Hello from Kandahar Air Field – KAFPhoto taken from atop a sewage filter built into a shipping container, (be happy that

smell-o-vision was never perfected). A lot of people live in the tents.***All my slides are described from top-right around clock-wise.***

Dirt Devil - Mother Nature's vacuum

It's quite dusty here. The dust is very fine and pernicious.

At right is a prefabricated, concrete bunker. There's a cement plant on the camp.

1. Building constructionAlmost everything is made from shipping containers (sea cans), or containers of their dimensions.

These ones are being formed into a building by Filipino workmen.

On the right are how they arrive new – flat, then they're set up as standalone structures or in a complex for offices, or accommodation, washrooms, and so on.

Some Sea Cans are refrigerator units, or are used for storage. You can order prefabricated buildings as well: kitchens, games rooms, and so on.

They can be transported by sea, air, or on land via truck or train.

2. Side-storyIn Bosnia, we met a visiting Canadian bureaucrat, from Ottawa. He was walking with a clipboard in his hand, mumbling, “Oh, there you are...” My friend asked, “What are you up to?” He spun on his heel. He pointed his finger at us, and snapped, “I know where EVERY sea can in theatre is!” Good for you...loves his job, I guess. He kept a database of sea cans by serial number and would come over for a month at a time to track them.

I'll show you around a bit.My street, the showers and so on are at the end.

...my old room,

with A/C, DVD, and a TV. My new room doesn't have a TV. And, it's not as messy now that we have our wardrobes to store things in.

As my fridge magnet at home says, “Housecleaning is a snap, since I realized - Hey, I'm a guy!”

...the office...This was during the construction phase.

...generator, four-wheeler, Transport office...We have six different types of four-wheelers and cart-type trucks,

five are automatics. It's easy to find parking for one.

Random pics: a well-head and water bladder (the water table is very high, 7-10m down), Soviet apartments (from when they ran the airport), and a bus with a happy past (the Happo-one ski school bus). There are a lot of old right-hand drive Japanese vehicles here, (after ten years it's difficult to keep a vehicle licensed in Japan). Lastly, the line-up at Tim Hortons on the boardwalk. There's also a Subway, Korean Snack place, Burger King, ice cream stand, Pizza Hut as well as a tailor, rug merchant and other things. The tailor's making me a suit.

People These kids attend the market with their fathers, to tout various goods, mostly cricket-sounding toys for $1, but also glass jewelry and Afghani and even some Iraqi money. I bought some money from them. No collection is complete without Saddam Dinars. Just off-hand I'd say three-quarters of them want their picture taken, however, the other quarter want a rifle. The market has some good deals, like six pirated DVDs for $10, complete with people moving in front of the camcorder, coughing, laughing...

...the Bulgarian compound.When off-duty they can watch a movie, sit out for a smoke, call home, go to the gym or watch Bulgarian TV on the

satellite. My friend George, in the middle, has, using rocks, killed two poisonous snakes in the past month. He met them on the road. We all use flashlights at night now.

The Uzbeks and Turks: our construction sub-contractors.They only buy and prepare local food from the market, and they drink a lot of soft drinks. They also make a nice samogon.

More peopleThe company has hired some Canadians, a few Americans, some Brits, Bosnians and East Indians and quite a few Filipino workers. Our Filipinos are adept at finding and creating shade, and playing Checkers with bottle lids. The Bosnian fellow is there to keep everyone honest.

An American “couple” on a Gator, and some French cyclists.

I think the French have just arrived at KAF since President Sarkozy was sworn-in. Their uniforms, along with the Romanians and Australians, are the most unusual here.

...the Romanian church...They share a compound area with the Bulgarians,

hence the flag (behind the British one).

Me: walking back from lunch, two-finger typing in the office while listening to my crank-up radio, driving a diesel Ford Ranger (in Asia!), and not-so patiently waiting with Ivan on the shuttle.

More of my favourite subject

We were on our way to a funeral for a Filipino bus driver. Apparently he either, had a heart attack, or choked, while eating a bag of M&Ms.

Say what you want, I still eat them.

The other Filipinos slept in the hall until the priest came and blessed the room. I'm following my friend Mike's adage, “If you want anyone to show up at your funeral, you have to go to theirs.”

At the office, (look no cubicle!), although obviously you're in my personal space. Leave some snacks and back away slowly.

WildlifeThe dark picture is of a jackal passing by the office.Next we have a captured hedgehog, later safely released outside the camp. Lastly, is a little lizard.

There are also spiders the size of mice, feral cats, and poisonous snakes as well as the mice that they feed on. We (not me, of course) do pest control, among other things. I'm astonished anything can live in the desert, but it does. I saw a beautiful hare as well, but didn't get its picture. It was so big I thought it was a deer or a dog.

Camp: Lake Ca-ca (the sewage lagoon), the eating mess, the car wash, the 'Yard' (there's a humongous boardwalk with an exercise yard in the middle). Insert your own Yard Ape joke here.

VariousJingle trucks, from Pakistan, they transport things to/from the border and beyond. Some goods arrive at Karachi by sea. The jingles are to ward off evil spirits. A number of trucks and drivers don't make it to their destinations.

Dutch Salsa dance lessons (my co-worker Salsas.)

Senators, Canadiens and army paraphernalia at the market. I think there's a Leafs door-mat in there too.

Here's the spa for massage, pedicure and manicures. The spa workers

are all ethnic Russians from Kyrgyzstan.

Next is an American café, with my co-worker Judy and a Canadian

Logistics Major. The Major was embedded with our company in

Bosnia, five years ago, as a Lieutenant. The hottie in the right corner

works at the spa.

Lastly, we have a speed limit sign. The speed limits are enforced by

Military Police speed traps. My old room-mate got caught doing

22km/h; maniac.

Morerandomphotos

Canadian Gym Billy Blanks came to visit and perform at KAF. You know him – the Taebo guy. I was hoping he'd show up and perform at 2:00 a.m. like his infomercials on TV. I planned on going and yelling insults, just like at home when he comes on the TV. Unfortunately, I had a nap and slept through his performance.

There are several gym facilities. My co-workers and I train at the Canadian one, with Jasmin, a Bosnian kick-boxing enthusiast. The gym is good for cardio, weights andgymnastics/boxing. Exercising passes the time.

My favourite facility is the newly-opened British cinema. They show movies every night, like “Running Man”, “Wedding Crashers” and tomorrow night it's “Fist Full of Dollars”. That guy on the left is just a blur of activity, over there, eh? You can almost smell Jasmin's fear, or maybe that's Billy Blanks' fear. For all his boxercising – he never has an opponent.

View of one of bin Laden's old offices from our office window.Local Afghan de-miners are employed clearing this field so the camp can expand.