(Day 4 in Kabul)
It may not be up to standard of our heavily tolled local roads around KL but the roads in Kabul is doing what it intended to do – move people and goods from one part of the city to another.
As Kabul is surrounded by mountains, the link between the normal tarred roads and the unpaved mountain roads is best described as the link between water and oil. Having a good 4 wheel drive vehicle is a good thing to have when manovering dusty, narrow and uneven mountain roads. Anything other than a good 4 wheel drive vehicle, you better pray it has a good shock absorbers. Otherwise, you will be going through what my colleague mentioned as “The Dancing Road”.
Development of good roads has been slow, so probably we should get Samy Vellu and his preferred choice of toll concensaires parachutted down to Kabul to get the bad roads fixed (and imposed toll charges in the same passing). Just jokinglah Samy. In some part of the town, you can even find handicaps (those who have lost their limbs in the past wars) begging in the middle of the road, precariously positioned themself between the speeding traffic. It is a pity to find such people but it seems like there is many more of such people struggling to get with their daily life.
Kabul roads have less road dividers, so it is not surprising that the onward traffic may “stray” into your lane. So, in the end, it is decided based on who has the bigger vehicle. Thankfully, we been lucky to “win” this unexpected duels on the road. There are plenty of roundabouts in Kabul but very few people actually stops before entering. Most takes a quick look at the traffic and make a quick dash. There is a heavy security along the road and roundabouts – perhaps this could be main factor that there is less accidents on these roads in Kabul compared to the roads in Dubai.
And the morning rush…ya, it is still there no matter which country you go.
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