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It being Afghanistan, we are also treated to 17 photographs of the best customised AK-47s, the 17 best pylons (you’ll find the ultimate on the road between Samagan and Kholm, saying as you asked) and the 17 best marijuana fields (the trippiest 19 miles west of Mazar-e Sharif). In the 17 best broken things, however, amid the cars and tanks and roads, there is no sign of a heart 8
Rather than bothering with the usual travel tips – where to eat, where to sleep, where to visit for deep cultural resonance – Baechtold has bypassed such pedestrian concerns and focused on the really fascinating. Each idiosyncratic category features a grid of 16 thumbnail prints, a map, and a larger picture of the best of the best. The General, listed under G for General, pictured here presumably achieved his ‘best in class’ award for his sartorial elegance. If you want to meet him, you’ll find him at the checkpoint between Gereshk and Kandahar.
As a holiday destination, not even the most enthusiastic tour operator would herald Afghanistan as the new Costa del Sol. Such definitions have not troubled the intrepid posse behind Baechtold’s Best in choosing the country as its inaugural destination for its new visual travel guide series.
>Moment General Travel Claude Baechtold