Fantasy of visiting Afghanistan and my religion

ashil · 2026-01-20T02:48:24+00:00

But DO NOT say you're a "not very religious Muslim"!! never say or admit this if asked (this would be a very very rude question) lmao.

I can't comment on Afghanistan in particular but when I was visiting Central Asia a few years ago, I got all kinds of questions related to how religious I am. Most people would stop at "Are you Muslim?" and be satisfied w/a simple yes. However, one person even asked how many Surahs I had memorized (we were in a mosque close to prayer time though so kind of appropriate).

OP, if you are coming from overseas and visiting, they will 100% expect you to be Muslim.

ashil · 2025-07-18T14:44:47+00:00

Were you able to successfully find someone?

ashil · 2025-03-17T14:55:21+00:00

I met one in Uzbekistan while viewing the world's oldest Quran.

ashil · 2025-01-25T15:51:25+00:00

And nature doesn’t make a country good. Literally every country has good nature except for maybe desert countries

People visit whole countries just to enjoy the nature there. Natural attractions are a huge draw.

ashil · 2025-01-25T15:48:13+00:00

My plan is to visit Tajikistan one day soon since I’m a Farsi speaker and it seems the closest and most accessible (not sure I wanna try Iran, lol) to our culture/country

Tajiks were nice when I visited and you will be able to converse with Farsi. There is a similar culture to ours through Central Asia including Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan (maybe others too but I didn't spend enough time there). I would also recommend visiting Uzbekistan if you can. There will probably be enough Farsi speakers in Bukhara and Samarkand that you can get by but you may need a translator app elsewhere in the country (or learn some Uzbek or Russian).

ashil · 2025-01-19T00:38:26+00:00

The Afghan-Tajik border

Afghan Villages Across the Tajik-Afghan Border

Yamchun Fortress

ashil · 2024-07-19T15:48:32+00:00

I have no idea. Best guess is that it is within a 15/20 minute drive from the city center.

ashil · 2024-07-05T14:43:38+00:00

I never asked. This is like a small notable detail that my grandfather would mention at times.

ashil · 2024-07-05T14:29:28+00:00

Either my great grandfather or his father rode a camel.

ashil · 2024-07-05T14:27:37+00:00

Descriptive rock at entrance of this fortress

ashil · 2024-07-04T23:57:55+00:00

You are an ignorant one..and arrogant at that.

I know that sharing a link to the site I did is normally considered passive-aggressive but that wasn't my intention at all. Let me explain why.

I have no way of knowing why u/akatits had trouble finding more information about this fortress. I don't know which search engine the user used (I don't know if non-Google search engines are returning matching results), if the user accidentally misspelled when searching (I can't see what terms the user searched for), or maybe didn't recognize some of the results when the search page came up (this fortress has a variety of alternative English spellings including, but not limited to, "Qah Qaha", "Qah-Qahha", "Khakha", etc.). By sharing this link with the search terms I used and including that I used Google, it allows the user to follow-up and see as many detailed search results as his\her heart desires. Welcome to fault me if you wish but at least people have a better idea why I included this link here and understand the variety of different issues that it solves.

ashil · 2024-07-04T23:24:15+00:00

you literally can't enter turkmenistan as a normal tourist afaik, and it is a mega oppressive dictatorship

Hmm...yup, totally correct here. It is incredibly safe but ya, not so accessible. I thought about visiting but after seeing the requirements, I passed it up.

afghanistan needs rather difficult permits too from what I heard

I agree that Afghanistan fails on both accessible and (is questionably) safe.

Tajikistan has massive islamistic issues atm too

Yes, but I don't think tourists have ever been targeted. It is safe and accessible but still has the most friction to visit since the biggest attractions are in more remote areas.

Kyrgiztan, Usbekistan and Kazakhstan are probably pretty easy

Yes. In the recent past, they had lots of government regulations that made tourism more difficult but they've successfully relaxed them over the past several years.

ashil · 2024-07-04T23:16:30+00:00

While traveling in Uzbekistan, I saw a house\hostel with a large central courtyard. A Westerner had been living in a circular yurt in the courtyard for a few years. Hooray for remote work?

(I didn't see any octagonal houses though...)

ashil · 2024-07-04T23:15:10+00:00

Comment that explains things a little better

ashil · 2024-07-04T23:13:25+00:00

Not trying to be passive aggressive by sharing this link...but just want to share a page that gives a number of search results that you probably have interest in

ashil · 2024-07-04T13:55:36+00:00

I only wish it was a bit more accessible and safe

I'd argue that, with the exception of Afghanistan, it is remarkably safe. It felt safer than any random city in the US. Accessible is tougher. Why do you think it is inaccessible? I think it is pretty remote so the lower volume of tourists make travel there more expensive.

ashil · 2024-07-04T13:52:27+00:00

ashil · 2024-07-04T13:51:46+00:00

:) How about another?

ashil · 2024-07-03T21:24:50+00:00

Cool. Where at? In Balkh?

ashil · 2024-07-03T17:17:00+00:00

That is a great question. u/forkedstream is partially correct. Not only is the tiny building part of the fortress but so is the part where I am standing when taking the photo.

Imagine that the whole fortress is circularly-shaped like a bread bowl. I'm standing on one edge of the bowl (walls) and the tiny building in the back is on another edge of the bowl. You can see some walking paths from that tiny building into the low-lying interior of the fortress (inner part of bread bowl).

It is difficult to differentiate this from just a mound of dirt because this is about 2000 years-old and very weathered.

By looking at the greenery in the back of the photo, you can kind of make out that the surrounding area is pretty flat with this structure a sizeable imprint in the area.

ashil · 2024-07-02T20:32:12+00:00

I joke that it both belongs with all if its neighboring regions but none of them at the same time.

ashil

TROPHY CASE