Ruins, police and aeroplanes
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2010
1
21
51
Trip End
Feb 13, 2011
Shiraz, Iran
Friday, September 17, 2010
We arrived at a bush camp about 20 mins down the road which we later found out was an archealogical site and home to many Roman potteries!
After setting up our tents and having dinner a cop turned up to let us know that we really shouldn't be camping there. His reasoning was that is wasn't safe and there was tigers and reptiles that could come down from the hills. Our tour leader argued that we would be fine but she didn't learn quickly that you don't mess with the Iranian Police! After hours of debate and uncomfortable feelings all around another couple of cop cars turned up! In the end there were 20 cops telling us to leave so finally our tour leader decided that we probably should! So 9.30 at night, it's dark and we're all packing up our gear and tents (we've all got it down to a pretty fine art now) so within 20 mintues we were on the truck in the dark being police escorted to another site. We eased the tension on the truck by singing songs from the Wizard of Oz and arrived more relaxed at our new site which was right outside Persepolis! We crashed out to the sound of Iranian dance music being played on loudspeakers and had the best sleep we've had in ages. Amazing what you will sleep through when you're so tired. Sleeping plugs are essential!
The next morning 20 of us took taxis to Shiraz which was about 50km's away. It was quite sad leaving the truck and having our truck family spilt up again! Most of the 20 are going to Goa and beyond and the others that aren't going through Pakistan are flying straight from Tehran to Amritsar, India where we meet up with the truck again. There are only 9 out of the 40 of us that were able to obtain a visa for Pakistan as they applied in countries outside of the UK. We're not too disappointed as sure Dubai will be a suitable alternative! On leaving the trip Ata wrote "True Love" in Persian for us which we'll be sure to incorporate into our wedding somehow.
Shiraz was an interesting little place although we didn't leave the hotel for a long period of time! We paid 25USD and got a mint room! 1 King size bed and 2 singles haha. Overkill but certainly not complaining! We had a bathroom with toilet and a shower, air conditioning and BBC on the tele so we were set! Had our leaving dinner which was pants but that's a long boring story, spent about half an hour negotiating our bill and then headed up to bed in preparation for a 5am start in the morning.
Really ready to leave Iran. The people are lovely and we have enjoyed our time here but it's definitely time to move on. Jules was well keen to leave the burkha behind in the hotel room.
Onward and upward as we fly business class to Dubai via Bahrain!
Lowlight = police intervention and saying goodbye to everyone
Highlight = Hot towels and fresh orange juice, business class style! (if only they'd seen us 24 hours ago haha)
