A lake and a paddleboat

Last weekend we visited Lake Qargha, it's a short drive just outside of the city. It was my first time outside of the city and it felt good to get out of town even if it was for a few hours. We headed out with another NGO worker and started our hike around the lake. It required some maneuvering over some barbed wire and walking on some narrow rocky foot paths, but it was worth it.

After our brief walk around most of the lake we headed back to the entry point on the lake and met up with an Afghan family that our friend knew. He was there with his two brothers, their father, and a few of their children. In typical Afghan hospitality they invited us to their pinic spot for tea. We agreed and spent some time sitting under a tree in the shade, talking with the men and playing with thier children. After the tea was finished we headed down to the lake front to rent some paddle boats for a little while. The kids were very excited to join us on the boats and soon we were floating around the lake all feeling like kids!

How or when the paddle boats ever made it to that lake I'll never know but it was a great afternoon! It felt good to do something outside the city and to see so many other Afghan families doing the same thing. In Afghan culture family is very important and I could clearly see that by all the families that had taken the time to come to the lake that weekend.

On our way there we drove past the Kabul Golf Club as well, its a bit brown this time of year but it still had a few golfers wandering around it!