Amusing sights

Some things I'll never see at home. The gunners in the Italian armored vehicles usually have a bunch of black feathers stuck to their helmets. Maybe my father in law can tell me why. It adds some panache.
Also shown is a "jingle jitney". This is a 3 wheeled motorcycle, apparently quite common in all Afghan cities. It's covered on the back and has two facing bench seats inside. This is used by a construction worker who comes on base for building projects. Others are used as cheap taxis or as the family vehicle. They can be heavily decorated with appliques, sequins, tassels and small bells all over the vehicle. Trucks for hauling anything are similarly decorated and even the insides of buses have tapestry, curtains, bells and tassels galore. The transport trucks are therefore called jingle trucks since all the decorations jingle as they bounce down the bad roads. A great youtube video on driving in Afghanistan is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7Ne8frFhSw. It's a video of driving from Kabul to Jalabad on J-Bad Highway.