bit sleeping on floors and went several days without washing. But we had our sleeping bags, roll-mats, med-kits, emergency rations, water purifiers, etc so we didn’t suffer too much! But you can imagine the toilet facilities…there wasn’t much! Using the bushes or the nearest wall was the order of the day!

We basically travelled from town-to-town hiring a driver with a 4×4 mini-bus each time to get us to the next town; we changed our route several times dependent on security and the willingness of drivers to take us through Taliban or bandit country. The heat was constant except along the spine of the Hindu Kush such as the Salang Pass and Bamiyan province. But the dust…the dust was everywhere. We breathed dust all the time. It was in our lungs, in our hair, in our clothes.

Most of the people were really friendly and they were curious to find out who we were. Most initially thought we were part of the NATO-led ISAF force, or that we were journalists or working for the UN or NGOs…they were most bemused to discover that we were holidaying in Afghanistan! Just outside of Kabul we bumped into a security team from the British Embassy…they were not too happy to see us there. But with the recent spate of killings and kidnappings of foreigners in Afghanistan you can understand their concerns.

Despite the armed convoys, military checkpoints, and helicopter gunships flying overhead I did manage to have some relaxing moments. One of my favourite moments was at a Sufi shrine in Gazargah near the town of Herat where a family invited us to share their picnic. Despite the recent road-side explosion that had killed 12 people in Herat, and despite the language barrier, we felt their genuine pleasure at meeting us. This was a special moment for me; not the serenity of the blue lakes at Band-e-Amir, not the majestic Buddhist caves at Bamiyan, and not the rugged beauty of the landscape. It was this touching gesture from a family who allowed us to share their food and gave us the warmth of their friendship.

When we got back to Kabul we were interviewed by a journalist regarding our trip. She was curious about the type of people who would holiday in Afghanistan. I do wonder what she thought afterward…”Crazy people”. Indeed.

Photos can be seen at:

www.metalvortex.com/images/Afghanistan/index.html

I accidently dropped my 70-300mm camera lens down a cliff into a lake in the middle of Afghanistan so that seriously compromised the types of photos that I could take for most of the trip. Still, I was up for a challenge and I hope to have captured the essence of the place.

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2009

Malaysia Holiday – August 2008

Kulvinder Matharu — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:07:36 +0000

I recently returned from a holiday trip to Malaysia in August 2008. It was a fun trip as I did some cave exploring in Mulu in the Malaysian state of Sarawak in Borneo, and also travelled to other parts of Malaysia such a Kuala Lumpur, Cameron Highlands, Penang Island and Langkawi Island where I attempted a bit of swimming, snorkelling, scuba diving, para-sailing and jet-skiing. The food was great, the weather was great! Fantastic trip!

The following link is to my original site (metalvortex.com) and should work on all web browsers:

http://www.metalvortex.com/myphotos/malaysia/august2008/

This following link is to my newer experimental site (ninjatrek.com) where the images are dynamically resized to fit within the browser window but uses “Flash” technology which may not work in all web browsers or may be blocked by certain firewalls:

http://www.ninjatrek.com/index.html?openfolder=Malaysia/August%202008/

New York City! Woohoo!

Kulvinder Matharu — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:28:04 +0000

Just spend a few days (23 May – 27 May) in New York City for a reunion with fellow travellers from the 2007 Antarctica trip. The weather cooperated too! The motley crew consisted mostly of this lot (showing our first tentative steps at building a snowman in Antarctica):

Anyway, the views from our host’s apartment were pretty decent, both night and day!

Apartment night view – Brooklyn Bridge:

Of course I’m going to come back…I want to see those views again! I think that I was last here in 1993. Now that was a long time ago!

I suppose the NYC trip can best be summed up in a few words. Food, drinks, and more food and drinks

There was more to it than that of course. There was a bit of shopping in which everyone participated. The girls went shopping for clothes and shoes; the guys went shopping for gadgets and software! Is that stereotyped or what!

Having said all that, Audrey did go looking for a good point-and-shoot digital camera. And I think the girls certainly bought some some cool clothes, oh yea!

So, what do you do on a hot day in New York City? Go to Central Park!

And for something a bit more adventurous, you go to Coney Island!

Now that was fun! The roller-coaster “Cyclone”…oh yes! And a centrifugal contraption, oh boy! Thanks Michelle, I loved that centrifuge!

So, thank you Audrey, Raldi, Jason, Michelle and Laura! It was great meeting up with you all and exchanging our stories from the Antarctica trip, etc. Can’t wait for the next meet!

On the last day I was mostly on my own, with everyone having gone to prior engagements (eg working!). So went on a bit of a walkabout in lower Manhattan and got some shopping done at the J&R software store. Oh my poor achey feet! Made it OK to JFK (hey, love that Internet check-in, saves so much time from queuing!).

And so, goodbye New York City, and goodbye to that Americanised French chick

My god, it’s full of stars!

Upcoming trip to Atacama and Patagonia

Kulvinder Matharu — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 18:36:42 +0000

Well, it’s come to that time of the year that I’ve been waiting for. I’ll be spending next week somewhere in the Atacama Desert (northern Chile) and then flying south to travel around Patagonia for two weeks (both Chilean and Argentinean parts).

If you have time, have a look at my Home Page for some of my photos from the last few years, mostly travel photos. Enjoy!

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