Blogs from Iran, Middle East - page 6

Chang and I arrived in a hot Esfahan in the middle of the afternoon. We entered Kavan bus terminal to find out the departure times from Esfahan. But if you don’t read Farsi (which is in Arabic script) things are difficult to find in Iran. Luckily we immediately saw a desk manned by young women with headscarves and copious amounts of makeup. She spoke decent English and helped us on our way. However, outside the terminal were the wolves - otherwise known as taxi drivers. Surrounding us as they jostled with each other and shouting out English words whilst trying to grab our bags; my guard was immediately up. This time I kept quiet and watched Yang do the talking. One guy started off by offering 5,000 Tomans (5 dollars) to our hotel before adding “very ... read more

Sa-lam again from Iran and chet-ou-rey? - how are you? I’m having a wondrous time here in Iran, this place ticks all of the boxes; good weather, layers upon layers of history with accompanying ancient ruins, inquisitive people, friendly people, hospitable people, that happened to be rather oppressed because of a culture dictated by religious fundamentalisms and utterly foreign to a Western traveler like myself. I’m in my element. Travelling south from Tehran on a modern Volvo coach I headed for the town of Kashan, bypassing the city of Qom. Why? Its where the hard-line mullahs who run Iran all live and thus is a conservative place for anyone to stay. When I say conservative I mean unsmiling sombre mullahs in beards and robes walking around and women covered form head to toe in black chadors ... read more

The past couple of days, I've been feeling as if I've been living inside a Hemmingway novel. I have been lounging around the beautiful city of Esfahan, described by French poet Rufi as "half the world," just basically doing nothing, chatting to other foreigners and the odd Iranian. Out of all the cities I have been to, I think it is up there with Paris and Saint Petersburg in terms of culture, history and atmosphere. On top of that, there are hardly any tourists and it is CHEAP! Sure, there is the odd desperate carpet merchant trying to butter you up and get you into his shop, but that's about all the hassle you will get. I was approached the other day by an Iranian tour guide offering me his services. He lamented, "I am a ... read more

Greetings from the Islamic Republic of Iran, or to be more specific, the province of Koredestan. Yes, after southeastern Turkey I am continuing my exploration of Kurdish cultures. I am currently in the city of Sanandaj, the capital of Koredestan and given that I had forgotten that it was Monday today (all museums are closed on Mondays in Iran) I have nothing to do and getting some of my thoughts down from the past 10 days seemed a good enough way to spend a couple of hours before I go and do my laundry (yes, it is time after one month of avoiding doing it) I don't think I have ever been to a country as fascinating as Iran. I have quickly realized that 30 days in this beautiful country will be nowhere near enough to ... read more

Friday 16 April Today we have travelled over 300 miles to Yazd, a smaller city than we have been used to finding our way round in nevertheless, no-one told us that it was a historic town and where our hotel was. Before arriving here we did find the time to visit the world heritage site of Perpelese. Some pictures show you the site. So back to Yazd. We found ourselves parking up the car and walking to find the hotel through a maze of alley ways which were part of the old city and prison area. Eventually, after asking many passersby where the hotel was we found it and what a fine. It is beautiful - an oasis within which to cleanse ourselves and become human again after another hard day’s drive. I hope some of ... read more