Herat is still a relatively nice place in July...it's only 100 to 110 degrees, with a nice northerly breeze at 35 to 40 knots every afternoon. It has all the attractions, an old castle from Alexander the Great, restaurants and flower gardens.
Another nice attraction is the airplane graveyard right outside the wire, behind our helicopters. It's all the MiG's left over from the dirty Russians leaving Afghanistan...they smashed them, shot them up and abandoned them. It's quite a sight! And it's not just MiG's, there are tanks, rocket launchers...and the guards that live out there. Yes, these guys live here...to keep somebody from stealing one of these gems.
How cool must it have been to drive your MiG right into a T-72 tank...Russians being Russians, there may have been a bottle of Vodka or 16 bottles behind this story. So they probably don't remember it anyway. They left all sorts of treasure piles all over Afghanistan.
There are a couple of really nice ones in here, if interested, let me know, imagine driving your own tank! I can get one real cheap! Just a case of whiskey and a bottle of scotch...and the current owners will be glad to part with one or several. I picked out a nice MiG-17...just needs some bondo and couple of new tires.
The giant picked out his favorite...he says size doesn't matter, it's how you use it. He's taking parts off this thing and sending it home in pieces. He'll be done in about 13 years.
And one day, we found another giant. He's not quite at big as our giant...but pretty close. And now that our giant has gone home, this new one will do, he's from a land of giants. He says he's not a giant, we're just little.
A while ago I mentioned the things I miss most (wifey is first, buy she's not a thing). So that list started with milk, ice and toilet seats that haven't been peed on...so I've resigned myself on the first two but that last one is still on the list. We'll leave it at number one for now...and number two...bikes. I MISS MOTORCYCLES. It's so bad, I'd even ride one of these boat anchors...it's no KTM but it has knobby tires, but I'm not sure what the silly dork blinkers are for. Do you really use those when your out and about in Herat, or in hills looking for those rascally followers of 'the religion of peace' that bomb girls' schools?
Um....helmet laws? Nah...who needs 'em! This is the record so far, for people loading on a Caspien 150. By the way, I'll be taking delivery of my Caspien, VERY SOON!
Local campaign bus...we think, I guess we could have checked into the website on the side... fawad_zaranghltd@yahoo.com.
This little dude was pretty stoked to show off for the camera.
Oh yeah, the garden...they have lots of pretty flowers...and plants.
My wife was in the Peace Corp, so she'll be able to identify this plant.
No comments:
Post a Comment