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About Solomon Rastagar

Conceived and born during the last peaceful era in Afghanistan, Solomon got to undertake his first road trip as a two month old baby in the back of a beat up Land Rover from Kabul to the Oxus River along the Soviet border. It cost him a dislocated shoulder from the poor road, but somehow ignited a passion that, to this day, remains to be extinguished. Since then, in the company of his restless parents, he had roamed the entire Middle East and South Asia from India to Turkey by the time he was five. By the time he graduated high school, he had lived in Afghanistan, the UK, Germany, and California, USA. His college years in the USA took him to forty five of fifty states and most of Canada and Mexico, sometimes as a hitch hiker & sometimes on a touring bicycle. Never one to sit still for too long, Solomon has since traveled extensively across Asia, including a stint in post Taliban Afghanistan just recently.

When not on the road, Solomon calls California home, earns a living as a part time biochemist, part time tutor, and part time construction contractor; his free time is usually well spent with his close knit extended family. His languages of choice are Farsi, German, English, a working knowledge of Spanish, and just enough Arabic to slink by when visiting the Middle East. He stays in shape riding bicycles, running, hiking, and surfing the legendary waves of Southern California.

Afghanistan: More bakeries here than anywhere else in the world

February 8, 2006 by Solomon RastagarLeave a Comment

I have always been asked about the safety situation in Afghanistan and, by now, might have a word or two to offer. During our stay there, we were limited mainly to Kabul and its immediate surroundings, such as valleys or canyons that could be reached within a couple hours of driving. Keep in mind that right now is also the height of winter and many roads become impassable for extended periods of time. While I can't personally speak for the rest … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Asia · Tagged: Afghanistan, America, Art, Asia, Bakeries, Culture, Europe, Music, Pakistan, Vietnam, Walking tour

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth…the code of the Pashtuns

February 8, 2006 by Solomon RastagarLeave a Comment

Peshawar, Pakistan December 2005 Some of you have wondered what has happened to us in the wilds of Pakistan and Afghanistan, since it's been a while that I wrote. Well, we have since made our way across Pakistan into the Northwest Frontier Province. If there is any "Wild West" left in the world, then this frontier area of Pakistan and Afghanistan is it. And the town of Peshawar has got to be the "Dodge City", then. Far larger and spread out … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Asia · Tagged: Afghanistan, Asia, Canals, England, Fashion, Gun, Pakistan, Shopping Mall

Afghanistan: Some children only live to beg

February 8, 2006 by Solomon Rastagar3 Comments

The day before it started snowing in Kabul, the shopkeepers had the wooden snow shovels out for sale, knowing that they would come in handy. And it snowed with a vengeance, massive flakes the size of large coins came down. Kabul is a city of flat roofs and everyone, young and old, got busy climbing up and shoveling the white stuff off onto the sidewalks, where passersby played cat and mouse games with heaps of snow crashing down on them. Pretty … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Asia · Tagged: Afghanistan, Sand, Ski Trip, Traffic, Walking tour

The Land of Men with Flaming Orange Beards

February 8, 2006 by Solomon Rastagar5 Comments

As soon as we stepped out of the shiny terminal of Lahore International Airport in Lahore, Pakistan, my uncle Waheed and I were overcome by the smell of kerosene. I thought at first that there must be a spill nearby, because it was so strong. Eventually we found our ride among all the cabbies and rickshaw drivers, who were jostling among themselves for customers. It was a twenty or thirty minute slog to get into the city from the airport. It was … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Asia · Tagged: Afghanistan, Airport, Asia, Bangladesh, Britain, Bus Travel, China, Drinking, England, Fashion, Food and Wine, Garden, India, Jet lag, Pakistan, Paris, Restaurants, Shopping Mall, Traffic, Vietnam

Where is the Ho Chi Minh Trail?

February 7, 2006 by Solomon RastagarLeave a Comment

Saigon, Dec. 14, 2004 Director Francis Ford Coppola's 'Apocalypse Now' is a movie about the Vietnam War. Nowadays it is also a swanky bar in the heart of modern Saigon, Vietnam. I have yet to visit it, after having arrived in Saigon today from Hanoi, but I have heard that it enjoys a locally notorious reputation for fast cars, fast drugs, and fast women. It might be wiser to start with the tamer entertainment establishments of this utterly … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Asia · Tagged: Animal Rescue, Art, Bus Travel, China, Culture, Drinking, Farming, Fashion, Fishing, Halong Bay, Japan, Korea, Markets, Oyster, Paradise, River Rafting, Sailing, Seafood, Shopping Mall, Ski Trip

Where can you find Islands the Shape of Palm Trees?

February 7, 2006 by Solomon RastagarLeave a Comment

All my preconceived notions about the rigid cultural conservativism of countries in the Arab peninsula were thrown out the minute I entered Dubai, a sprawling and mushrooming megalopolis rising up between the fringes of the Arab deserts and the Persian Gulf. Saudi Arabia may still be the country of chokingly strict laws, but Dubai seems to be the total opposite. Actually it is one of two major cities in the United Arab Emirates, a country roughly … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Middle East · Tagged: Afghanistan, Africa, Airport, America, Amsterdam, Asia, Australia, Bangladesh, Bicycle, Bus Travel, Culture, Desert, Dubai, Europe, Fashion, Food and Wine, India, Japan, Mediterranean, Mountain Climbing

Swiftboating the Mekong River

February 7, 2006 by Solomon RastagarLeave a Comment

Pnomh Penh, Cambodia Dec. 19, 2004 After a hot and sweaty bus ride south from Saigon, I thought we reached the South China Sea when we first came across this open body of water. Then the driver filled us in that this was the Mekong River, still sixty kilometers inland from the sea. It is a truly massive river, a good deal wider than the Mississippi River down by New Orleans. From its headwaters in Tibet it has traveled about 4300 kilometers … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Asia · Tagged: Angkor Wat, Asia, Border Crossing, Burma, Bus Travel, Cambodia, China, Colorado, Culture, Drinking, Farming, Fishing, Food and Wine, Laos, Mississippi, Monks, New Orleans, Palm Trees, Rainforest, Restaurants

Malaysian Malls & Singaporean Housing Estates

February 7, 2006 by Solomon RastagarLeave a Comment

Although now deposed from their reign as the tallest buildings in the world by Taiwan's "Taipei 101 Tower", the Petronas Twin Towers of Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur still command an attention and respect. Like the late World Trade Center, they are identical twins, but unlike the World Trade Center, they are shaped almost round and taper to two mighty sphere topped spires at a lofty height of 452 meters (1483 feet). Day and night they gleam and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Asia · Tagged: Africa, America, Art, Asia, Bangkok Thailand, Beach, Bicycle, Bridges, Bus Travel, England, Food and Wine, History, Indonesia, Malaysia, Monks, Mosque, Paradise, Passport, Rainforest, Restaurants

Maun, Botswana

February 7, 2006 by Solomon RastagarLeave a Comment

I remember looking out my window on the night flight from Europe to South Africa and seeing nothing but black below. No city lights for hours. Not until the next morning when the plane was over South Africa, were any signs of civilization present. On that flight I tried to imagine what it would be like to actually be in one of those areas that seemed so dark from above. Well, we finally entered this part of Africa when we crossed the "veterinary … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Africa · Tagged: Africa, Animal Rescue, Border Crossing, Botswana, Bus Travel, Europe, Food and Wine, Lifestyle, Lodge, Music, Namibia, National Park, South Africa, Village, Walking tour, Wildlife, Zimbabwe

Windhoek, Namibia

February 7, 2006 by Solomon RastagarLeave a Comment

The last time I signed off, my brother Abdul and I had just arrived in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia by bus from South Africa. We decided to pony up some extra money and take a Greyhound type coach and survive the trip, as opposed to paying next to nothing on one of the ubiquitous minibuses but putting our lives into the hands of a crazed driver hell bent to make it to his destination in the shortest time possible. Our guidebook called … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Africa · Tagged: Africa, Animal Rescue, Architecture, Art, Australia, Bus Travel, Desert, Europe, Germany, Journey, Lifestyle, Mountain Climbing, Namibia, National Park, Palm Trees, Sand, South Africa, Trekking, Walking tour, Wildlife

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