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Published: April 26th 2007
The way to put sugar in your tea
Really. You need to grab a hard chunk of sugar and bite at it while you drink your chai. Not great on a first date. Kashan's located in a rather desert-like setting. The little Japanese ladies immediately put on their gloves, huge-brimmed sun hats, sun glasses and masks topped with their headscarves. Oh and I didnt mention their umbrellas to protect their pale skin from the scorching (actually, not really) sun. It was a challenge to take any photos without a corner of an umbrella bobbing around the corner of the frame, or an unidentifiably disguised woman making a guest appearance as the Invisible Man.
So as soon as the bus stopped at any destination, Kaori and I would literally throw ourselves out onto the street and dash to the scene, take photos...sit, airband away and sing Evita tunes, then puff a cigarette or two despite the shock of the locals - come to think of it, no, I didn't see any women smoking nearby. Oh my. We liked bowing or waving at the portraits of Imam Khoumeini and Khamenei which were hung everywhere.
TEPE SHIAC - 5500 year old settlement with much of its original sun-baked bricks remaining tough as stone. Elam civilization, but similar to Troy they continued to build a new layer on top of the older one
Tepe Chiac in the desert
Getting our headphones out to listen to our guide. Great invention, especially for people who get lost easily for the sake of taking photos. - there are six layers in total. there was also a skeleton of a poor mate who died when a roof collapsed thousands of years ago.
Excavations are still going on, and we happened to come across a jolly specialist putting together a large vessel of some sort under his private tent. The view though, must have been the highlight of it all, as you could see the town nearby and Mt Zakros (4200m high and spanning out 250kms) soaring about behind it.
BAGH E-FIN - A lovely example of Persian Garden architecture, a nice enclosed area with its fountains and waterworks, completely shutting out the harsh desert heat outside the high walls. The entrance is marked by a handsome gate with Abbasid half-domes, and stepping into the hallway you're forced to make a sharp turn as the garden itself was closed off entirely from the outside. It even features its very own Hamam where another poor mate, Amir Kabir, got the chop. So other than such a ghost that may be roaming about the gardens occasionally, it's a nifty place to have during the summer.
ABYANE VILLAGE - Zoroastrian town in the mountains, famous
Poor bastard...
No, I definitely wouldnt like passing into the next world after my roof caved in. for the women who donn their glamorous rose-print headscarves and puffy skirts. Lunch is a delicacy called 'Fesenjan' full of pomegranate paste of other fruits alongside beef. The waiters are a very attractive bunch, as we all decided, although one had a rather atrocious hairdo which could have comfortably placed him in a stone relief from Persepolis. We called him Darius.
Approximately 3000 people live in the village, where all the little homes are of a soft reddish color and the tight alleyways remind you of a European towns. The locals chill by the sidewalk staring you up and down like you have a rose growing at the top of your head. Cute scarves though, ma'am!
It rains. Bloody hell. No umbrella, so while the others shop around for random oranges at a nearby market without a word of Farsi in their minds, Kaori and I check out the little mosque in Nakhaz. On the bus ride to Isfahan, the women throw oranges and money at each other to buy them from others - I decide to pass out, and look forward to Isfahan, one of my primary reasons to venture out to Iran in the first
Top of the Hill
My headscarf skills have improved - it always stayed put. I think I deserve a cookie. place.
To my dismay, my Ipod stuffs up. I had a choice of listening to old women's racket for the next few hours, or the Emancipation of Mimi on unchangeable repeat. The latter sounded more promising, and Mariah sang away as I stared out at the dramatically mountainous region in the middle of the country.
I look forward to a nice chilled glass of beer at the hotel. Ah, well...non-alcoholic beer. Every thing is worth a shot, right? This is going to be a long trip...
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iran describe
u said in title iran without a drop of liquor but I must say this and with nice scarf :) and good humor and some amazing eyes can follow you always :)