Balkan Blues

Spent a couple of days in Skopje last week. Was absolutely fabulous to be back in the Balkans. I have missed it for a while. The weather was also very warm and sunny so it was really nice to sit in a street café just enjoying being in a nice place.

Ok, Skopje might not be the most beautiful capitol in the worls, but on a sunny day sitting in one of the cafés or bars on the brink of Vardar is really nice.


A real Balkan party dress...

Of course I had to go to the market and get some spice and nuts.


Welcome to a Paprika Nation

WC at the Airport

Out travelling again I have been once again reflecting about something that have annoyed me many times. Airport-toilettes. At every airport you repeatedly get reminded on not to "leave your luggage unattended at any time". But every now and then you might have to visit the airport facilities and encounter small tiny toilette booths where the door open INWARDS!! Not only is the booth small, 50% is covered by the closette, then the door takes the remaining 50% when you open it. So how the hell squeese in there with your luggage?? No woman can have come up with that design!

On Mallorca

There are a few places that are famous or maybe even infamous as holiday places, where almost everyone in Sweden has been at some time. Mallorca is one of them. The funny thing is that even though I have travelled quite a lot I have never been to any of them. So this visit to Mallorca was something quite new to me. Ok, it was still very far from the standard charter trip that most people go for, as I flew with a regular airline and stayed in a house that my friends had rented, very far from the most hectic beaches. Hence it was very nice.



The House


However the last night we had a hotel in Palma which gave far more of a tourist feeling. We were still not staying in the most exploited parts along the beach but in the city centre, but we went to the beach for a couple of hours. It was nice as it was very sunny and warm, but the beaches were very crowded and not so nice like the ones closer to the house, but still ok.



One of the beaches closer to the house.


However some of my friends came up with the idea to go to where the German colony is gathering in Palma. As I used to live in Germany I was familiar with the place too as you often see broadcasts from there in German TV. Ballerman 6 is it called. The most famous place is obvious the Oberbayern. It is really infamous and we just felt we had to see it, just for a short visit before going to dinner in town.

We did not know exactly where it was but started moving in the direction where it had to be. Getting closer we saw a lot of signs but still could not find it. We where all a bit embarrassed to ask the way there, but in the end we send forward the only German of our group to ask other German looking people, which was easy to find. Then we were informed that it was still a bit early for the Oberbayern, at this time they recommended Bierkönig.

We walked the suggested direction and when we turned around the last corner we were all almost chocked and terrified. Just around the bend from the beach walk there was this street with all bright neon light for different very German institutions and there were hordes of very drunk people already at this time.



I think we all felt a little bit scared and intimidated and almost wanted to turn around. But nevertheless we entered the Bierkönig and ordered beer. We did not say anything about the size of our beers so automatically we got litres! And they came with metre-long straws!?! Amazing!! We laughed quite a lot and felt rather out of place, probably most of all so the only Spanish in our group, and probably the only Spanish guest there at all. After all, the beer was very good and we were laughing a lot. I just don’t understand why hell all the tackiness and the bad music.

"Fighting" the Bulls??

When I arrived at Mallorca some of my friends who were already there had arranged tickets to the Corrida for that evening’s bull fighting. I had never thought I would go to see one as I always have felt it is a cruel and senseless “sport”, but as I now was given the opportunity and also am of the opinion you should try things if you get a chance, to be able to really know what to think of it; I joined. It was some excitement in the air around the arena and there was also some demonstrations outside it. When we walked pas the demonstrators I almost felt guilty and thought that I would have actually held it more likely that I should have been demonstrating outside than go in to watch the fight.

However, we went in and there was a quite exciting atmosphere and the arena was very beautiful and we were all rather excited and almost a bit nervous, at least those of us who had not seen bull fighting before. Then it all started!

I think the first game got us all a bit chocked. Well maybe I can not say that I was really chocked. I mean I grew up on a farm and saw animals being slaughtered already as a small child, so I have seen animals die and have seen lots of blood etc. But then it was always a matter of trying to make it as quick and painless as possible for the animal. It was quite a different thing to watch people trying to extend it and make it into some kind of game and torture of the poor animal and then finally kill it in a very disrespectful way. I found that very hard to digest.

Of course I can not see all the fine details of the moves and gestures the toreador is performing in the arena, but I must anyway say that I can not see that it should be such a manly thing full of bravery. I mean; when the toreador finally gets on his own with the bull, scores of assistants, picadors and banderilleros have already done their best to tire the animal as well as empty it on blood so it is by then almost half-dead.

No I must say this is no “sport” for me. After the first bull, five more met their fate in the ring that night and I must say, in the end it got only boring and tedious. There is no real excitement or surprise in the game as you know the outcome of the game; the bull will die in the end.

I agree with my gay friend who I was sitting next to, the greatest attraction of the evening was watching the toreadors butts in their tight pants…



The toreadors and their cuadrillas enter the stage with a lot of tamtam. But my gay friend said the outfits and the toreador's pink stockings reminded him more of a Gay pride parade.



I cheered for the bull!!



The picador at work. I felt sorry not only for the bull, but also for the horse.



Then finally, when the bull ist almost alredy half dead the toreador is starting his show. Chicken!!



This one he did not manage to kill by the first cut, nor the second...

Well; apart from watching the asses of the toreadors it was quite interesting to learn to waths and learn the circumstances around the game. That the audience waves their white handkerichiefs if they are happy wiht the performance of the toreador and then the mayor gets to decide if he was good enough to get one or maybe even two ears of the bull. Fabulous trophy!!

Back again

So, back in Sweden again after one planned trip to Poland and one very spontaneous trip to Mallorca. I am really glad I went to Mallorca as it was nice to spend some more time with the friends I don’t get to see very often and it was also nice to get some more sun and beach before getting back to work. The weather is really bad in Sweden at the moment; it almost feels like autumn already. This holiday I really tried to be good at relaxing, not keeping my work mobile on or checking my mail. It was really nice to relax totally and not read or listen to any news for some time. But I am glad I picked up a newspaper on the flight back. I would have looked stupid at work yesterday hadn't I known that there was a war going on in Georgia...

I will soon try to post some pictures and give some comments from the trips.

Summer Escape

Just came back from an intensive weekend in Poland. Was invited for a wedding just outside Warsaw. Was really great to see old friends again and the wedding was an excellent party that went on for days. As I had never been to Poland before either it was also nice to at least get a glimpse of Warsaw.

Coming back I got immediately depressed to find Sweden in storm and rain and with a feeling of autumn already, so right away I booked a ticket to Mallorca to meet up with some of the friends from the wedding who have rented a house there. I was invited to join in the first place but was just not ready to make that decision at that time, now however it feels as a great idea. More sun and heat before going back to work on Monday!! :-)

Dubai Pictures

Just felt like posting some random pictures from Dubai.

Photos from Afghanistan

In case you are awaiting pictures from Afghanistan and you haven’t noticed, I have been starting to post some, but under the headings where I feel they belong, although that means that they will be put under “older” posts. Was considering to putting them all together as in an album, but decided for the other option, to put them in their context. Hope you don’t mind.

Girl Power

Another thought that struck me just before leaving Kabul was that I think Afghanistan would be better off if their women had more power. Of cause this is a general opinion of mine, but I believe it is even more valid in Afghanistan. At the airport you have to go through countless bag and body searches. Most of them are completely inefficient, but still you just have to let them do it. And as it impossible that a man should body search a woman or even see anyone do it there is often a small shed where the women go in to get searched. And whereas the men got more and more upset after each search and said they were more and more annoyed by the ruthless and unfriendliness of the officers, I had the completely opposite experience. At the first shed the woman referred to me as “sister”. Later I was offered watermelon and got some compliments for my bracelet and some new dari words. Therefore I believe the women are more compassionate and friendly and would have a very positive influence on the politics.

And anyway, I just had another proof of that men are completely impossible to understand. Completely unreliable and irrational…

The Internationals

It is quite funny, but no matter how different Afghanistan and Dubai are, they have one thing in common; they would not cope without their expats. However there are very different types of international. In Afghanistan you find the “humanitarians” and the “cowboys” travelling from one disaster or war zone to the other and like to talk about and comparing the misery in different places, the one place being worse than the other. In Afghanistan noting is really simple or clean. In Dubai everything is shiny and beautiful and they seem to believe it is possible to build away all problems and act as if there are no worries in this world; it is all a big party. Instead of moving from disaster to disaster people move from one financial centre to the other. In Afghanistan there are few parties and little investment and finance is more a question of funding. So what makes those people do what they do? What is their motivation? Money? Kicks? On the average maybe these two groups of people are not so different after all. The other day someone commented my trip to Afghanistan with: “That must be interesting, it is great that there are people who work with things that is not just about making money.” That made a huge gap very visible. I never thought of it like that. Not that I would mind making a lot of money, but I could not imagine spending my time on a job that I don’t find interesting.

Report from Dubai

I haven’t been blogging so much from Dubai because I did not have internet access in my hotel room, so here are some concluding reflections on Dubai etc.

I must say I have mixed emotions for Dubai. In a way I like it, as I like big modern cities, and I do like the hot climate and the beaches and the shopping etc. But it is so artificial. And it is still one huge construction site, I wonder what it will be like when it is “ready”. I fear it will be a little too perfect. It is all so clean, tidy, neat and well-organised. Of cause it is nice, but it is a little boring and annoying. It would get me on my nerves after some time. I would miss the “chilli in the sauce”; the unexpected and uncontrolled. Ok, I really haven’t seen much of the place, as my supposed guide stood me up or at least suddenly got busy elsewhere (men!!), but all I have seen goes in that direction, that is perfection. What really would annoy me if I stayed here longer is that there is no place where you can walk. Ok, when it is over 40 degrees outside you might not want to walk much, but the city is really only made for transportation in cars. The place is very wide-stretched and there are not much of sidewalks and the junctions are all but pedestrian-friendly and there is nowhere to go, no nice areas to stroll in, lest for the beach and the shopping malls. I guess there must be some parts where you can still see and feel some of the history, but all I read in the tourist brochures seem to be about “new” constructions in “old” or “traditional” Arabian style, nothing seems to be genuine.

As I did not get the private guided tour I was promised, I booked myself on one of the arranged tours. First of all I realise how unused I am to go on those things; I almost lost the group all the time and was nearly left behind at the end of it!! Anyway I got to see some of the “older” parts of the city and some souqs and the historical museum. There they had some quite fascinating exhibits in see how people lived in straw huts just 50-60 years ago! Then there was almost nothing there!



Of cause I visited some of the malls too, the one said to be the biggest outside US (I doubt it though as I think some that I saw in China felt bigger) Mall of the Emirates, where they have the famous indoor ski-slope, which I of cause had to try.





It was quite fun and it was surprisingly good skiing, but it was only fun for about 30-40 minutes and than that’s it.


The slope from the outside.

Maybe that what happens with all the artificial stuff, you get tired of it quite soon. I wonder how that affects people who live here. Maybe they too get artificial and superficial (and obviously unreliable, yes I am a little annoyed!).

Anyway everyone I met was very friendly, but on the other hand I mostly met foreigners working in the tourist service industry, mostly Indians. 80% of the inhabitants in Dubai are foreigners and from those 80% I believe 40% are Indian. The service level is very high, to me sometimes annoyingly high. You can not just look around on your own for a while, before there is someone asking if you need help, and what ever you do there is someone to tell you how to do it right, or what way to go or asking if you need help etc.. To me that is very American (although I never been in America) and I recognise it from Manila and it gets me on my nerves after a while.

Change of Environment

I have now arrived in Dubai and I must say it feels great!! I still haven’t seen much of the city, although it felt like it took ages from the airport to the hotel, but it all looks like one huge construction site.


My hotel; Oasis Beach Hotel, from the street.


The street outside the hotel.



But the hotel is so nice!! As I never go on “normal” holidays it is the first time I ever stay in a hotel like this one.



It is directly on the beach, a beautiful beach, and has a huge pool area and all the amenities you can expect from a nice hotel.



My room and my balcony overlook the pool and the beach, very nice. Almost directly after checking in I went swimming, at sunset. The water was so warm; I have never swum in such warm water, much warmer than the air at that time. A sign said it was 27 degrees in the sea!

As I completely mixed up the days of my arrival here, I thought I would arrive the 25and only this morning I was made aware of the fact that today is the 24.th, my guide will not have that much time for me tomorrow.

I guess I will be satisfied with just lying on the beach with my book, but maybe I will go out for some sightseeing on my own as well. No matter how nice the hotel, I am starting to get a little bit fed up at hanging out in hotels. But I do think I could live in a place like Dubai. I definitely have to come up with a plan on how to move to a warmer country anyway, because 13 degrees and rain does not sound to tempting!

Kabul Traffic

Just before I left Kabul today I saw a programme on Al Jazeera about the traffic situation in Kabul. The report said that during the Soviet time there were 60 traffic lights in Kabul and only 50 000 cars, now there are 600 000 cars but only one (newly rehabilitated) traffic light. I suppose that says something about the traffic situation. But considering that I must say it works surprisingly well!

Afghan Star

At the hotel I found a small magazine called Afghan Scene. It is exactly what it sounds like; an attempt to create a feeling of a scene in Kabul. A scene for the young, beautiful and successful (although the picture on the cover shows an old man with a thick grey beard and the traditional pakul hat). It was very interesting reading indeed. Especially one article about a woman who made a documentary on the Afghan version of the TV-show Pop Idol; Afghan Star. It was amazig reading! I did not even think there was anything like that. But as the filmer said, almost everything you hear from Afghanistan is miserable Taliban related stories about war and fighting and number of dead. But this country has a population where 60% are under the age of 20, of cause they want to hear and know something else. Of cause you can then say; is this really what they need?! Is this not only superficial popular culture. It might very well be, but maybe that is exactly what you need sometimes, maybe especially when life in itself is hard and challenging. And to quote the documentary maker Havana Marking again; There is huge unemployment and gossip is a serious problem. If people can talk about this, then they might not talk about the woman who has to go to work, or other “scandals”.

I haven’t checked it, but maybe you can read the article on: www.afghanscene.com

Kabuli Recreation

Our driver took us to a lake just outside Kabul (on the way to Kandahar, where we’d rather not go!) that is a very popular picnic and recreation spot for the Kabulis. It was quite a surreal experience.



Around the small lake there were some holiday cottages, a fun park, food stalls and you could even hire swan-shaped paddle-boats!! It looked like some kind of tourist resort!


On the way there we also passed the Kabul golf course! That was also quite an experience.



It looked more like some cross country course, with a lot of small stones everywhere and not much green. We actually only saw the greens (that are anything but green) and no tees so I could not really figure out how to play it.

He also took us up to the hill with the swimming pool, where I went also last time in Kabul.



To my big surprise there was water in it! It was far from full though, but enough for the little boys (no girls!!) to jump, splash and swim in. He also told us he too used to go swimming there when he was a kid.

From that hill it was also very obvious how much greener the city is now than it was in March.



I have read a lot about how famous Kabul used to be for it’s gardens, roses and orchards and I believe that if there only will be peace for some time, they will be able to get there again, there is definitely a gardening tradition to build on.

Tomorrow we will leave Afghanistan, but the way this trip have worked out we might be back soon again… But now I most of all look forward to a couple of relaxing days in Dubai.

Cultural Confusion

Today I had some cultural considerations. Before we left Kabul I met with the driver who was driving us the last time and he then asked when I would come back to Kabul. I answered I would return on Sunday and leave again on Tuesday. Then he invited me to dinner with his family on Monday evening. I found it very flattering and thanked and agreed. But we never decided on the details, we only changed phone numbers, but did not say who would call who.

At the same time as I am very flattered and happy to be invited and really wanted to meet his family again and hopefully would have some more time to talk to them and hear more about how they live and think, I also felt a bit hesitant. I know it is against all security recommendations to go out alone like that with someone you don’t really know. But I do trust him and I have been there before. But this time it would have been more planned which in a way is riskier and it would also mean movement after dark which normally is recommended to avoid. And I also did not really know how to get there and back. Last time he drove me, but I am not sure whether he has a car of his own and I don’t think he would be able to use the company car in the evening.

Anyway; now when we came back to Kabul I did not know if I should call him or not. I felt that my colleague was not too thrilled about me moving around on my own with an Afghan at night, but I mostly wondered what would be the most culturally acceptable. Was I to call and let him know I was back? Or would that be like inviting myself? Should I just wait and see if he called or would it be pushy and not correct to call an international woman? Was it very rude not to make this invitation happen? I just did not know what to do so I just did not call and neither did he. It is a bit sad; I would really have liked to visit his family again. They all seemed so nice and I even bought a small gift for them in Mazar, but I did just not know what would have been the correct thing to do.

Ok, we had some meeting quite late and after that our other driver took me and my colleague out for a small sightseeing, so I had some other nice things to do, but it would have been such an opportunity to speak to some “normal” Afghans under nice circumstances.

I managed to make some small cultural blunders in the evening as well. While we were having dinner at the Serena some high shot person dressed in the traditional clothes from the Gulf came in. You could tell he was a VIP both from his two body guards and from the way the staff reacted. For one they immediately turned down the rather annoying music (pan-flute versions of Beatles songs!). Then it happened that I went to the dessert buffet at the same time as the VIP and he started talking to me and explaining one of the desserts, what it contained and that it is very common in Egypt. As he repeated Egypt a couple of times I eventually asked if he came from Egypt. Then he told me that he was the ambassador of UAE and pointing to his clothes saying “this you only see in the Gulf”. I felt so stupid. Of cause I know, but it just came across in the wrong way. Later I wanted to tell him that I really liked the dessert and thank him for the recommendation and I asked once more what it was called. Obviously he misunderstood me and thought I asked what his name was and answered “Mohammed”. That made me fell very stupid again as I then did not know whether to introduce myself or just tell him that I was actually more interested in the name of the dessert. I opted for the latter option. After that I thought I’d better stay away and not talk to him more in case his body guards would start to regard me as an annoyance and have me thrown out.

Sad News

Some of the countries that I have spent some time working in, have captured my interest a little more than others and I like to follow what happens there a little closer. Today almost all of them made it to the headline news. Unfortunately not in any positive manner. In the Philippines a ship stranded and lot of people died and at the same time a typhoon is making others homeless and probably kills more. Zimbabwe is sinking even deeper into chaos and despair and the opposition is being cracked down on even harder. And well, I sit and watch it all on BBC in my hotel room in Afghanistan that makes it to the news almost every day, but hardly ever any good news.

Of cause one can not really compare disasters and say one is more tragic than the other, but somehow what is happening in Zimbabwe makes me the saddest. Floods and powers of nature are hard to completely avoid and the situation in Afghanistan is so complex that it is difficult to see a feasible solution. But what is happening in Zimbabwe just seems so unnecessary. I am sure it could be such a nice country. Right now there is a longer reportage on BBC on the situation in Zim and they were just talking to a group of people that had been badly beaten and harassed to the extent that they had fled their homes and hid in the bush, but still they were all convinced to vote for the opposition. That is impressive and brave!! Unfortunately Tzwangirai has now decided not to run in the elections as there is no chance that the election will be fair, so what choice do the poor people have??

Pathetically vulnarable

It is amazing how handicaped we are. I feel I can not do my job because my internet connection is too slow!!

I am back in Kabul and very surprisingly the internet at the Serena is so much slower and less reliable than it was at the much more modest hotel in Mazar. I can read my mail, but I can not send any from my job address. To post my blogs is quite ok as I can write the text in Word and then juste paste them here and that does not require many clicks, but trying to search things on the net or download documents makes you crazy.

So, I can write a little on my report, but I will have a lot to do when I get back and it is a bit frustrating not to be able to use the time here better. How pathetically vulnarable we are...

Golf Aid?

After having been to a load of meetings with different UN-organisations, NGO:s and other stakeholders in the development and international aid community, you realise that there are a lot of different kinds of devolopment projects going on and some of them rather strange or odd. I just heard on a local tv-channel that there is a German project or cooperation aiming to popularise golf in Afghanistan! They said that golf had a 50-years history in Afghanistan, but fell in despair during the three decades of war but now there is rehabilitation going on. Amazing! That might be someting for me in case our projects would not work...


The fabolous Kabul Golf Course, Afghanistan's best; and only! I can really recommend a visit to the wed site: www.kabulgolfcourse.com


The greens are browns. Talking about extreme sport!

But actually that is not so weird as it might sound. Of course it wont help the poor people who are on the brink of starvation because of the draught, nor will it empower women or improve the childrens education, but I hope the money for this comes from other sources than development aid and will not crowd out projects on those issues too. In a way i think it is important to work on things that makes life a little more bearable for the ones who are not really starving. I belive that might give them a little hope for the development of the country. On the other hand I have absolutely no idea who is playing golf here, maybe it is only the international community...

Anyway, I heard that there are people, Afghans too, who do rock-climbing in the mountains, at the Salang pass. It makes me feel good to hear that, that there are some "normal" and enjoyable things to do and that people do it. I can not really explain why, but it gives a feeling of some normality to a situation that often seem very hopeless.

Almost in Uzbekistan

Today was a very interesting day. I and one of our consultants were taken on a field trip by the Ministry of Energy and Water to look at some flood protections they have built along the Amu Darya. I was a bit worried before the trip, not so much about the security; that we were travelling on our own, with people we had just met, to an area we don’t know with out any precious security clearance. I felt that was all ok. According to all available information that area should be quite ok and we were travelling on a very low-key, with local people in an unmarked, local car. What worried me more was that we would be five people in an old Toyota Corolla, which I thought had no AC, on partly very bad roads. Not that I distrust the ability of a Corolla, they are very good cars!! But this just might be one size to big. On top of that I woke up at four this morning with a rather unhappy stomach. Oh, no! This is the absolutely wrong day for that. It was not very bad, but I took some loperamid as a precaution and it all went well. To my surprise the car even had AC so the trip was quite ok.

The drive took about an hour straight north, the first stretch of the road was very good, nicely paved with asphalt, but the last stretch was still under construction and we were driving on gravel. The landscape is very flat and basically pure desert. Approaching the river it got a little greener. Leaving the main road and driving to the bands that we were there to look at we were driving at what could at the most be called paths. That was a hard test for the Corolla, but she stood the test. My head also stood the test although it got quite a few hits while we bumped along the paths.



I must say it was a rather special feeling to stand on the bank of Amu Darya. Having read quite a lot about Afghanistan and Central Asia one realise the river played an important part in history; as a transport route and a border. Although in history it is probably more known as Oxus. Even Alexander the Great crossed it! We did not cross however, but i got a sms welcoming me to Uzbekistan, that was cool enough for me.

We also went to see the village that the band was suppose to protect from the river. That was really something! I had never before been in a rural Afghanistan village. We wanted to speak to the head of the village, but he was not there. But the kids had a field day.


As always they were very curious and excited, but we also noted that they seemed a bit afraid of the car and ran away, much further than would have been normal safety precautions.



Our guide said they had probably never seen a car before. It seems a bit unlikely as it was not so far from the somewhat bigger town of Hiayraton, but on the other hand, the village was still quite far off the main road and I suppose the kids don’t get to go into the town. I don’t think we saw a woman the whole day. Not even in Hiayraton were we went afterwards.



A shepard watching his sheep and goats by the river.

The village and the houses looked rather different from the houses closer to Mazar and in Kabul, and their walls were a bit lower so you actually could see the houses. They houses are a bit higher and they are wider at the base and almost look a bit like towers. The Amu Darya forms the border between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan so I guess the culture is a bit different. I think it is a bit cool to almost have been in Uzbekistan. I even got a sms saying Welcome to Uzbekistan.

You can really tell that Hiayraton is a border town. There is a big bridge over the river and into Uzbekistan and it is both a road and railroad bridge. So the small stretch of railroad leading from the bridge and into the big yard were there stood loads and loads of rusty wagons and tank wagons, is actually the only piece of railroad in all of Afghanistan. The wagons have probably been standing there since the Soviet troops withdrew. Just outside of the town there were also lots and lots of trucks and lorries, waiting for cargo I guess. Most of them, as the bus, were old German trucks, but also quite a few were old Russian. My favourite was the big Mercedes Benz with “Corolla” written all over the front. That really says something about the status of Corolla in this country!

When we came back to Mazar we just had a quick shower and then we went to the camp to catch up on the midsummer celebrations. We missed the herring lunch but got dinner and had some good chat with people. Somehow it felt a bit weird to be there again. It was all so familiar, everything looked the same as in March, but all the people had changed. Strange!

Not even here did we get a beer though! It seems there are more strict restrictions on import all of a sudden.