Yesterday we forewent our lie-in to go on a visit to the capital, leaving at 7am for the estimated 2.5hr journey. Travelling here is never boring; even apart from the excitement of negotiating the traffic, there are always plenty of interesting things to look at. Here's a view from the road as we drive down the valley:
Going through one of the towns on the way down, the traffic slowed and stopped. I should explain at this point that traffic jams here (like everything else traffic-y) are somewhat more chaotic than at home. Here's sort of how it works:
- First line (nearest the side) of traffic slows to a halt.
- A few drivers, including our own, quickly get impatient, and move out to overtake, forming a 2nd line of traffic.
- We move forward a little, then this line too slows to a halt.
- Impatience -> move out into 3rd line -> slow to a halt.
- Repeat, until there are 5 or 6 lines of traffic going our way.
Then, clearly not going anywhere, we wait a bit. Our driver hops out to chat to a few other drivers. We discover later that the story appears to be that a few lorry drivers have blocked the road over pay disputes. We gather from the gestures going on outside that there might be an alternative route around the blockage.
So we turn round and head back the way we've come - easier said than done as the aforementioned impatient drivers are still doing their move-outwards-another-lane thing until the whole place is fairly jammed. Another stop for directions, and we're off down this tiny side road, squeezing past tractors and the like, heading out of the town to the side. And as we head across a bit of a dip in the road, a local gestures off to one side. So we turn off again, down what is clearly...
a river bed:
It's obviously a well-used route in non-monsoon time, with turn-offs to different parts of the surrounding settlements, and we meet various other cars, trucks and motorbikes picking their way along the tracks between boulders, banks and muddy bits. Our driver is a hard-to-read (though not unfriendly) chap of few words, but I got the impression he was enjoying himself.
When we arrive 3-and-a-half hours after we left, the capital is very obviously a planned city, with wide, straight highways set out in a grid pattern; a typical address might read something like House 364, Street 28. It's not the kind of place you could easily get around on foot. We meet up with one of our hospital colleagues who has been down here for the night before, and head into town and to the various markets. We pick up our one souvenir so far - a rather beautiful little table, the top of which looks a bit like this:
The shopkeeper apparently has relatives who have been treated at the hospital, so gives us a discount, after serving refreshments while we look around. The shop is full of fascinating bits of furniture and suchlike, a couple of highlights being a rocking-camel, and a glass table which has 15 or so legs set out in a circle - but with the difference that each leg supports the tabletop at the opposite side from where it's foot touches the ground, having woven through all the other legs on its way past. The overall effect is like a cylindrical woven basket. Each leg is entirely separate from all the others, but looped around and through all the others, and the whole thing has obviously been carved from one single huge piece of wood. It's like one of those soapstone sculptures you sometimes see, but hugely more complex. I don't bother enquiring about its price...
Then we go to have a look at the Faisal mosque, a vast marble structure. You leave your shoes at the entrance, then make sure that you walk on the white marble in the sun rather than the black!
We are treated to a great lunch at an 'Italian' restaurant, then it's the bookshop (Jenny's favourite!), a quick look around a couple of other markets, back past the furniture place for something our colleague had bought when we were there earlier, a stop for water, then back on the road. The journey back is less eventful, the road having been opened once more, though driving in the darkness certainly keeps the excitement level up. (Remember, if your vehicle is at the faster end of the spectrum, any trip is basically one constant overtaking manoeuvre!)
And relax.
