Off to Herat....in western Afghanistan

Sunday dawned as Jon, Dr. Jerry, Dr. Rahimulah, and Dr. Rafi.            
took off for Herat.  The residency had been issued an invitation by
 Ghalib University, a private medical school to come and see what connection could be made as they are building a new hospital and need doctors as well as faculty for all the above.  They flew Kam Air, which Jon assessed as being older planes and Russian appearing......meaning the crew may have come from one of the 'stans' to the north (Tajikistan, Usbekistan, Kyrgestan).

Herat is close to the border of Iran, more of a plain with mountains on the periphery.  It was colder than Kabul, a surprise.  More than any other city, Herat speaks to the centrality of the Silk Road in Afghanistan.....at the crossroads of trade routes to the Middle East, Central Asia and India.  It has flourished as a center of  learning and commerce, giving the city a cultered air of independence.  It has a realiable power supply, street lights and public parks.  It remains a beacon of progress compared with much of the country.

Surprisingly, blossoms were appearing on fruit trees, which is not yet happening here in Kabul.
Of course, there are not the abundance of fruit trees.  Roses are the 'crop' that excels in Kabul.

 Meals are served on a 'dustacan' cloth ....

 Herat's Old city is the most complete traditional medieval city in Afghanistan.  Three focuses of the design are the commercial centre, the Royal Centre and the Religious Centre.    The Citadel, pictured on the left, is hte oldest building, standing on the foundations of a fort built by Alexander the Great.   The Blue Mosque, which Jon did not visit, is AFghanistan's finest Islamic building...and one of the greatest in Central Asia.  It has been a synagogue and a church before a mosque.

 Transportation varies from area to area in all of Asia......mutations of the two and three-wheeled
carts.  These are quite colorful cabs for a motorcycle.  Zaranges are what they call these.






                                                                                         

The Pul-e-Malan is a fine olf 22-arched bridge,
believed to have been constructed by the Seljuks in the early 12th century.   It crosses the Hari Rud river and has recently been repaired.

 

This shrine, The Gazar Gah, is one of Afghanistan's holiest sites, dedicated to the 11th-century saint and poet Khoja Abdullah Ansar.  Run by Sufis, it receives hundreds of pilgrims daily.  It is the most complete Timurid building in Herat .  The courtyard is filled with the gravestones of the many of Herat's old ruling families and poets.