No One Believes Afghanistan Looks Like THIS! (Bamyan)

It's so peaceful. It's stunning. Yeah, it was totally worth the drive all the way from Kabul to get here. This place is otherworldly. This is what it's like to visit Bamiyan, a city nestled high in the Hindu Kush Mountains and one of the most historic places in all of Afghanistan. We're gonna see the unbelievable Buddhas of Bamiyan, visit one of the most majestic lakes on Earth, and try some unique Afghan food along the way. But first, we've gotta get there, and guaranteed, when you're in Afghanistan, the journey is half the adventure. We're on the road to Bamiyan, got out of Kabul, and now we're heading into the mountains. Beautiful scenery, the mountains in the distance, the Hindu Kush Mountains, and we're gonna be going higher in elevation. Have about three or four hours probably still to go until we get to Bamiyan. Okay, so we've been driving for probably almost three hours. I guess the road from Kabul to Bamiyan is gonna take a little longer than expected because they've been doing a lot of road construction and the road is not too good in a lot of parts, so it's a little bit slow. It's only like 150 kilometers all the way from Kabul to Bamiyan, but yeah, it's a pretty slow ride. And there's actually not a lot of restaurant options, so this might be the restaurant, the stop on the way to Bamiyan. We're pretty hungry. We're all pretty hungry from bouncing around in the car. So let's eat. Nice. This is the upstairs seating section. Whoa, we have the whole room to ourself? Yes, that's right. Dude, and look at the views up here. Yo, nice. Wow. Okay, and here comes the Kabuli Pulau. Yes. Nice. Oh, with the beans too, huh? Sitting down with Bilal Hemat for the meal. This would be a common roadside restaurant where there's not a lot of restaurants that we've passed, huh? That's right. And you said they just opened like a few weeks ago. Yep, about four weeks ago. Okay, so we're in luck. And it's literally made for road trips. We ordered five minutes ago and the food comes in five minutes and everything's ready. What is this one, Bilal? This is called pika. It's very simple beef cubes with some lamb fat, lamb tail fat. We've got beef Kabuli Pulau, you know, garbanzo beans and red beans. Got some firni here, which is a dessert. And then we've got some chicken kebabs, chicken breast marinated charcoal grill. Nice. Yeah, let's go for it. Grab a piece of bread. Okay. Then I'll go for one of the skewers. Oh, look at that beef. Oh, with the fat. Got to get it all together in one. Beef and fat. Slide it off. Here we go. Well, the beef is amazing, but it's totally absorbed. The smoke is nice and salty. That fat is incredibly flavorful. Oh man, I love how they do kebabs and grill in Afghanistan. Yeah, try the soup. This is a thing now in Afghanistan. Just up until 10, 12 years ago, we didn't have this culture yet. This is kind of a derivative of the street Afghan soup that we talked about. From the looks of it, it looks almost like a egg drop soup. So it does have some Chinese influence. That's right. Okay. Kind of like a egg drop soup, but with like a turmeric, maybe cumin, slightly cumin flavor to it. Nice. And the black pepper in there. Oh, you immediately feel the black pepper going down your throat. It's Hemat's favorite. Hemat? Yeah, yeah. You like this? It's raining, so. Hemat. Hemat is a little shy, but he's an amazing guy. Yeah, we're so happy to have him. It's an honor. Okay. Now I can't wait to try the Qabbali. Big chunks of beef down here. Is that supposed to be with the Qabbali? Mm-hmm. Okay. Maybe just taste it first on its own. Some of the, oh, it's beef this time. Qabbali with beef, with carrots, with raisins. Look at the wobbly beef, the rice. The sweetness of the raisins and the carrots, and that beef completely melts in your mouth. It's so tender. For my next bite, get a little bit of the beef. I will get some of that chickpeas. Looks like a little chickpea bean stew with tomato. Oh, wow. So comforting. The softness of the beans and the acidity of the tomato. Another fantastic meal. And this is just like roadside, hit stop Afghan food on the way to Bamiyan. An amazing lunch. Oh, man. Thank you for the tea. Thank you very much. I'll try that chicken kebab with the tomato in the center. Yeah, delicious. Time for dessert. And Bilal, what is this dessert? It's called a firni. It's a dessert used in most Afghan households and restaurants and stuff. Very simple. Rice flour, sugar, and I believe water or milk. Okay. Oh yeah, you can see like the, almost looks like a milk skin on the top of it, huh? Oh, scoop in. Oh, it's nice and thin. Oh, it's so smooth. Such a pudding. Oh, it's so, so silky. And the flavor of the, little bit of like a cardamom, but there's a like a floral, like rosewater kind of. Oh, that is, yeah. Is it rosewater? Yep, yep. That's rosewater. Rosewater, cardamom. Oh yeah, that's quite nice. Nice and creamy. So custardy. Mm. Yeah, that was a delicious meal. Unexpected as well. And actually had to eat pretty fast because we need to get back on the road. We still have a few hours left and soon we'll be in Bamiyan. Looking forward to it. Oh, after quite a long drive, we have made it. Welcome to Bamiyan. This is an ancient valley that's been inhabited for some 5,000 years, I believe. And we have immediately arrived to the Buddhas of Bamiyan, which date back to the sixth century, carved into the sandstone. And they are stunning. Unfortunately, it has been destroyed, but maybe they're rebuilding a little bit. So let's take a look around and I'll be sharing more history with you as we go. Bamiyan was a hub of Buddhism where it spread throughout the world. At the peak of its time, the Buddhas were carved into the rock. There's two Buddhas, one on either side. One is 55 meters high. This one is 35 meters high, I believe. And they were covered in jewels. And at the time, they were the biggest Buddha monuments on earth. It's so peaceful. It's stunning. Man, it's been amazing visiting the Buddhas of Bamiyan. But actually, we're kind of low on time because we need to make it to the lakes, which are about an hour, maybe an hour or so away, maybe even longer than that. The famous lakes of Bamiyan, which are known to be spectacular. So we gotta get a move on before we lose light today. And we're on our way to the lakes. Spectacular. Sun coming down. The cliffs. Water is so sparkling. It's so blue and so like emerald turquoise. But just stopping here, and then I think we're gonna continue down further. But what a incredible view. Just thinking about walking up. Yeah, we're pretty high elevation here. Must be like 3,000 meters or so. And now over here to the waterfalls. So it's an entire lake system, multiple lakes in a row, and they all feed into each other down in elevation. And so this is one of the waterfalls that connects the lake above, going down, feeding into this next lake, which is a totally different color, more green in color. Unbelievable nature in Afghanistan. So we hiked back up, man. You can feel that elevation when you're hiking back up, but this lake is majestic. And from here, before it gets too dark, we need to start heading back about an hour, hour and a half drive back to Bamiyan. And then we are gonna spend the night in Bamiyan as well. But man, one last just glimpse of the incredible lakes. Looks good. Drove back to the town, Bamiyan, and we're stopping here for dinner, which is gonna be some traditional Afghan, but food local from Bamiyan. So right below the restaurant where we're about to eat, there's a bakery and they're baking fresh bread in this huge underground tandoor oven. It's so deep, two meters deep. It's massive. They're just cranking out the bread. Man, and it smells so good. That oven is so deep and so wide. It's like a water tank. So friendly, everyone in here hanging out, baking bread, holding the light. Thank you. All in the oven. Bilal, this has turned into a feast. Oh man, Bamiyan, incredible local Afghan food, and also some dishes we haven't tried yet so far. So I'm very excited for this meal, including a Goliath-sized chicken that's fully butterfly cut. And then we also have some other dishes. We should start with the Oshak. It's a vegetarian dumpling made with leeks. Oh, okay. But this is a dumpling that's boiled. It's not steamed, like Mantu. Oh, okay. So actually they look the same, right? That's right. The difference is that Oshak is leek dumplings that are boiled. That's right. And Mantu is beef dumplings that are steamed. That's right. Okay, so there's actually some technical differences, even though they look exactly the same almost from the appearance. And then again, topped with bean stew, yogurt, or sour cream, and mint. Mint and some chili. Oh man, it looks so good. I love how the dumplings are topped with beans. Oshak. Oh man, those are so tasty. The wrapper is so thin, and it just bursts with the flavor, the fragrance of the leeks. You've got the starchiness of the beans and the sourness of the cream and that minty finish. That is phenomenal. That's awesome. It's like it's both light, yet hearty and nutritious at the same time. Wow. I've had dumplings all over the world. I mean, varieties of dumplings, but I think in Afghanistan it's the only place I've ever had dumplings topped with beans. And it works so well. Let's taste the difference though between the mantou now. Mantou, that's right. So same combination, different shape, all that sour cream. You see all that mint sprinkled on top, that dry mint as well. Oh, that's a huge bite actually. I don't know if I can fit this in my mouth in one bite. We'll find out. We'll see if we can. Oh yeah. It does have a different texture. A little gummier in texture than you have the ground beef on the inside. And again, that mint is just so bright with the sourness of that yogurt sour cream. It's awesome too. What is this? We got the name for this in Bamiyan is kuruti. Well, in Pashto it's kurat. So kuruti kurat, which is essentially made out of kurat or chaka, which is a dairy product, more like a sour cream and poured over pieces of bread. And then there's some crisp onions. Nice, okay. Like fried crisp onions with some butter also on top of the dish and then some dried mint as well. Wow, that looks rich. So all that bread has just absorbed that butter and that cream. Oh, your spoon just sinks into it. Feel the juiciness of it. If you squeeze it, it's just yogurt, sour cream and butter just oozes out. Oh man. Unique. It's so rich and hearty. Like that's the type of dish, if you eat the whole bowl, guaranteed you'll be leaning over and taking a nap on spot. You can feel the butter squeezing out. So flavorful, the fragrance of the onions and again, that mint. Loving that mint. Oh, look at it. There's so much sour cream down there. And the deeper you go, the juicier it gets. That's amazing. And then also, we did have this. Oh, have a dug. Oh, thank you. This is their dug. So they actually specialize in dairy here. Like so many things, dairy, right? That's right. We are high in the mountains. Over 2,500 meters high in elevation. So you want that richness, that fat, the dairy and the grazing animals. The dairy is top quality. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, that is like the full taste of the animal in your mouth. That is the taste of the mountains. Taste of barmyon. That's like properly fermented too. It's so sour. It's so, that beautiful barnyard, natural flavor to it. Oh man, that's good. Okay, and then, yeah, I can't wait to try that chicken actually, that giant chicken. Just grab a little piece of the chicken right off the grill. Wow. Oh yeah. Juicy too. Oh man. It's so juicy. So perfectly salty, absorbed with all the smoke. Chicken is amazing. But yeah, this is a fantastic dinner. An amazing day, driving from Kabul to Barmyon. The sights, the nature, the history here, the food. It's been another absolutely unforgettable day in Afghanistan. Thank you Bilal. Thank you. For another awesome day. You're always welcome to Afghanistan. Thank you. Oh wow.