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Sa'da's Tomb
Mozghan and Hamid in front of one of the great poets works, tiled to a wall When I was in Shiraz last time Hassan and I met an Iranian girl named Mozghan, she offered to show me around town if I returned so I sent her an email and said I would return for a couple of days and she offered to meet me at the airport. The plane was delayed at the airport in Tehran for nearly three hours so I was suprised to see her there when I arrived, she arranged the cab to the hotel where I deposited my bag and then took me to the castle in Shiraz and then the Bazaar. After walking around for an hour or so looking at souvenirs and having to repeat myself constantly as people here have difficulties with my accent we went to a traditional tea house and tried some local delicacies.
Towards the end of the meal a strange guy walks in and makes a beeline for me and sticks a picture of the Australian coat of arms in my face and demands to know the colours of the picture, I knew what he was talking about but I didnt really know what they were. So I promised that if he went away I
would call him later on and tell him, this seemed to appease him and he left. However on the way back to the hotel he appeared from no where wanting to know where I was staying, it took quite a bit of effort before he would follow Mozghan to a Netcafe while I went and checked out the passport. I then spent close to half an hour trying to explain the colour scheme but eventually he was satisfied and took off. Mozghan then left saying she would pick me up at the hotel in the morning.
Morning meant 7am and we were soon in a cab heading somewhere, eventually stopping at a round about where she went off to buy bread for breakfast, a short time later her cousin Hamid arrived she thought it was funny that I was looking for a sports car and he turned up in a battered old box. Hamid is a top guy, he is an Engineer in berkley California and is in Shiraz on holiday, he proceeded to drive us all over the place including to the Shrine of Hafez an extremely famous Persian poet. They then decided to feed me a strange
noodly icecream concoction which tasted of lemon's before heading for the best Kebabi in town, the food was really excellent and so was the bootleg Shirazi wine he was feeding me.
It turns out that Mozghan was going to Tehran to meet up with a hiking group she is a member of and she invited me to come along, I wasnt sure it was a good idea at first because time was so limited but I agreed to go for a few days. Hamid took me to the house of some of his relatives to see how Shirazi's live and the hospitality was incredible. It was then on to the bus station where I met Mozghan. In Iran it is not acceptable for a man to sit next to an unmarried women who is not a relative and doubly so for foreign men. There were plenty of free seats so I laid down and tried to sleep, we were able to converce later when everyone was a sleep which was pleasant considering I have never had anyone to talk to while travelling here. I took a lot of time to ensure that she understands what I say, so I
often repeat what I say many times, sometimes changing words for alternatives she understands.
The bus trip was long and uninteresting we arrived in Tehran 13 hours later.
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Peter
non-member comment
Shiraz
Hi Mate, Good to see your still going well. I saw Mahatma Coat last Friday and his wifes name is Shiraz coincidently. So politically incorrect but so funny. Secondly, the women siting next to you thing is not a tradition, they just don't want to sit next to you. Anyhow stay safe and back the Aussies in the World Cup. Pete