The trip is relatively painless. You will
have one or two Iranian stops for drug and people smuggling and the border is
about as un-chaotic a border as you will ever see in life.
The process of bringing the bus over is
slow, usually an hour or two, but you shouldn't expect any hassles.
You can and should change money at the
border, as the children there will give you the correct rate. When you get the
Herat the bus stop is a carpark full of taxis, take one to your desired hotel.
Money:
The Currency of Afghanistan is the
Afghani, it is usually just under 50Afs for $1USD (normally about 47 or 48) and
US dollars are often widely accepted by hotels and restaurants so long as they
don't need to give much change. US dollars are the best currency to bring to
Afghanistan, but Euro's are also easy to change in major cities (Kabul, Herat,
Mazar)
ATM's dispensing both US dollars and Afs
are widely available in Kabul, in fact, it is entirely possible to rely on
these machines for most of your cash if you are making several short visits to Kabul, but always have back-up cash in case the machine is down, or you need to
get from wherever you are, to somewhere else safer in event of emergency.
(to be continued)
The most extraordinary landscape can be found
in the karstic region near the towns Guilin and Yangshuo, in the southeast of
the country. The massive rocks, covered with sub-tropic flora, are so steep we
cannot even call them hills. They rise above the cultivated flatlands, above
the picturesque villages and bamboo forests and above the river Li that
connects the two towns.
If we add to this a wonderful park with a
picturesque temple and a small lake, a classical Chinese idyll is nearly more
perfect than any picture.
