That realization hit Cassie Biggs 40 minutes into her flight to Afghanistan, which to me seems, oh, at least 40 minutes too late. Afghanistan is, after all, a war zone. Yet among a certain breed of curious travelers it’s showing signs of returning to popularity—Lonely Planet just released a new guidebook—and even for those who, like Biggs, are just looking for “something unusual to do” for a birthday. In a story for the AP about her trip, Biggs writes about a country where the signs of war and destruction are all around, yet she still finds things one might see on an “ordinary vacation.” She writes: “[W]hat I found on a week-long trip was a surprisingly green country with incredibly welcoming people. Often peeping from beneath those enveloping burqas I saw strappy high-heeled sandals and crimson-colored toenails.”

Biggs’s perspective echoes that of Paul Kvinta, who visited Kabul recently for a profile of The Places in Between author Rory Stewart. In June, I asked Kvinta how he characterized the city. He told me:

People are out in the streets, there’s a building boom on, the markets are lively. I found people to be very friendly and eager to talk. No one seemed to mind that I was from the U.S. I’m told that folks were much more optimistic after the U.S. booted the Taliban, that a malaise has set in with the continuing insurgency and government corruption. People did express a certain pessimism to me about what lies ahead. Still, my impressions after the trip are of a very friendly and proud people negotiating a transforming city and an uncertain future.

Related on World Hum:
* Recalling Afghanistan and a Father’s Wanderlust
* Lonely Planet Publishes Guidebook to...Afghanistan?
* Q&A With Paul Kvinta: Travels with Rory Stewart in Afghanistan

Photo of Kabul by Spangleddrongo via Flickr, (Creative Commons)