Leaving the Truck!
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2010
1
18
41
Trip End
Feb 13, 2011
Shiraz, Iran
Friday, September 17, 2010
Only three of the Brits had managed to get visa's for Pakistan so most of us were having to fly over from Iran to India. Rob, Sam, Amelia and myself were flying from Shiraz, the city nearest Persepolis, to Mumbai two days later so were leaving the truck the next day. It was a weird to know we would be leaving our 'home' and most of the people we had been living with 24/7. We were also worried about the truck and the few who were going through Pakistan as reports were that things were not going well there. Not only was there bad flooding and the resultant humanitarian crisis but the US had started official air strikes in the north as well.
Anyway the ruins of Persepolis were pretty impressive. The city, built in large part by Darius the great, dated from 515 BC to 330 BC, when Alexander the Great set fire to most of it. It is a whole city laid out with huge rock tombs carved into the hills, unfortunately you couldn't go in, and some impressive Persian reliefs. If it was in the west it would be a real treasure but most people have never even heard of it.
That night we attempted to camp a few miles away just of the road. It turns out the site we were on was an unexcavated historic site in its own right and there were shards of ancient pottery scattered on the ground among the rocks. I didn't steal any, though it was tempting - some of it had carvings on. Perhaps unsurprisingly the police turned up at dinner to turf us off.
Unfortunately Ali our tourleader didn't want us to move and tried to persuade the police that we couldn't move to the campsite back at Persepolis but to no avail. The poor Iranian guides were put in a difficult position as of course the police were aware they knew exactly what they were saying. I imagine that the type of man who joins the Iranian police force is also not the type of man who is going to back down very easily - especially for a western woman - so digging our heels in probably wasn't the best plan of action. Eventually more and more police showed up and there was even talk of them getting the army to help move the truck. At that point Ali gave up and we were put under police escort and moved back to Persepolis.
Although it was a pain to have to pack up and repitch the tents in the dark it was fun being in the truck at night with the police lights flashing around us. My first ever police escort! The campsite area at Persepolis was pretty good too so it wasn't that much of a hardship.
The next morning was weird and sad as half of us left the truck and got taxis to Shiraz. It was nice that there was so many of us, I can't imagine how Caleb and Joshua felt when we left just the two of them back in Goreme, but some of my favourite people were going through Pakistan and I knew I would miss and worry about them.
The hotel in Shiraz was nice but apart from a little adventure to the post office, where we had to speak on the phone to the man's friend who spoke English to communicate and got free sweets, we didn't get to see anything in the town apart from the airport.
And that was it, our adventures in Iran had ended and just four of us were independent travelers on our way to a place that both fascinated and scared me - India!
