Blogs from North, Iran, Middle East - page 15

La frontiera tra Turchia e Iran e' stata superata con molta facilita' e senza alcun minimo controllo dei bagagli alla ricerca di sostanze proibite, dannazione! Giusto il tempo di cambiare le poche lire turche in Rials che mi ritrovo in mano due grandi mazzette da non ho ben capito quanto, ma che bastano a farmi sentire ricco ed onnipotente; probabilmente il cambio e' stato una fregatura, ma il venerdi' le banche sono chiuse e comunque chissenefrega: le mie tasche sono gonfie da scoppiare e non vedo l'ora di addentrarmi in questo nuovo paese! Ci fermiamo a Maku, prima citta' dopo il confine, e realizziamo che e' troppo tardi per prendere l'autobus per Tabriz, ma non vogliamo assolutamente passare la notte in questo anonimo villaggio; gli unici mezzi in partenza sono diretti a Tehran e ci ritroviamo ... read more

Portraits of turbanned Ayatollah Khomeini are everywhere, whether it be on a huge billboard in Tehran or a postcard pasted on a goat-shed in Kurdistan. Eventually, it came to the point that he felt like a friendly smoking buddy on my trip, and I was no longer intimidated by his signature 'angry Sean Connery' look. Anywhere, I'd light up a cig, feel his stare, and nod in acknowledgement. Yo, long day man. The national icon has become the visitor's local mate. In all urban areas, local hot spots happen to be located on either Imam Khomeini street or square, so it's a dead giveaway when you're new in town. Can't read Arabic numerals on your Iranian rial bills? Not to worry, the street vendor will tell you how many 'Khomeinis' he wants. Can't read street ... read more

I have a secret shame during my journeys, that is, I always inquire the word for 'Snow' in the local language during my travels. Why? Well, due to language barriers, my taunted nickname at my Aussie school was 'Yucky Jen Crummy'. It was a rather sad coincedence that my japanese names sounded similar to such unfortunate vocabulary. Both of my first names mean 'Snow'. So, as a result I always sought new words for my name. I've found out so far that in Turkish it is 'Kars', 'Lumi' in Finnish, 'Nipha' in Greek. They seem to sound so much better than 'Yuki'. So, during my travels in Iran, I decided to inquire. Turns out to my dismay that in Persian, it becomes....'barf'. Oh. Suddenly, I'm quite happy with my original name. At least it doesn't ... read more

By coincedence, Japanese and Persian have identical phrases which are completely different in meaning. Hence, a little Japanese dialogue with a fellow JP tourist could result to disaster. Two Japanese women ran up to me, freaking out when a bunch of curious Iranian locals pointed at them shouting 'Shinei! Shinei!' - they were merely saying 'Chinese?' but in Japanese, this is an imperative command meaning 'Die!'. In the marketplace, some Japanese tourists and I noticed the bizarre form of watermelons on display. to this, we said the phrase 'Hendawane~' (meaning 'how odd!'). Hearing our conversation, the fruit vendor smiled and gave us three watermelons for free. we were puzzled, but accepted them anyway. Other fruit vendors nearby did the same, and some of them decided to just throw them at us like bloody hotcakes. One barely ... read more

I doubted my ears when I first heard a 'Careless Whisper' ringtone go off in Iran. The owner of the phone was not a lovelorn western woman, but a local man who had this uncanny resemblance to Omar Sharif (plus 30 kilograms). During my few weeks in Iran, I would hear George Michael's famous tune (polyphonic and mono) ring accompanied by a grizzly 'Bale?/Yes?' of a 40+ unshaven local. I decided to look into this, as my curiosity spasmed knowing about the western music ban imposed in the country. Was this a sony/samsung/motorola trend amongst all imported phones? No, a man happily responded it was of his own choice and he downloaded it when he went to Turkey. Everyone knew it, to my shock. The carpet seller, the woman in the heavy chador and the ... read more