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Expedition Diary Iran The Iranian people are wonderfully generous and hospitable, almost to a fault. We have encountered taxi drivers who have refused payment of their 60p fare! Wherever you go you are followed by well wishing Iranians desperately trying to help out while practising their English. The government has given instructions to encourage tourism and foreigners are made extremely welcome, especially if you make the effort to adhere to their strict dress codes; the women must cover their head with a scarf at all times and also wear long shapeless dark clothes to hide everything which can be extremely hot and uncomfortable at times, but is appreciated by the Iranians. Fuel is wonderfully cheap at $1 for 100 litres so no problems there and at last a smile appears on Noel, our finance director's, face. However, Pinky's brand new gearbox decided it was all too much and stopped working - a potentially catastrophic failure that may still end the expedition. We were incredibly lucky to be looking for a Land Rover garage in Tabriz, when a man in a Range Rover motioned us to follow him. It turned out he owned a Land Rover garage not 500 metres away and his wife was an English teacher - about time we had a break as far as the Land Rovers were concerned. It was found that the seal between the gear box and the clutch had given way and so fluid was leaking through to the gearbox from the clutch. It has been fixed but the gearbox has been badly damaged. We don't know whether it will last to Australia or die in a few weeks. Lets hope the former as a new gearbox is something we can definitely not afford to replace. We were also having a few problems with Mutley's fan belt and alternator but we seem, just as I am writing, to have sorted that out. 
We were shown to Tabriz's main park where we could camp and pedalo on
the pond in the middle. It is apparently where courting Iranian couples
come to eat candy floss, camp and enjoy the fairground rides. We were
invited to tea by a charming Iranian couple camping next door to us and
were shown around the bazaar by an unofficial tour guide where we
sampled the local stew, abgusht, which consists of fatty meat and thick
chunks of potato and lentils.We extended our visas for another 15 days and intend to make good use of it in this very welcoming and beautiful country. After a night in Ghazvin we headed for the British embassy in Tehran. We had heard that the driving in Tehran is some of the worst in the world and sure enough there proved to be more than a few maniacs out there! After a few mini detours around the back streets of Tehran we eventually found another friendly Iranian who guided us in his car to the Embassy. We were met by Ian Hodges our vice consul who kindly looked after us very well. We had lunch and then lazed by the pool all afternoon, which was heavenly. We were then taken to their residential compound where we could camp for the night and we were also treated to a barbecue and some longed for beer! 
The next day, Anna and Jax ventured to Tehran's (and possibly Iran's)
only internet cafe to keep in contact with the outside world, although
the rumour amongst other travellers was that another was opening later
that week. After a quick swim and a spot of lunch, we headed out of the
chaos of Tehran in the direction of Esfahan. We pulled off the road in
the evening to find a campsite and were immediately invited to join a
neighbouring Iranian family for dinner. We sat on the floor with the
entire family and ate very well indeed. They had prepared abgusht, and
Toby had insisted on contributing by preparing some 'tuna surprise'! We
were invited to camp in their garden and we received an early morning
wake up call from a somewhat over zealous cockerel which continually
crowed from about 3.30 am - ugh!We drove to Esfahan and for the first time met up with quite a few other travellers at a hostel. A good chance to get the lowdown on the next few thousand miles. Esfahan is very picturesque boasting one of the largest squares in the world and pretty bridges with teahouses where you can drink copious quantities of Iranian tea, eat sweet cakes and smoke the 'hubble bubble' - tobacco smoked through water, while listening to the rippling water below. Esfahan is also known for Gaz, a delicious type of nougat tasting strangely of Turkish delight and also for its ice cream which interesting enough taste the same! On our way to Bam, we watched the sunrise at Persepolis, a ruined city dating from around 500BC. Unfortunately, not much is left of what once was a magnificent palace complex. Majestic staircases and pillars remain all ornately carved with figures representing ancient nationalities. Quite a spectacle especially at sunrise. We continued on to Kerman where we drank tea and had lunch in the extremely pretty Vakil teahouse set in a restored bath house in the middle of a bazaar. We drove to Bam and arrived just in time to visit the citadel at sunset, an incredibly impressive sight. This 6 sq km ancient city entirely built from clay housed between 9000 and 13000 people until an invasion by the Afghans in 1722 and is in the process of being restored. That evening we celebrated Will's Birthday with party poppers, streamers and ZamZam (the local fanta) - a distinct lack of celebratory potions was noted by all! |