The worst toilet in Scotland, er Afghanistan

How Bazaar

A man unloads crates at the Khanjankhel bazaar, several kilometers away from any vestige of government influence, where the Taliban holds heavy sway.

The principal of a secondary school in Wardak Province prepares tea for visiting soldiers in his nearly bare office.

Whatchuwant? Fruit sellers look skeptically at a patrol of soldiers walking through a bazaar in Wardak Province.

NERKH DISTRICT, Afghanistan - It's been a while, so I'm easing back into this whole blogging thing with a few snapshots of life out here in eastern Afghanistan.

Peaks soar to 15,000 feet in this region and people scratch out their existence in the river valleys, tending fruit orchards and wheat fields and living in mud-brick compounds in a landscape that looks like the Himalayas meets the Iron Age.

Wardak Province has long resisted central authority and the Afghans we met at the local bazaars haven't been too keen on swearing allegiance to anyone - Taliban, the government, Coalition troops, or otherwise.

Like Idaho, but with more guns (really) and fewer cowboy hats.

Boom

Our convoy was hit by three bombs the other day near Kandahar. I'm off sudden, loud noises for a while.

It was, I suppose, as good a time as any to pray.

Co-ed showers

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - This is my new favorite thing in Afghanistan: the Dutch have a model windmill on one of their compounds. It even has a little flashing light at night in case a C-130 is flying 15 feet off the ground. The rumor is, they also have co-ed shower trailers. Clearly this merits further investigation ...

'Salaam aleikum, regular or goofy?'

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Like many things in Dubai the skiing can be found in the mall. Just past the perfume shop, left at the TGI Fridays, there it is. Don't worry about warm clothes, as no one in Dubai owns them. All is provided with your lift pass.

So yes, as everyone knows there is plenty of water in the desert and inexhaustible reserves of energy so Dubai decided to cover a fake 200-foot mountain in the middle of a mall with several tons of snow and chill the whole room to 28 degrees. In short it is exactly what the Las Vegas of the Middle East would do. In fact, I think they out-Vegased Vegas with this one.

Under a powder blue sky, with floodlights protruding from it, skiers and borders have their choice of runs (it's actually two - left or right). If you've ever skied in the Midwest, I imagine you know what the runs are like. And like the Midwest, there's a bland, fried American meal waiting nearby (the aforementioned TGI Fridays).

I've been in Dubai the past two days to get my Afghan visa and I took the opportunity to cram in a little surreal play before the austere two months that start tomorrow, when I hop on my flight to Kabul. It was certainly the weirdest place I've ever snowboarded and promises to be the polar opposite, so to speak, of anything in store for me the next few weeks.

Drujahideen

Growing a beard for Afghanistan. Not quite the length of a clenched fist, as prescribed by the Taliban, but we're getting there.

Wide stance

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany - At the end of the day I was soaking wet, had a wicked blister, a bum ankle, and a big grin. Early snow in the alps meant I got to steal away for a day of snowboarding yesterday on Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain.

Coming soon: Central Europe recovers after Hurricane Aggie.