Blogs from North, Iran, Middle East - page 6

My very last day. The last day generally sucks. This one will be a long one as the flight out of IKA isn't until 2225 tonight, I'm going to fill my day with last minute stuff and not sit around moping. There is saffron ice cream out there! I still need a few souvenirs- my "go to" advisors, Fatima and Mehrabi, once again come to my rescue. Armed with another brilliant hand drawn map I head off to a couple of places selling handicrafts. I enjoy my last walk around the streets of Tehran; it's bustling, the traffic is crazy, the pedestrian crossings are optional, the moneychanger guys are out and about; it's a great city. I end up in 1 of the recommended shops and strike a deal on some more plates- evil eye design ... read more

From Ramsar traveled East, back up towards mountains. Mr Yazd has many contacts, one is building a villa in hills West of Lahijan. So we stayed in Hamish's place who works for an airline in Tehran. Villa was warm and dry, but still bit of a building project. In-a-Jungle bit of an optimistic description, more woods or scrub, still very different to other city stops. Tabriz was nearly last stop in Iran, some how this place feels Turkish, which is just 300km to west. Well educated people, but girls are now segregated on buses (section at back of bus), but do travel with the men in a taxi. Getting colder, now 18°C on bike, where was well over 40°C only 8 days earlier, Romania could well be 15°C lower again - brr!. Maku just 20km from ... read more

Geo: 35.6962, 51.4229We broke our journey north from Esfehan to Tehran at Kashan famous for Traditional merchants houses, roses and the garden nearby at Fin. Designed for Shah Abbas I these are regarded as the epitome of Persian Garden design. Fortunately they have their own spring delivering water from the mountains so the sounds of splashing and gurgling were everywhere. Few flowers, a few roses, but lovely trees and a couple of lovely pavilions from which to enjoy it all. Also famous because a 19th Century reforming prime minister, Amir Kahn, was assassinated here by those not keen on his reforms - like public schooling.Next door to the traditional house we visited was a small mosque holding a special event. Those people in the neighbourhood who claim to be descended from the Prophet (you can tell ... read more

Ok. Now, I am Officially Stiff. At 0600 I get out of bed and discover that during the night my legs have died. The squat toilet is presenting a major problem as every muscle fibre is screaming with the tiniest movement, let alone full knee flexion. Breakfast calls and not giving in to the stiffness I take the stairs, pretty much so as to walk through the coloured light that the stained glass windows are giving off. The windows are actually the very best feature of the hotel IMO. There is a standard Iranian help yourself breakfast but it has extras- individually wrapped donuts and watermelon. Given that I have a few hours to kill before the flight to Shiraz I decide to read the English edition of the Iran Daily newspaper in the lobby. In ... read more

Awake at 0200 feeling really, really nervous. But no headache! Lie and wait till 0400 then get into the multiple layers that are going to protect me from the 'killer' winds on the summit. Meet the others in the kitchen and eat 2 biscuits and a cup of Nescafé with dairy creamer (yep, really!) then we're ready to start. It's now 0500, head torches on. Starting Elevation - 4200m. We have 1434 vertical metres to climb, 3.3 km total distance at a 31 degree elevation. I'm already puffing on the first small incline out of the camp. The sun is just coming up in the east and the surrounding mountains are black against that beautiful first orange, red band and lightening sky. I can't contemplate getting my camera out, it's too soon to break the rhythm. ... read more