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Den of American Espionage
Mural on the walls of the old US embassyIt was as I expected it would be, the hotel tried to charge me for two days instead of one and then I spent 8 hours on two old Mercedes busses that must predate WW2. The scenery did improve as I got closer to Kermanshah, the bus went through Lorestan which is nomad territory and reminded me a little of Mongolia.
I talked to a University student on the bus that was a doppleganger of my mate Nigel, the hair, the nose, the physique were all spot on, freaked me out a bit. He got me in a cab and showed me the way to the hotel I was looking for and paid for the taxi, a typical act of kindness here. I then went and pigged out in a Kebabi I will really miss the food when I go home.
The next morning I got up with the birds I have little local currency left and wanted to get to the bank when it open, so did about a thousand others LOL. The stampede for the doors was frightening but I forced my way through the crowd and entered the bank, where I was pointed all over the
place before I got to the exchange office on the second floor.
The staff were very polite gave me tea and asked me to sit till the exchange rates arrived, having worked in a bank back in the 80's I was suprised that the technology was exactly the same, type writers, no PC's etc.
After about half an hour they gave me a two inch wad of bills and told me to be careful so I split them up and stashed them all over the place before going in search of a travel agent. The travel agents I was looking for were not where they were supposed to be, yet just as despair set in ;-) an Iranian/American guy wanderers up and says 'What ya lookin for buddy' I say a travel agent, he says 'Get in the car' and off we went, 20 minutes later after a bit of yelling at the travel agency staff (by him) I had my ticket to Tehran, and he was putting me in a taxi back to Azadi (Freedom) Square, where I started from.
At this time I thought I should check my email so I headed over the road
and bumped into this Aussie guy I had been talking to by email, bit of coincidence but I knew he was staying just across the streeet. After a few minutes chat an Iranian student that Matt knew walked in they had arranged to meet to go to Taqt- e Boston so I tagged along which meant cheap transport there and back.
As you can see Taqt-e Boston (Bistoon) is similar to the carvings near Persepolis, one of the carvings however still has colour on it. The park around the antiquity was also quite pretty. When we got back to Azadi Meydan it was time to check out and head to Kermanshah airport my plane to Tehran was due to leave at 12.45. The cabby was funny he had me laughing with his attempts at English, the fare was fair too for once.
I was a sleep before the plane even took off and only woke 15 minutes or so from landing, Tehran's Airport was not as hectic as I thought it would be and neither were the roads for that matter, I think because it was siesta time. The first taxi driver I got couldnt communicate with me,
the second was really helpful so I tipped him. Taxi fares are expensive from the airport. I am staying in a place that is far more expensive than the book says but with inflation at 25% a year there is no wonder.
I went to the Golestan Palace this morning it was Ok but nothing overly special, I am not a big fan of this city, its hot, smoggy and bursting with people and traffic.
Its Monday so all the Museum's are closed so I decided to keep busy by going out to the Den of American Espionage (the old US embassy) to take some photos of the Down with America murals, they say to be careful as soldiers will take your film, but I saw no soldiers and nobody seemed to give a shit.
I will go to the Jewel Museum this afternoon and that will be that for Tehran this time, in the morning I will return to the peace and quiet of Shiraz for a few days and do all the stuff I did not do last time.
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