During the past few years, I wished for all the educational institutions I attended to offer either Persian or Arabic. The script seemed so beautiful and enchanting, when I saw excerpts from the Koran embedded in the kufic style in tiles upon the surfaces of mosques. I've also enjoyed the famous poetry of poets as Ferdowsi, Khayyam and Sa'adi. A while before my trip to Iran, I'd already learned the Arabic alphabet, but to my ignorant dismay, I learned Arabic was far different from Persian. Although they share the same letters, Persian has an additional bunch of letters that were actually [View Full Entry]

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It wasn't the bunch of caring messages I received from friends on facebook that stuffed fear into my head before I left for Iran, but I must admit I'd never been so worried about a trip before getting to my destination. All right, I admit that as soon as we landed in Tehran, I was petrified of getting beaten by security guards at the airport for pinning my headscarf all wrong...bloody hell, it was all a bunch of tunnyfish worries. In the past I've been fortunate enough to visit and live in a number of locations around the world since [View Full Entry]

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Sadly I don't do the sleeping-on-the-bus routine very well, and to top it off it's quite tough for me to even sleep a wink on the longest plane ride. You have obviously come across one of those really ANNOYING PASSENGERs sitting next to you on a long haul who just have to : (a) get up a million times and walk up and down the aisles (b) exercise for ages at the back, chilling with other sketchy passengers and stirring up a mob (c) keep the $%&@ing light flashing at your face all the time as you sleep (grrr!) (d) [View Full Entry]

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After spending the night in my hotel room packing the gifts and souvenirs I'd bought, the women came by for a visit to reopen them all over them and interrogate me for shopping information. Alas, after they rampaged through everything, I started to repack as I chainsmoked. Our last visit around Esfahan was to the Friday, or 'Jome' Mosque. This, Seyed explained, was a transliteral error by westerners, for its original name is 'Jame' - 'large, everyone's' Mosque. This Mosque happened to be partially damaged from the bombings during the Iran-Iraq War. JAME MOSQUE - Its entrance marked by t [View Full Entry]

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The night we arrived in Esfahan, I prayed to any deity who would listen, to give us clear blue skies during our visit to Naqsh-Jahan Square in exchange for cutting down on cigarettes, booze (well that wasnt volountary) and the life of my ipod. Whoever it was, it worked. Our day exploring Isfahan was sunny as ever, the sky mimicking the colour of the beautiful blue domes and tiles. At last, I would be able to accomplish 2 points on my 'things to do before I expire' list: -Task#5: Moonwalk along at least half of the huge Square, to 'Billie [View Full Entry]

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Looking forward to visiting the Bazaar at Naqsh-i-Jahan square (literally meaning, 'Half of the World' in regards to its glory back in its Safavid days), the old ladies squealed in glee. Their way to shop at exotic markets, to put it simply, is as follows: - Find an item you just KNOW Mrs. Suzuki will be so jealous of, and can never obtain to rival you. - Push away everyone in any queue in front of you (including locals, fellow-countrymen, tourists) - Make sure the seller is a Man. Your charming japanese charms will definitely work in your advantage. If [View Full Entry]

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Kashan's located in a rather desert-like setting. The little Japanese ladies immediately put on their gloves, huge-brimmed sun hats, sun glasses and masks topped with their headscarves. Oh and I didnt mention their umbrellas to protect their pale skin from the scorching (actually, not really) sun. It was a challenge to take any photos without a corner of an umbrella bobbing around the corner of the frame, or an unidentifiably disguised woman making a guest appearance as the Invisible Man. So as soon as the bus stopped at any destination, Kaori and I would literally throw ourselves out on [View Full Entry]

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I cannot remember the previous night very well due to the 13 hour haul that obliterated my mind, along with a 5.5 hour time difference - the 0.5 was something i wrestled with most. But my first day in Tehran proved jollier than expected. We were to leave Tehran for later on in the trip and we went on our little bus ride down to visit Rayen, Qom and Mashad. Rayen (10kms south of Tehran) was where the Imam Khoumeini shrine - it was our first time witnessing the abundant blue-green domes decorated with elaborate tiles. Despite the fact that [View Full Entry]

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Not knowing what to expect, I secretly worried as I boarded Iran Air Flight#800, after all, it seemed like the only Japanese-equivalent of Lonely Planet edition of 'Persia' (NB> Not 'Iran') was outdated since the Islamic Revolution and they just wrote random baulderdash to fill the blank spaces and inlcluded photos that were clearly from the 80s. Or was this really Iran today? I turned back to the dodgy Farsi phrases-section at the back, convinced that my previous knowledge of Arabic would definitely help. Ah, no. Only the numerals, I suppose then. It could be worse. And come to think [View Full Entry]

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Flight Route from NYC to Iran It had always been a dream of mine to travel to Iran, for its vast history and art that have survived until this day. After all, where else could you possibly find a great ancient city so famously destroyed by Alexander the Great, a monumental 'piazza' that influenced the design of Lincoln Center in NYC and find the mysterious roots of vital vocabulary in the present Japanese language? Several searches for tours and trips from NYC to Iran seemed quite difficult, especially when one would log into a [View Full Entry]

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