Esfahan - Tehran !!!!

---

Woke up around 7:30am, went across the street bought some Barbari (one of the four types of bread in Iran) came back to my dorm and ate it with cheese and Nutella.

Afterwards checked my email at the hostel and called Beyruse. He said he will come at about 11am. I checked out of the hotel and put my luggage in Beyruse’s car and went roaming around the city centre.

Afterwards Beyruse took me to the Soffeh bus terminal and I took the 1pm bus to Tehran. Once in the bus I continued to read Pet Semetary and then I suddenly realised that I had left my passport at Amir Kabir guest house. Generally no guest house keeps the passport but these guys decided to keep it and I forgot to take it from them.

Quickly got off the bus, fortunately it was still at the station and I told the people there that I cannot go in this bus as I have left my passport at the guest house. They quickly changed by ticket from the 1pm bus to the 2:30pm bus.

I called Beyruse and he was kind enough to come back, take me to Amir Kabir pick the passport up and drop me back at the bus station.

On the way we passed Qom. I was invited for a wedding at this place today in about 2hrs but I didn’t know this bus would be passing Qom. If I had known I would have got down and gone for it.

We stopped at Qom to have dinner and I went to the restroom. I don’t understand why one needs to have a shower fixed to the urinal. There is knob in the urinal to wash the urinal, the only reason I can think of a shower tap in the urinal is not so pleasant.

Anyway the Qom service station looked extremely nice and developed. Looked like a 5 star hotel. They were serving Ahmad tea wonder if it is from Sri Lanka.

The bus got in to Tehran at 8:30pm. The station that I told Mehdi that I will be coming was the Azad station. But the bus took me to another station. I had to call Mehdi from that station and wait till he got there. He eventually got there around 9:30pm and we went to Karaj.

Hassan had cooked a nice baked beans and potato and we had a feast.

---

Photos

Urinal in QOM
I fail to understand what a shower tap is kept in an urinal.....if you know why please let me know.....

Me and an Iranian airforce guy !!!!
The servıce station in QOM is quite posh....

Dinner with the boys....
Hassan had made a delicious dinner...I only didn't lick the bowl......

Comments

[AA]

"shower tap"
Over the urinal is there for hygiene purposes... hmmm, how to say this... so you don't have to, you know, shake it.

[Aamer]

Urinal
I've never been to Iran, but as a Shia Muslim, I can guess. The shower is probably kept because you're not supposed to pray (or do many other religious activities) without cleansing yourself. That means you cannot have any urine on you. So you're supposed to cleanse yourself with water even after you urinate.

[Exmuslim]

Purification
Before prayers, a muslim is to perform 'wudu' (Arabic for ablution). This is to physically, and perhaps spiritually cleanse the self of impurities. After the muslim is done releasing his "waste", the region is cleansed and also is clothing that may have been soiled. Other parts of the body must be cleansed before prayer (i.e. ears, nostral, mouth, feet, etc.).

[khan]

u skip something
i wish u should explain how to reach esphan from border.

[Azi]

Urinal
Moslems must wash their private part after they urinate.. hence the shower tap.

[Mahmoud]

Shower tap in Urinals
The shower tap is used to wash the penis after peeing!