Let Me Tell You A Story. . . . | The Monsoon Diaries

What Dreams May Come – Those personal favorite moments that explicitly remind you why you went traveling in the first place.

Dodging The Taliban in Samangan June 28, 2019 Well this just happened; and the Taliban just missed us only by 30 minutes: Bomb blast in Afghan mosque wounds 11 worshippers. AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): A bomb blast inside a mosque wounded at least 11 people Friday in northern Samangan province, Afghanistan, a provincial official said. Sediq Azizi, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the blast took ...
12 Strong: Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan June 27, 2019 Our itinerary for this trip needs a little bit of background context. On January 2018, the Taliban attacked the The Inter-continental Hotel in Kabul and killed at least 42 people. Among the dead included 5 pilots and 4 crew members of Kam Air, which was soon followed by over 50 foreign workers from that airline to ...
So I’m In Kabul, Afghanistan Right Now… (Updated July 1, 2019) June 25, 2019 (Given the ever-changing security situation here, this post will be updated as circumstances develop so check back often) Travel Warnings A helpful warning as I set off for Kabul today: Do not travel to Afghanistan due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed conflict. Travel to all areas of Afghanistan is unsafe because of critical levels of kidnappings, hostage taking, suicide bombings, ...

The Afghanistan Visa For USA Passports May 13, 2019 Needless to say, the visa to get into Afghanistan is not as straightforward. For USA passport holders, single entry tourist visas have a maximum 3 month validity, so the earliest you can apply is 3 months ahead. With an opportunity to go there later this June, I figured it would be worth a shot at an ...
The Last Action Hiroshima September 7, 2018 After 2 days in Nagasaki, we headed northeast for Hiroshima, first boarding the 3:20pm Kamome 26 Train (which leaves hourly on the :20) from Nagasaki Station to Hakata. We arrived on time into Hakata at 5:13pm, transferring to Platform 13 for the Shinkansen “Bullet Train” Nozomi 56, departing at 5:33pm heading in the direction of Tokyo. Don’t fall asleep! The train only takes 2 stops, aka one hour ...
24 Hours In Kuwait May 31, 2018 Preface — To give you an idea what my life has been like this past month: Exactly a month ago, I was the Caribbean for a 3 day weekend in Turks & Caicos Then I returned to NYC for 4 straight night shifts in the ER (getting sick with a 103ºF fever in the interim!) Then I headed to ...

During The Terrorist Attack in Pul-e Mahmood Khan, Kabul, Afghanistan…. July 1, 2019 09:30AM As I’m writing this a few explosions just occurred within our vicinity a few km away (it’s already on the news). Still hearing some gunfire in the distance where the plumes of smoke are. We just went up to the rooftop to take a look: What is more remarkable is how the hotel staff and even some ...
Dodging The Taliban in Samangan June 28, 2019 Well this just happened; and the Taliban just missed us only by 30 minutes: Bomb blast in Afghan mosque wounds 11 worshippers. AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): A bomb blast inside a mosque wounded at least 11 people Friday in northern Samangan province, Afghanistan, a provincial official said. Sediq Azizi, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the blast took ...
The Afghanistan Visa For USA Passports May 13, 2019 Needless to say, the visa to get into Afghanistan is not as straightforward. For USA passport holders, single entry tourist visas have a maximum 3 month validity, so the earliest you can apply is 3 months ahead. With an opportunity to go there later this June, I figured it would be worth a shot at an ...

Rwanada Forever! July 2, 2019 After a week in Afghanistan and a sobering day in Kabul, it’s definitely time to get out of harm’s way and return home. There’s no need to exacerbate the situation by lingering during what will be another tense period in Kabul. On our way back, Evan and I decided to spend 3 days in Rwanda as one ...
Cash Me In Kashmir Feeling Murree As Ever! March 18, 2019 For our last day in Pakistan, we decided to head up into Kashmir for Imran’s (our friend and guide who has been showing us around the past week in Pakistan) hometown and the resort village of Murree. Starting with a drive from the Rawalpindi/Islamabad area at noon, we reached Kashmir at around 2pm. You’ll know you’re ...
Islamabad: A 5 Year Promise March 17, 2019 How I Got Here 5 years ago I crashed a random wedding in Lahore where of all the “WTF small world moments” I’ve had in my life I would run into an acquaintance named Ali Raza, whom I had first met briefly when I spoke at CUNY Baruch only a year prior. Flabbergasted, we then took a photo together and ...

U-“Gone”-Da in 60 Seconds! A Day Trip from Rwanda to Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda July 3, 2019 Yesterday morning after arriving into Rwanda, Evan and I debated back and forth whether to rent a car for Rwanda. The signs were also pointing to no: the cheaper agency (Eagle) didn’t have one while the other (Europcar) was too expensive despite trying to haggle it down. Our UAE hosts Sean and Chelsea also had told ...
During The Terrorist Attack in Pul-e Mahmood Khan, Kabul, Afghanistan…. July 1, 2019 09:30AM As I’m writing this a few explosions just occurred within our vicinity a few km away (it’s already on the news). Still hearing some gunfire in the distance where the plumes of smoke are. We just went up to the rooftop to take a look: What is more remarkable is how the hotel staff and even some ...
Class is in Session at the Afghan/Uzbek Border! June 29, 2019 Given the Taliban bombing of the mosque at where we were supposed to have lunch at yesterday, we decided to not go to Balkh and instead visit the Uzbek/Afghan border at Hairatan for our last day in the region. We stopped at an intersection to say hi to a local and very friendly mullah that happened ...

Knock-Knock-Nakh-chivan On Heaven’s Door: 2 Days In Nakhchivan August 29, 2018 It’s time to shift monsooning back into higher gears — today we’re visiting Nakhchivan! A landlocked exclave separated from Azerbaijan by Armenia (or as some say, physically located within Armenia), but an otherwise autonomous region under the control of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Nakhchivan is similar to exclaves like Alaska (thanks Alan Sedgwick!) and on a level less ...
How I Survived (THRIVED in) Med School & Residency To Become A Doctor By Visiting 150 Countries June 30, 2018 After 4 years of college, 4 years of med school, 4 years of residency, and 150 countries under my belt, I’m finally about to graduate: No more school and helluva more travel await me. And to think I had almost failed out and got kicked out of school/residency more times I could imagine. Anyone remember Dr. ...
Miran With The Mostest In Mostar April 6, 2018 To be honest, prior to this trip, I did not know much about Bosnia and Herzegovina and its history aside from the fact it was part of the former Yugoslavia and had been battled by war. Thus, heading into our bus ride from Split, Croatia, I had no idea what to expect except from Calvin’s ...