For a day and a half I was by the Persian Gulf, in the south of Iran. Here there was a marked liberal air, in relation to the rest of Iran, of course. Clothing was more colourful, women's ankles were often to be spotted (for those who were looking) and that obscure fanciful practice known as swimming was undertaken in full public view. I arrived in Bandar Abbas at 8.30am, and already it was very hot - such a contrast to cooling early autumnal Esfahan. The first sight to shake me from my night-bus hangover was the startling face-coverings worn by some women in the Gulf region as part of the burqa. I was too sleepy to take a picture of this, so concentrate on the description: Bright red and stiff, made of I don't know
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