Day trip to the outskirts of Yazd and its surrounding towns

It's a hot day and I took a day trip with a driver and 3 other travellers to the outskirts of Yazd and also the nearby towns. The travellers were a couple from Estonia,Mari and Oeit, and a guy,Sean from Ireland. We 1st went to Kharanaq and then to Chak Chak, followed by Ardakan and then Meybod, and finally the Towers of Silence just outside of Yazd.

Kharanaq is a deserted and crumbling town north of Yazd and we actually entered the fringes of the desert in order to get to it. Whoa oh! My 1st encounter with the desert! It was amazing! The landscape to my right was of mountains and there was a very low 'mist' which must be caused by the dust and sand lying around the base of these mountains. To my left, there was just endless land, with no boundaries that was visible to the human eye. There were those tall huge cable lines, which supply electricity to the towns in the area and they stretch for miles. It reminds me of the landscape in Star Wars. Kinda surreal. Totally mesmerising. Hot too.

After Kharanaq, we made our way to Chak Chak, a very important pilgrimage site for the Zoroastrian religion. Guess what? Our small mini car went off the road and onto the sand! It was so lucky that we did not overturn. A small car(im not into cars, so do not know the model unfortunately) with 5 full-grown adults in it 'derailed' and went off-road onto the sand. The car was stopped by a huge stone underneath it and it was dented in some parts with some of the metal parts of the tyres dropping out! Geez. Luckily there were 2 guys on the trip and they seem to know much about cars. Sean was really initiative and he helped the driver dig out the sand which surrounded the rock under the car and then the driver raised the car so that it can facilitate the removal of the huge rock. Great. Now to get the car back onto the main road. Not much of a problem, except that the driver was not as talkative as before anymore.

It was really an experience. Being 'derailed' in the middle of the desert and with no cars and no lives in sight. Surrounding us were just mountains and mountains and endless roads that lead to nowhere... Amazing. I feel really thankful that we did not overturn! Otherwise, it would be unthinkable.

Ardakan was just a small town that we passed by to go to Meybod. There was an old castle in Meybod and a 'Pigeons' Tower' in town. They used to rear pigeons in it and then would collect their droppings as fertilisers. YUCKS. Just in case u dunno, pigeons' droppings are poisonous and it's against the law to feed them in Singapore! But I guess in the past, Man really know how to make use of what Nature can offer and use it to the best they could.

We had a really late lunch at 430pm and I was famished! It was great, having had my 1st decent fish in Iran(ie.not just canned tuna) and rice!!! There was tea and salad too, but it was definitely expensive! Cost S$10! Whoa!

The last stop was the 'Towers of Silence' at the outskirts of Yazd. The people of the Zoroastrain religion believed that they should not contaminate the Earth and hence their dead bodies were being carried to these towers and left to be fed by the vultures! Yikes! The priest would sit by and watch to see which eye the vulture would pick out 1st. The left eye would indicate a bad future for the soul while the right eye would indicate a good one. And these towers were still in use in as recent as the 60s!

Checked my email and I was supposed to be joined by 2 friends from Singapore this Sunday, but their boss cancelled their leave last minute! ArgH! Sad case. My expenses' going to be high! :p

From a very HOT YAZD,
Eunice