Back in Tehran after 2 weeks

Im back in Tehran again after 2 weeks in this amazing country of friendly people. Sometimes, they are over-friendly! Well, Im back here to settle some visa issue and would be on my way to Yazd tomorrow (16th May) on the night train. There’s simply too many things to write about my experiences here in Iran that I dunno how to organize them! I shall just touch on the more memorable experiences I had over the past 2 weeks.

6th-8th May:I went to Ramsar from Tehran from the last time I emailed. Ramsar is a small town and the drive from Ramsar to Tehran got to be the highlight of the trip there. I changed a total of 5 savaris(what they call shared taxis here) in order to a village igh up in the mountains and it was bloody cold! It rained just before I arrived. The main ride which was about 3 hours took me through the Alborz Mountains and I must be at least at an elevation of 2000metres and above! Cuz there was SNOW!!! And yes, the 1st time in my life that I have seen snow! The car actually went up into the mountains and I could feel the height elevation as my ears were getting blocked. There was already snow on the sides of the mountains as we passed by. Then we went though a very long and dark tunnel and when we exited, the landscape was WHITE! It even snowed for a very short distance as we drove on!

Ramsar itself was a small town in which there are friendly people and the men there are not disgusting. And I mean they do not bother you with irritating looks nor comments which u don’t understand. In fact, Tehran has not many tourists nor foreigners, so that’s why people here are very curious and would always turn around for a 2nd look when u walk past them.

8th May: I left Ramsar to take a minibus to Rasht and I would not have gotten to the minibus stand if not for the help of a young man who was very kind enough to walk me 1/3 of the distance and then borrowed his friend’s scrambler bike to take me to the minibus stand which would be a very, very long walk if we were to go on foot! With my 12kg backpack and my 7kg daypack, I was really thankful to him!

From Rasht, I took a bus to Qazvin. In Qazvin, cinsiudered the Northern part of Iran, I had a walk around the town and then met a lady, Laleh, who could speak very good English who actually invited me to her home. She introduced herself as a teacher to me, and as a tour guide to a German lady who stayed at the same hotel as me. Her English was really very well-spoken with a British accent, but it seems to me she was trying too hard to be better that what she actually was. That’s the same thoughts as what the German lady had too.

We were invited to her uncle’s house for dinner the following night and the children were so happy to have us as guests. They seem to love foreigners and we took several photos. However, the scary thing about Iranian dinners is that they are served very very late! When we arrived at the house, it was already 8pm and they have only started preparing! I had a great talk with the German lady, Felicity, aged 56, who had traveled to so many countries before! Dinner was finally served at 10pm and we only took off to go back to the hotel at 1130pm! :p

Throughout the course of the dinner, many questions were directed towards Felicity about getting a work permit to work in Germany and also about applying for scholarship programs in the University there for the younger brother of Laleh who speaks very good English with an American accent and is the top student in his course of studies in some engineering course. A math genius too. Geez. It seemed to me that there was an agenda to this whole dinner. Laleh was asking me about applying for scholarships to Universities in Singapore the moment we met. She wants to further her studies in English language in a foreign uni but she needs financial aid. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the dinner and both Felicity and I certainly have bonded well. I have learnt much more about Germany and the countries she has traveled in.

10th May: I was making my way to a particular tour agency to get train tics to go to my next town, Tabriz, on the morn 10th May when I walked into a drug store(aka pharmacy) to ask for directions. If I should summarise my experiences in Qazvin, it would be one word: ‘DRUGSTORE’. Why, u might ask? Cuz this drugstore, I can confidently say, would be one of the highlights of my trip here. It seems fated that I should just walk into it to ask for directions when I was actually in the right path to the tour agency and as a result, I met the most amazing people in my entire life. They are the warmest and most hospitable people I have come to known. Oh dear. Giti, the pharmacist, who owns and runs the drugstore, is simply like my mother! Even better, I may say! Her daughter and son are studying in Manila right now, and she travels quite widely too. I reminds her of her own daughter and she was very sweet to bring me to a travel agency to help me buy my train tic and even to a café for coffee after that!

We made our way back to the drugstore after that and I had a good talk with some of the people working in there. There was a doctor, Dr Azizi, who invited me up to his house for lunch. His daughter teaches English and his son-in-law teaches computer. Both could speak good English. Just like that, I spent the early part of the afternoon at their house, which is more than a 100 year old and is really BIG! Dr Azizi then brought me around to the bazaar where he has friends running a shop(& I got to eat free ice cream!) and then to the museum which I requested to go to, and he paid my entrance fee for me! Oh dear! So paiseh! U can see that he’s really well-respected as everybody who knows him would stand up to greet him as he walks past their shop.

I made my way back to my hotel to get my bag and then to the drugstore again, where Giti drove me to the railway station. She asked me to drop by back in Qazvin as I made my way south later after Tabriz. I promised her that I would be there.

11th May: Arrived Tabriz, the 2nd biggest city in Iran, at 7am in the morning after a night’s ride on the train. I love train rides! It was so comfortable that I slept almost, well almost, if not for the cold wind that woke me up in the middle of the night, throughout the night. A very helpful local tried to get me to a particular hotel that Giti recommended but we could not locate it. Hence, I went to another hotel which LP recommended.
There were interesting sights to see in Tabriz. The most striking thing about this city is the number of students who can speak English and would love to speak to u in order to practice their English. Many times when I simply paused to look at my map, someone from behind would pop up and asked if I need help and then would walk me to my destination. Then the normal ritual would be to ask for your email address or yahoo messenger ID after that. I have given out my email address so many times already in just 2 weeks of travel in Iran.

There was this 20-yr-old boy from Tabriz University, which is the 2nd most famous Uni in Iran(afterTehran Uni) who was with his friend and both of them takes Eng Lit now. They have an American accent and I walked through a part of the bazaar with them. What shocked me was that he said that things in the bazaar were ‘low-classed and too traditional’ for them. He does not buy things from the bazaar. He does not come from Tabriz nor the Azarbayjan region(which Tabriz is part of) and he does not identify with the people there cuz they speak Turkish. Well, the Azarbayjan province shares borders with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey. Turkish is taught in the school curriculum since young for the children.

I actually met a few others like this boy who seems too keen to impress and wants to eave the country in future for better prospects elsewhere. Some have the financial ability while others do not. Yet there are some who are humble enough to want to learn from u sincerely. Coincidentally, it’s the ones who speak really well who expressed interest in leaving for overseas. Could it be the influence of the media or is Iran really such a lousy place that they do not want to live here? I have yet to reach a conclusion to this.

13th May: I made a trip to the Armenia church of St Stephanos in the border town of Jolfa. Actually, the church has to be reached by a 25minute car ride from Jolfa town and it was one of the most amazing journeys I have ever undertaken. The ride passes through winding roads and on the side of the Aras River were towering red canyons which is actually Azerbaijan! U can see many police posts along the way, as well as a continuous fencing around the area which separates Iran and Azerbaijan. It was awe-inspiring as I was straddling the road which was just beside Azerbaijan! The world seemed so big then, and I am really just a little girl hoping to explore it in my whole lifetime! Exactly what divides countries? The cliffs over the red canyons could simply belong to Iran, and I’m sure many battles have been fought over the land.

I took quite a lot of pics and a couple of videos as the car winds along the road. The car was even stopped by a police post as he thought I was taking pics of the border post! :p

14th May: Back in Qazvin after a night’s ride on the bus from Tabriz. I was dropped in the middle of the expressway as the bus was making its way to Tehran and I was supposed to catch a taxi back into town. Argh. Dangerous living man. Hah.

Anyway, managed to call up Giti as the driver helped me and she met me at the drugstore. I arrived at 750am but the store only opens at 9am. She came to piack me up and then off we went to her mother’s place. At her mother’s place, her sister and her sister’s daughters actually came up to say ‘hi’ to me. Such is the politeness of the locals.

We went to the drugstore after that and then I hanged around for a while before Giti’s hubby, Mustafa, fetched me and her sister-in-law, Ely who works in the store as well to her house. Ely’s hubby bought fishes (ie. Guppies, goldfish) from Singapore and breed them to sell in Iran and the region. Interesting! We went to the fish farm outside of Qazvin and then to her house near the farm. I had lunch there with Ely’s family and Giti and her hubby.

Simply while the afternoon away at her house chatting. Giti forced me to take a nap too as I looked very tired. I was indeed very tired as I did not get much sleep on the bus ride the night before.

It was almost dusk when I finally woke. Mustafa came to fetch me to the drugstore where they closed at almost 10pm and we went to Mustafa’s borther place. Had a light dinner of soup and bread there as I told them I was still very full from the lunch earlier. It seems like they must introduce me to all their relatives. The family ties here are so strong. By the way, Ely’s husband is Mustafa’s brother. So there are 3 of them in the family. And on Giti’s side, there is only 1 sister. I have met all of them.

I stayed the night at Giti’s and it was already 12am when we got back. Being the hospitable hosts they are, I bathed first and then all of us turned in at 1am, with me waking up the latest this morning at 830! Giti got to wake at 6 to prepare her son for school at 7. :p

I made my way back from Qazvin to Tehran to settle my visa problem and I am forced to stay the night here as I am only catching the train to the next town, Yazd, tomorrow. Accom here is really expensive. I miss Giti and her family and the ever-smiling people at the drugstore already. There were some problems at the visa office here and with the driver earlier when I arrived and Giti helped me resolve them through the phone. I feel so grateful to her for everything. It was only 2 days that I spent with them, but yet it feels like family already. I have never felt this way before with anybody overseas. The connection is there. God bless them for the endearing people that they are. Perhaps I would drop by Qazvin again before I fly back to Singapore on the 30th.

It’s already 2 weeks into my travels! So much have happened and so many new experiences I have encountered. 2 more weeks to go! Who knows what surprises I would further have!