Iran
Trip Start
Jul 29, 2007
1
43
55
Trip End
Dec 20, 2008
Mumbai (Bombay), India
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Sorry this took so long to write and edit. I just finished it now (10pm 30 Jan).
I'm Alive and well after dropping off the radar there for a while.
The Taliban didn't get me, it's just that the 'powers to be' block certain websites, I'm guessing, to stop the innocent little goody children of the nation being corrupted by the evils of the outside world.
I made a bit of a blog here from some emails I sent:
Picking up where i left off from my last blog (Baku), I knocked out the 315kms to the Iranian border in two days thanks to a strong tailwind the first day, allowing me to cover 190kms of pure flatness, untill it got bumpy. It wasn't easy going though, it was an ice wind, 4-5deg celcius, ok when i was rolling with it, the steam from my breath floating around my face while i was doing 35ks but when i stopped, it hurt.
I must have looked like an idiot too as i had plastic bags over my shoes, stopping the constant light rain from dampening them and turning my toes into ice-icles. I was sick of the everlasting sheet of grey cloud above me, the constant drizzel, the absolute baroness and flatness disappearing away to more greyness, not much more than 5km ahead. The boring scenery would be broken up by the occaisional town where everyone would hear the the first guy yelling "woawoawo" setting off a chain reaction through the whole town until i popped out the end of it. I'd be 100m up the road and people would still be whistling, craving for me to turn arround so they could satisfy their curiosity as to the face of the man on the machine.
The irritation of the numb minded Azerbaijans didn't stop there. Almost every car that passed, felt the need to give the compulsary deafening blast of the horn. I'm still at a loss when it comes to working out what makes them think that doing this is a really good idea, the best thing to do.
I hate negativity but, what good can i say about this country and the mentality of it's people. Ahh, It's won the bid for the 2016 olympics. (or so some local told me). Did any other country apply for this date? Or was the executive committee on crack at the time of the decision? Someone must have huge foresight here, they've got a long way to go. Appearantly they've got the money, oil money from the caspian sea. I'm asuming this money is fuelling the economy at the moment but there's not alot to show for it. Shitty dirty roads, broken footpaths, absolute lawlessness on the roads. I'm feeling that i'm at a low point of my tour right now. Anyone else getting my vibe? Or do i need to point out that i'm actually LAUGHING BECAUSE THE BORDER'S ONLY 5 KM AWAY!
The border crossing went smoothly, apart from a couple of smart arses that thought it would be funny to do the authority thing and got me to carry their heavy bags while they simply pushed my bike to the next set of gates. I'm such a sucker!
I'm riding along in Iran smiling, feeling an immense sense of relief. The first day its still raining but theres the visible Caspian sea to my left, snow capped mountains, running down to autumn coloured leafy trees nestled amongst evergreen ones on my right. The deafening horn honking has stopped. And the next day, into Rasht, the sunshine and clear blue sky increase the beauty of the scenery tenfold. I cant hold this smile forever.
Iran is so much nicer than the Caucasus, i was so glad to get out of Azerbaijan. The Iranians are so friendly and helpful and quite a lot of them speak English. I get treated like an Idol because not many of them have ever met a foreigner before and they're always keen to improve on their english.
I dont think i'd like to be travelling on my Aussie passport, USA's ally. Now USA are threatening to atteck Iran. They better not do it while i'm here, They better not do it ever!
I'm in Tehran at the mo, I got here a couple of days early because of mis-information. Some local bloke told me there was another hotel 50km up the road. There wasn't (they all want to help whether they know something or not). Its getting dark pretty soon and i'm guessing i'm at a fair old altitude with nowhere to stay. But i'm in (one of) Allah's country now and like Allah's big arm reaching down and picking me up, an Intercity bus came along, stopped at the same tea rooms as me. A passenger told me i should put my bike in the cargo hold, and plonk my ass in the back seat and chat with him. "We'll be in Tehran shortly after 9" he said after OK-íng it with the driver. I thought about the fact that it was, in my mind, 'cheating', but then thought, well, i've been a good boy, done some bloody hard yards, went an extra 140 kms just to visit Baku, and decided i deserve it.
Besides, with the political instability in Pakistan at the moment, and other general travel problems getting across Myanmar, I'll soon be taking a couple of flights to skip those two countries out anyway.
Riding 15 km from the bus terminal into Tehran centre at night was an experience to cherish, a white knuckle ride, the footpaths weren't much safer. When the road is chockka full of traffic, the motorbikes blast up the sidewalks. But i got here safely, it took a couple of days to venture out of my hotel area but i got in a full day's sightseeing today. Why do i hate this? Trying to track down the hotspots and take photos of them. The National Museum was the most boring museum i think i've ever been in...clay pots and ancient artefacts. They just dont make my tits go hard. 15 mins and i was out of there! Off to the jewellery museum tomorrow. Thats gotta be better.
Welll, actually I didn't get to see the jewellery museum. I found something far more satisfying to do instead. An old man that was wanting to change his career from a shoemaker to a tourist guide asked me to help him learn English for a while. How could I say no? It was somehow satisfying to give him the meanings and examples of all these words he had underlined in some magazine. He now understands the concept of 'slam dunk', stimulate, and MP3.
After Tehran, it was a 3 day ride to Esfahan. What a city! I think my previous fav city had been Prague, which I rather biasly visited 5 times. Esfahan, for a city in a 'poor' country was breathtaking. It actually made me want to go picture hunting with my camera and get some good shots without it feeling like it was a job.
Trees and parks everywhere, and ancient footbridges crossing a river with some of the tidiest banks in the world. I'll let the pictures tell the story here....
On towards Shiraz and I was starting to feel safe enough now to go camping, although I knew I was at altitude 1500m or so and I had an idea from BBC weather that it got very cold at night. I asked the manager of a massive restaurant / service station complex if I could pitch me tent over the back behind some trees. After a good hour long dog barking session from 7 to 8, I slept soundly until 3. Waking up shivering. I had all my warm clothes on, wooly hat, sleeping bag, but still froze.
In the morning, one of my waterbottles was temporarily out of commission as it had frozen solid, indicating sub-zero temperatures. How much below is anyone's guess.
Luckily I was able to defrost my toes on a radiator heater in the restaurant to kill the pain but I soon thawed out as the sun climbed into the cloudless sky.
I got to this place called Persopolis, which was some antient pre- Persian civilization and spent a couple of hours there trying to imagine what the hell they all did (see photos), and checked out a couple of massive toombs jut 15kms or so from there too. Covering the last 45 kms to Shiraz with a couple of truck-pulls to get there and go hostel shopping just on dark.
I spent the next few days in Shiraz taking photos of Mosques and toombs, all semi interesting. I've taken more photo's since i've been in Iran than than i have in all the other countries put together, so many infact, that i've had numerous goes at uploading them all but the computer just crashes every time. I'll just call it a work in progress.
I think the only negative experience i had in Iran , apart from them all adopting the mentality that 'He's a foreigner'charge him way more', was here. Some angry youth wanted to tell me how shit the country was and how much he hated the government. He's screwing his face up and looking angrier than Lou Ferringo playing the incredible hulk while telling me he knows 3 languages "but cant get a job and cant have sex because it's illegal in this country unless you're married and you need at least US$20,000 to get married because women generally dont work over here so what am i supposed to do? Go arround robbing people?" At this stage i still had well over US$1000 in my pocket (No ATM access here) and thought Oh oh. My bottle of water went into my left hand and i clutched my pen with my right, ready to use it self defencively. He wanted to go on but i had enough of his bullshit and started talking over ther top of him saying if he were to visit some other countries that have got real problems, he'd be happy with what he's got here. I thanked him for his alternative views on the country and walked into a nearby hotel without getting mugged.
The whole leg of my journey from Baku, Down to Bandar Abbas, ive been heading as far South as i have East, initially fleeying that cold Caspian weather. Coming down out of the mountains from Shiraz and arriving on the Persian Gulf changed all that. Its 28 celcius, was the same in Dubai and Mumbai where i am now. I think it's warm weather all the way home now so out went all sorts of shit befor i got on the flight from Dubai to Mumbai.
So that was Iran. One of the backpackers best kept secrets. They only get about a thousandth of the tourists that Turkey recieves, mainly due to some wanker labelling it 'an Axis of Evil'. That toss pot should really down his backpack and travel through, and see what genuinly sincere people they are. Maybe only then would he have second thoughts about an invasion to halter a Nuclear Energy programme.
The news channel there had English subtitles and it was prettty understandable to me when Russia suggested that America had lost the propaganda war against Iran. George Bush really needs to wash his mouth out with soap for saying bad things about Iran for all these years. It's got me fucked why he doesnt just keep his army on U.S.soil and use it to defend his nation instead of having his finger in the Middle Eastern pie.
I'm getting the feeling that average bloke around the world is looking America's way with a lot less respect than they once had. My Fathers generation characterised the country as a nation of heroes,(helping) save us from a Japanese invasion in the 40's. 60 years on and i'm wondering if they're not the most unpopular nation with whom we share our planet with.
I could say that George's only shitting in his own nest, but unfortunately his bullshit has sold in alot of countries including my own. And typical comments from friends have been along the lines of "are you seriously going into Iran"?, "what the hell would you want to go to Iran for"?
The people it's stung most are Hotel owners and tour operators of Iran, and anyone that's believed the crap we've been fed on TV, resulting in travellers avoiding one of the best countries in the world to travel in.
Well, thats enough politics. Fack! I'm just a cyclist.
I spent 3 nights in Dubai after catching a ferry across the Persian Gulf from Bandar Abbas.
It was a bit freaky riding through the city at night trying to find the YHA. The city streets were a placid change from the Iranian driving culture, there were spaces between cars instead of them being on top of each other, but out between the suburbs, the roads were more motorway style set ups. A tad on the scary side.
It was great being back in the 'Western' world and seeing modern flash cars which had probably rolled off the production line sometime since i left Western Europe.
Dubai is a beautiful modern city with not a blade of grass out of place and i loved blasting around there on my bike(and listening to stories of other travellers being stuck in traffic on a bus or in a taxi) taking photos of the modern architecture, the new buildings were somewhat impressive and a nice change from photographing 500 year old mosques.
When i Left London i wobbled out of there with my bike loaded up weighing 65kg. When i threw it on the scales at Sharjah airport, everything except my clothes and cabin luggage came to 32kg I'm starting to feel like a bit more of a tour professional now, with just 2 pairs of socks and undies, the bare essentials, especially with 9600km under my belt. So that's how i spent my xmas day... Flying into Mumbai.
Will try and give you an India update asap.
Rock!
