Blogs from Middle East - page 1239

Day 33 - Wednesday 15th March The long train journey from Istanbul continued. From first light onwards, the scenery had no character whatsoever - it was just unchanging desolation - rocks, little vegetation and occasional villages and lots of snow. However the sun was shining through the train window bringing some welcome warmth. The train was full of salesmen - soft drinks, tea, water, grapes, bread, perfume, rings, belts, clothes, scarves and oranges - not sure what quality the food would be. There were also several beggars asking for money. Outside the window adjacent to the corridor, crowds gathered. For nearly all of the journey there were people just staring at our every move - completely fascinated - it was disturbing. Eventually we hung a ground sheet against the window to block their view. It worked ... read more

Day 32 - Monday 13th March. Up early this morning as I need to report my missing travellers cheques to American Express. It was snowing quite heavily as I headed out at 8.30am and caught the bus to Taksim district - the bus was packed. The Hilton hotel was 5 minutes walk away and opposite the Tourist Information Office. I had to complete a long complicated form and then sign in triplicate. They would check with Head Office and tomorrow afternoon they would let me know whether new cheques would be issued. I walked back to Taksim square and then caught the bus to Sultanhamet and found the Post Restante. The next problem was to overcome the loss of the student cards - so wrote a letter to UK student office in London to ask for ... read more

Day 29 - Saturday 11th March Hurray a non-travel day. First stop as usual is Poste Restante - a letter for me but seven for Heather - I guess that I must write more letters myself ! We went into a museum and then to the Basillica Cistern which was beautifully decorated. A group of Turkish girls befriended us and asked for us to join in their photographs. There were going to a discotheque tonight but alas it would be too expensive. We walked through the park to view the Bosphorus and here started a disasterous few hours. One of the pleasures of travelling is meeting new people but one of the dilemmas is the desire to be friendly whilst maintaining a level of distrust because every now and again there are fraudsters - how to ... read more

In the summer of 1971 I traveled to Iran with the Los Angeles Geographical Society. A Pan Am flight took us from Los Angeles to London for a connecting BOAC flight on to Tehran. A long flight, but I was very much up for seeing this storied land. Upon leaving Mehrabad Airport for the transfer to downtown Tehran, the first sight to be seen was the then-new Shahyad Tower (now the Azadi Monument) constructed in a large traffic circle. The imposing monument had just been built to commemorate the 2,500th anniversary of the Persian Empire. Certainly it gave the observer the impression of permanence to the Palahvi dynasty. First impressions were of the modernity one encountered in cosmopolitan downtown Tehran. An English-language newspaper carried ads for telephone answering machines. That was cutting edge technology in 1971. ... read more

1964 Diary Entry "About 1/4 past twelve we boarded the plane and took off for Beirut. About two hours later I fell asleep in the plane and didn't awaken till about 1/4 of an hour before landing. When we landed we stepped out and went into the airport. By the way it was about 4 o'clock in the morning and as light as miday. Well then we went in and through the passport control, health and customs. After that we caught a bus to the St George's hotel. There we got our luggage together and were shown to our room. There Mum and Dad had a sleep while I looked out the window at the beautiful beach below. At half past seven Dad and Mum woke up and Dad took me down for a swim. It ... read more