Buddhas of Bamyan

If there's one site in Afghanistan that is associated with foreign tourism, it's the Buddhas of Bamiyan. I was lucky enough to have my first trip out of the 'Kabubble' to be in Bamiyan and have enough time after my meetings to squeeze in some of the tourism.

The Buddhas were visible as I stepped off the airplane but I was so distracted by the cool, crisp, FRESH, air that I barely even noticed. The scenery all over was spectacular but I'll get into that later. When we got to the Buddhas, we had to mosey around for a bit to try and find the ticket/entry point. As non-locals, we paid 12 USD to enter the site thought it supposedly bought us admission to another site in the region. The Buddhas are a UNESCO World Heritage Site so I did expect to see a bit more activity but aside from the two employees taking our money, we were the only ones.

There are three Buddhas in Bamyan (all at this site) and they were built sometime in the sixth century. So why are there Buddhist religious depictions in what we think of as a traditionally Muslim country? Bamyan lies on the infamous Silk Road route that linked China with Western Asian nations and up until the 11th century, was actually part of a Buddhist (which later turned Hindu) nation called Gandhara.

There are small caves built into the side of the cliffs. These use to house monks that regularly lived and prayed on site. Most of the holes are still there, just inaccessible, but I found it a little amusing to see the little doors in the middle of a cliff wall (they're there to protect cave art and artifacts).

We were allowed to climb up and into the scaffolded Buddha. The climb was actually pretty arduous. Aside from having to adjust to another altitude change (9200 feet), the staircase was winding with uneven steps, an unreliable handrail, and filled with tiny pebbles whose only purpose was to cause me to break my neck. See?

Along the way, there were little windows that allowed us to peek at the scenery and also a few "balconies" that led to dug in caves/prayer centers. It was so amazing to see the frescos that still remained on the walls. There were even little 'shelves' built into the (domed) caves - we were told that some of the monks used to sit on the shelves for their meditation and prayer. No easy feat given that some of them were less than two feet wide!

Once I made it to the top (and seriously, I almost didn't. I was terrified of those steps), the view was incredible. The scaffolding blocked the true top shots but I managed to squeeze in the below photo from one of the near-top windows. Afghanistan is not a desert. See? Gorgeous.

So maybe you aren't familiar with the history of the Buddhas and are wondering why I'm talking about them but you're not actually seeing any Buddhas in the photos. You can thank the Taliban for that. These amazing cultural artifacts were destroyed in 2001. In 1999, Mullah Omar (yes, that one) issued a decree saying that the Buddhas were A-OK in the Taliban's book since there was no risk of them being worshiped (given that pretty much most non-Muslims were out of the country at the time) and could be a potential source of income. However, MORE radical elements disagreed with him and petitioned for their destruction. Supposedly, when a foreign government made an offer to help preserve the statues (instead of giving money to wherever else the Taliban wanted it), they decided to destroy them in a fit of rage.

So, starting in early March 2001, the Taliban laid dynamite and destroyed the statues over the course of a couple weeks. They say that Bin Laden was there to watch which I guess means that he and I have stood in the same place. Ugh. It's heartbreaking to look at these Buddha-shaped holes in the cliffside and know that pure selfishness and fear caused destruction. Lots of countries have ideas on how to restore them; we'll see if any of those come to fruition. The employees on-site showed us the plywood storage boxes where the crumbled remains were housed - from my totally non-professional observation it looks like rebuilding with original elements in unlikely.

I really don't want to end on a depressing note because this was such an incredible site. Instead, I want to share my hope. I hope that there in increased tourism to Bamyan and Afghanistan overall. I hope this is due to increased security and prosperity. I hope you can see the Buddhas yourself.