End of July 1972: Peshawar to Kabul via the Khyber Pass

  Taken From All About My Hat The Hippy Trail 1972 ISBN ‎ 978-0993210716 

The following day, July 29 1972, was the day of the bus ride back through the Khyber Pass to Kabul, the journey that had so impressed and inspired Al on his way to India a few months earlier.

They journeyed past trains of laden camels that occasionally blocked the road, fields with sheep and cattle, the strange-looking men wrapped in blankets even in the heat of the sun, standing or sitting is groups seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

There was an incredible movement of people across the border and back. Many were walking in groups. Many of the men were dressed in garments the light-brown colour of the earth. Others were dressed in coloured tunics with waistcoats over light trousers. Most wore turbans.

The women were dressed in colourful outfits or entirely in blue, black or coloured burkas and many carried large pots or bundles on their heads. The children waved at the bus.

The bus itself was a rickety old machine that chugged along up and down the hills. As well as Al and Diane, there were several other western-looking travellers but sometimes it was hard to tell as they were tanned brown and dressed in clothes seen in India. In any case, they all kept themselves to themselves. There was no sign of any cannabis smoking.

As the road zigzagged upwards, sometimes passing over bridges built over what looked like small streams, Al noticed the many tent cities below in the valley, all with herds of camels and donkeys. Higher were the remains of the many forts originally built by the British. In the distance were snowy peaks.

High on the pass were fortified buildings that were the homes of the locals, each with its own watchtower.

In places the road had a simple and crude stone walls separating it from a sheer drop – in other places there was just the drop.

Then we arrived back in Kabul.

Al and Diane headed straight for a small hotel in Chicken Street, called the Peace Hotel. Diane told Al that she had stayed there before and that it was cheap and had good food.