Global Wanderer

19/4/25 – 21/4/25

We had spoken to Hijrat, from the Kabul guesthouse over the phone the night before, to work out the best way of getting from Kabul to Mazar overland – we settled on taking a shared taxi, slightly more expensive than the bus, slightly quicker though, which was a positive tradeoff. The next morning, after breakfast, we said our goodbyes, and made our way to the Mazar terminal in Kabul’s north. Hijrat had kindly stayed online on Whatsapp, to help us find and negotiate prices for seats to Mazar – we settled with a cab and driver who wanted 1100AFN per seat, which is pretty much on the money when it comes to the 10 hour drive north.

The road from Kabul to Mazar – at some points, we were completely blanketed in fog!

We set off through the windy mountain roads outside of Kabul, with just one Taliban checkpoint stopping us, just on the outskirts of the city limits; outside of that, it was smooth sailing! Smooth is, perhaps, not the best adjective – the roads were bumpy, not sealed, and the twists and turns around the mountain passes made me quite nauseous – but eventually, 10 hours later, we finally arrived in Mazar! The driver was kind enough to drop us off at our accommodation for a few extra Afghani, which made life significantly easier – the shared taxi station is located a fair few kilometres outside of the city centre!

Due to the unreliability of the electrical grid, many Afghans in rural areas use solar panels and batteries for electricity

The next morning, we headed out to the local Taliban Ministry office to get our permits signed and stamped – in each new province you visit, you’re supposed to get this done, but we didn’t in Bamyan (the rules are rather unclear at times!). Our first attempt was rebuffed, as the officials there decided we needed to have photocopies of our passports and visas made at the copy shop across the road. Second attempt, however, was relatively successful! We sat in a small room with several other travellers also getting permits sorted – with seven of us there, it felt positively crowded!

Some bad news though – we discovered that the Taliban would not allow us to independently travel to the ancient townsite of Balkh, located outside of Mazar. We knew that there were shared taxis going that way, but were informed by the officials that the checkpoint outside of Balkh had been instructed to refuse entry to tourists travelling without a guide, interpreter, and Taliban escort – not sure what the reasoning behind that was. We did some recon work outside the Ministry office – and it seemed like everyone had a set price for going to Balkh, plus an extra cost for an interpreter (no matter how hard I tried in Farsi, they insisted that it was necessary for ALL foreigners anyway). Unfortunately, given our dwindling supply of Afghani (and USD), we had to give Balkh a miss. Next time, though, I will 100% be getting there!

We then made our way over to Mazar’s biggest attraction – the Blue Mosque. This incredible piece of Islamic architecture is the focal point of the city, with the square around it being home to a bustling set of street markets and vendors. We made our way into the complex, hampered slightly at the start when Dale was stopped at one of the checkpoints and told to walk around the a foreigner entrance (in my Afghan clothes, I was unaffected by this). Here, we were allowed to enter the complex, after speaking with the Taliban guy who was in charge of the place.

The stunning Blue Mosque

Some young guys who entered the complex around the same time as us had spotted my DSLR – I was then asked to take photos of them all in front of the mosque! The complex is quite large, covered in white marble tiles that were constantly being cleaned – we were totally welcome, though, to walk around all areas of the site, except for the shrine, apparently housing the tomb of Imam Ali, cousin of Muhammad.

The blue domes, reminiscent of those in Samarkand and Bukhara, highlight Mazar-i-Sharif’s important place on the ancient Silk Road

A young boy, maybe 7 years of age, was walking around selling bottles of water – he came up to Dale and I, and began speaking in pretty decent English, telling us that they had been learning it at school! Clearly, even with the new administration, learning English is seen as an important skill.

Once we had finished up at the Blue Mosque, we headed out the way we had came, stopping at the entrance to pay the guard for our visit – 200AFN ($4.45AUD). We headed back to our accommodation for the evening, stopping off quickly for some snacks at a supermarket that appeared to stock every imported good under the sun, along with chocolate bars that had been ‘creatively’ renamed.

Spot the Kat Kits, Twiks, Buanty bars, and the MsM’s!

It began to get dark, and I was hungry, so I decided to venture out to find some food. The streets of the city were quickly emptying out – as I walked, the only people out and about seemed to be old men packing up their market stalls and doing some general cleaning, and occasionally young boys playing football together. I finally came across a shop that was still open, serving pieces of fried chicken and bread. For a few dollars, and a full stomach, you really couldn’t complain! This drew to a close our time in Mazar – and in Afghanistan – as the next morning, we were headed over the Hairatan border into Uzbekistan!

The quiet streets of Mazar at night