15-day Afghanistan trip: The truth about the ‘most dangerous country in the world’

This young man made a bold decision that not everyone dares to try.
Jorge Riera spent 15 days in Afghanistan – one of the most dangerous countries in the world. After watching a video about Afghanistan online, this young man took a rather reckless step when he decided to travel to the country.

According to Jorge Riera’s share, he was very surprised because everything was far from what he had imagined through news from the media. Afghanistan appeared to him as a beautiful land with gentle and hospitable people. “During 15 days, I was constantly ‘attacked’ by hospitality. I am at risk of diabetes because I am regularly offered great cups of sugar tea from strangers on the street who are curious to learn about the crazy foreign visitor when choosing their country as a tourist destination. calendar. ” – Jorge Riera shared. On his journey, this young man passed through the cities of Kabul, Bamiyan, Herat, Samangan, Mazar-e-Sharif. Every corner of the city, portraits of the people here and daily activities on the street were captured by Jorge Riera realistically and vividly through each frame. The city of Kabul is the first place Jorge Riera set foot in Afghanistan. “ The city is more colorful and vibrant than I expected, the pale blue dresses, the orange hues of lentils to fuchsia, making the streets a festival of colour. Yes there are lots of checkpoints and tons of security, but I never feel scared or threatened, you just see people wanting to enjoy their lives. ” said the guy, “ Kabul is a wonderful, dynamic and vast city. ” The great mosque of Herat, which Jorge Riera was lucky to go to at a very quiet time, was almost empty. According to him, the reason was because the president was supposed to visit that day. Besides, a beautiful Afghanistan with majestic and wild natural scenery is also shown throughout Jorge Riera’s journey. Band-e Amir National Park – a national park located in Bamiyan province, central Afghanistan. It is a series of six deep blue lakes separated by natural dams. The lakes are located in the Hindu Kush mountain range at an altitude of about 3000m. Band-e Amir is likened to the Grand Canyon of the Afghan version. This place attracts thousands of tourists every year. Of course, the journey cannot be without local dishes. Jorge Riera said he can’t even pronounce the names of the dishes, but most of them are classic kebabs, rice with spices and lamb, and some meatloaf, but all are excellent. On the way to Samangan, Jorge Riera’s local driver Sakhi invited him to spend the afternoon in the mountains with his family. Sakhi is the father of 5 children, all of whom speak English and attend a private school (about $50 a month). All the parents in the Sakhi family try to build in their children’s minds big ambitions, so that one day they will change or help reform the country. They were extremely excited to be able to speak English with a real foreigner for the first time. “Their excitement was contagious, they told me about their plans to study medicine or go to Stanford to get an MBA so they could help the country, all with big dreams.” Jorge Riera recounts a conversation between himself and young members of the Sakhi family. In total, the family has about 60 people. He had a great afternoon dancing with everyone, doing races to the top of the hill and drinking lots of tea. Jorge Riera shared: “The phrase that stuck in my mind after this trip was people asking me to take a lot of pictures and share their pictures to show that not everyone is a terrorist in Afghanistan. “. “ Of course, not everything is as picturesque, but a coin always has two sides, and that is the side I have seen during my stay. “. He said in the future he will definitely come back here again to explore more of the country and people of Afghanistan.