User talk:Bluuurgh

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[edit] Image:116-1602 IMG-klein.JPG listed for deletion

[edit] You took a photo of the Taliban?

it is remarkable that you took a photo of the taliban. Image:Taliban-herat-2001.jpg

what is the story behind getting such an amazing shot? Kingturtle 20:35, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

man, that must've been risky, too. SMC 06:58, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

not really. i dressed like a local to stop people staring (i have long hair, which i hid under a headscarf). my beard was a bit of a give away, as it was only four weeks old when i entered the county. when asked at taliban checkpoints i just said i was christian. in the north (traveling from mazar to herat) several people thought i was tajik. the picture of the taliban in a jeep i took from my hotel, secretly through the curtains... bluuurgh 14:35, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

Which hotel? Was it the Jam Hotel in the old city? You have some nice pics, I just reused several of them over on Wikitravel. I traveled through Afghanistan myself about 6 months ago, surely many differences to when you were there. Would have been nice to see what you saw then too. – cacahuate ^talk 07:07, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Ghazna Minaret

I'm a Japanese Wikipedian, "Tantal-ja". Nice to meet you!

Please I ask you your taking photo [[Image:Ghazni-minaret1.jpg]] to offer Wiki-Commons, because in Japanese Wikipedia we can't use your Ghazni-minaret.

I'm writing "Islamic Architecture" ver. Japanese.--Tantal-ja 05:14, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

the image can now be found under the same name on wikimedia commons. -- bluuurgh 19:08, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for your contribution!

I can check your taking photo in the Japanese Wikipedia!--Tantal-ja 13:04, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How did you do this?

People who do this have always facinated me, as ive planned to make a simmilar trip. How did you make it through Afghanistan? how profficent where you in the language(s) beforehand? what is your ethnicity? where did you go? how did you get in/out? I know its like asking you to write a book, sorry. You dont hae to answer if you dont want to.

i don't speak arabic or farsi but i did have a farsi phrase book. i had already travelled in several islamic countries, so i knew how to behave. i'm european, but if i let my beard grow and wear ethnic (afghan) clothing i look like somebody from central asia (people there often took me for a tadjik).

gettting there: i just flew to pakistan in the hope i would be able to get a visum there. have a look at http://travel.bluuurgh.com/pakistan for me getting there; i still have to type up my afghan diary. traveling around the country was 'normal' compared to traveling in african or middle eastern contries, although the roads were the worst i have ever encountered.

before i left i knew it should be safe to travel through taliban land as i was sure nobody would dare rob me. i would not travel in afghanistan at the moment for fear of loosing my life.

keep an eye on my (personal) webpage, i hope to have my afghan story finished within a few months. --bluuurgh 11:49, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Photos on Wikitravel

Hey there again. So Wikitravel actually isn't compatible with Commons, we can't link directly to it, so I have to reupload the images over on our server. Wikitravel uses the Creative Commons license, whereas Wikipedia uses GFDL, so most things aren't compatible between the sites. So when I go thru commons I just look for images that are PD or dual licensed as CC too. We've got our own Shared site similar to Commons which allows us to use images across our many language versions. I made sure the 3 images of yours that I used were all licensed as PD by you when I took them.

Thanks again! – cacahuate ^talk 23:22, 24 May 2007 (UTC)