Back in Afghanistinkistan!

After much consideration of the repercussions related to not returning from Thailand, I reluctantly decided to come back to the ol' stink hole.  What a wonderful and relaxing two weeks - the best part was that it felt like a month and that's exactly how long I want a two week vacation to feel.  Really amazing place and we were fortunate to have seen so much of Phuket while still spending a huge amount of time in the pool and at the beach.  Here's a rundown of what we actually did peel ourselves away from lounge chairs to do -  day long yacht trip out to two beautiful and remote little islands to snorkel and walk around, the Jewbilee went to a Thai cooking school for a day, went to see the Big Buddha, elephants and a temple, adventurous night in Patong, hit two different beaches, did a beach BBQ and just a lot of strolling around, cocktails, eating and swimming.   I now fear I look like Buddha, but with hair. We saw many prostitutes and questionables while there and tons of fat, white old men which made me feel badly for the prostitutes.  The most interesting situation to witness were these fat old guys, or generally unattractive men, on dates or entertaining Thai "girlfriends".  Some of the women seemed engaged, but many sat around, scowled, played on their iPhones, etc.  How could that be any fun for either party?  But it was everywhere and we were thoroughly entertained by it.

We both arrived to each of our destinations safely and are preparing to once again be ensconced in our respective routines.  I had heard many speak of typical Dubai Arabs as the most rude, arrogant and nasty people around and I have to say that after two trips through Dubai, I would agree - I'd like to add that they have more children than old school Catholics (non of which are expected to behave) and are all around jackasses.  My flight from Dubai had about 70 screaming offspring of these people and about 50 on the way back.  They cut in line, ran over your feet with their suitcases, didn't think any of the airline rules applied to them but at least they smelled good!  They make the French look like boisterous, friendly Australians.  I still have the din of screaming kids in my ears.  One thing we learned is that no matter what the culture, all kids whine, run to the toy section, hit their siblings and scream on airplanes - it was truly educational.

The flight to Afghanistan was interesting to say the least.  I took an Afghan airline that landed at KAF but taxied to the Kandahar Airport right outside the wire.  This building was at one time quite regal, but was now bombed out, overgrown and austere.  My passport cleared the country but initially, I was not allowed back on base and was therefore technically an illegal alien.  I sat outside the airport, which meant outside the wire, the lone and unarmed American for about two hours while my friends tried to get me access back onto base.  Initially they wanted me to fly back to where I came from and then back on an airline that flies to, and remains on, KAF.  That would have been a huge pain seeing that there was nowhere to even buy a ticket or make an inquiry at the Kandahar Airport.  Plus I was tired, hot and a bit over this part of my trip. I was finally taken onto base by a British Royal Airforce MP who happened to see me out there and knew I was in potentially huge trouble.  He thankfully had been there on an unrelated issue and that was a huge stroke of luck for me.  Not a fun way to end a beautiful trip, but I'm now officially back and trying to catch up on sleep after a long trip in the comfort of my tent.  Returning wasn't so bad, but I don't have electric on my side of the tent so I'm depending on the kind use of an extension cord and neighbor's electric to power my computer!

Thank you everyone for so many good wishes for enjoyment on my vacation - very nice and greatly appreciated.  Now I will waste away the hours planning for my next one coming up in several months!  It's nice to return and see that half a month has passed too.  It was 115 degrees yesterday and to be even hotter today - I guess August is the hottest month and then things start to become more bearable.  After the heat and humidity in Thailand and Dubai, this doesn't even seem that bad - I guess I could actually live in Vegas year around seeing that now I know I can stand the heat!

Drink of the Day - sadly, back to the universal solvent - cold, cold water.