Afghanistan 1968, 80 miles north of Kabul, heading up to Bamyan to see the giant Buddha statues, (sadly destroyed by the Taliban)
as we were heading up to the high mountain passes a storm had set in and the snow had blocked the roads, so we had to turn back
and spend the night in a small Afghan village. there were four of us traveling together two English one Dutch and a British born Pakistani
on his way to his first ever trip to his home land. We found the local cay house and went in for a meal. Inside was a large pit about 8x4 feet
and about 5 feet deep with burning coals at the bottom and a huge slab of rock suspended 2 feet above for a table, sitting around the table,
on the floor with their feet dangling over the fire sat four Afghans, we joined them and ordered a tea ( Afghanistan is the first country on
route to India were you can get tea like we have at home). Although the cay house was lovely and warm the reception we received from the Afghans
was frostier than the two feet of snow outside which was unusual as Afghan hospitality is on a par, if not better than Turkish hospitality.
The owner had joined the locals in what seemed to be a sneering contest when suddenly our Pakistani friend jumped to his feet and started shouting
and screaming at them, waving his hands about in real anger, the Afghans looked shocked and sat there in silence as a full on tirade was aimed at them,
and then came the silence, was this the lull before the storm, Afghan tribesmen are armed to the teeth, daggers on their waists and bullet belts across the chest
and I sat their in real fear for my life. One of the tribesmen got up and sat next to the Pakistani and a calm conversation ensued culminating with the Pakistani apologizing
on behalf of the Afghans, with that the owner produced bowls of undefined bones and gristle stew, rough unleavened bread which tasted as bad as it looked.
The rest of the evening passed without incident before retiring to a bare room with pallets on the floor for sleeping.
My Pakistani friend was a pharsee speaker, as were the Afghans and he heard them calling us heathens and godless individuals who wasn't worthy of eating with them.
when he stood up he told them that they should be ashamed by treating guests that way and that we were every bit as god fearing as they were and that we worshiped the same god but in different ways it obviously struck the right note.