Richard Dunwoody's Blog by Richard_Dunwoody

It’s been a good weekend here in Kabul. Friday was spent at the Hash, which blew away a few of the cobwebs running up a couple of hills, including the one up to the swimming pool on Bibi Mahru. I was blowing fairly heavily at the top, being at 5,000 feet, but the view of the city surrounded by snow-covered mountains was well worth the effort. We moved into the Gandamack Hotel, owned by Peter Jouvenal. It's a great place – Charlie and I enjoyed the cellar bar over three nights! Peter was the cameraman who liberated Kabul back in December 2001, just three steps ahead of BBC journalist John Simpson. Things have, touch wood, been reasonably quiet in the city since we arrived, although a few peoples’ phones were receiving security alerts as we watched England’s rugby players put in a sound performance against the French in L'Atmosphere.

As it turned out it was not too serious; the owner of one of the local Lebanese restaurants had simply taken a dislike to one of his guards and shot him. We have also visited the decimated Darulaman Palace and the museum nearby. Two games of cricket were being played just in front of the ruins on specially-prepared concrete wickets and the standard of play, I have to say, was pretty good. I even got a chance to practice my forward defensive after the main match and somehow received an invite to the next game. While I was imitating Geoff Boycott, Charlie had a good chat with the players and coincidentally met one of the actors from a play that one of her best friends had directed in Kabul a couple of years ago. Although a lot of the artefacts in the museum have been lost in the civil war and destroyed by the Taliban, it is still well worth visiting.

The display of 18th century woodwork from the Kalash in Pakistan and Nuristan in the North-West was, for me, the highlight, together with Buddha’s Bowl, a large 15th century black marble basin. For those interested 'Afghanistan-Crossroads of the Ancient World' opens at the British Museum on March 3 and will give you a chance to see opulent gold treasures found at a burial site and limestone sculptures from Alexander’s time. They date from 2000BC to the 1st century AD and it is the first exhibition of Afghanistan’s ancient culture to be seen in London for over 40 years. On our way back from the museum we passed the zoo and the city walls. I still haven’t been able to persuade Charlie that a trip around the cages at the zoo would be a good idea, and having heard stories that tourists have had grenades lobbed at them by children on the walls recently, I’m not sure an afternoon stroll in that direction is a good option either.

On Monday, Ian MacWilliam of the Aga Khan Development Network took us around the old city, showing us one of the latest AKDN restoration projects, the Mausoleum of Timur Shah. Ian was optimistic about the progress in the bustling streets. Many new shops have sprung up in the last year. He also pointed out the decorative wooden frames of a few of the older houses that had survived the civil war of the 1990s. Walking through the Ka Faroshi Bird Market or Alley of Straw Sellers, we saw plenty of caged Kowk, fighting partridges, and buyers were inspecting pigeons with the same intensity as an Irish horse dealer at Goffs. Charlie and I also travelled through the Panjshir Valley with photographer Jason Howe, who gave us a taste of his photographic workshops.

It was a hair-raising drive across the Shomali Plain; Afghans don’t take driving tests, and are fearless behind the wheel. We passed a couple of Russian tank graveyards on our way up to the Lion of Panjshir, Ahmad Shah Massoud’s tomb. Lunch in the nearby town of Baharak was cooked for us on the street – the kebabs, slabs of fresh bread and chai was one of the best meals we’ve had to date. We also got a chance to see Arsenal’s attempt at winning a trophy for the first time in six years on TV. Unfortunately, due to some comic defending, they lost the League Cup Final 2-1 – but the way Birmingham City played, with a fearless, no-nonsense attitude, no-one can really say the Gunners were unlucky. Hopefully, Arsenal will bounce back and with Chelsea doing us a favour by beating Manchester United in midweek, could we realistically start to think about winning the Premier League title?