Greetings from Tehran!

Greetings from Tehran!!

Whoa... I dunno where to start from... The time here is 3.5 hours behind Singapore time. I arrived in Tehran at around 4pm local time on 3rd March and was so tired from the long flight. I did not catch any sleep at home the night before and it was a mistake to think that I could get any decent sleep on the plane. The aeroplane was an airbus only and it was small! I sat in the middle row at the aisle seat and there was no one beside me. Lucky. Or else it would be so cramped. Slept a bit here and there. The plane was almost full and there were lotsa kids! So it was very noisy! :-(

Arrived Bahrain International Airport at around 9am and the connecting flight was 3 hours later! Wandered around, went to the toilet to wash up and then settled down to want to read my book or sleep, only to find someone sitting 2 seats away from me and he was a Middle-Eastern guy who holds a Singapore passport! He was born in Pakistan and then travelled quite widely for work as he hates his country and this region. I shall not go too much into that as we have indeed chatted a lot and I have learnt a lot from him too! He told me he saw me on the plane to Bahrain and was wondering what was a lone girl doing in the Gulf region. I told him I was going to Iran and that really surprised him. He though I would be on the same flight as him to London, as he's currently based in London, cuz that's where he works best(due to the weather). He does consultation work, has worked with NUS before and then the most surprising thing is he stays in Yew Tee in Singapore! That's like just a stone's throw away from me!

It was a very insightful chat and he was certainly someone who knows a lot about the region, about politics, about Singapore and the United States... We touched on everything being mentioned here and I almost missed my flight! Hah. He gave me his email address and I'll email him for sure!

Alright. I arrived Tehran but, but, but my shawl which was to be used as my headscarf was in my backpack! ARGH! So guess what?? I wore my jacket, which has a hood, and covered my head like that! I must be the most silly sight around! :p My dear Colombia jacket saved me...

Got a cab to go to the hotel I wanted to go to, but it was not without hiccups. An old man wheeled my trolley to his cab, but was intercepted by a uniformed guy very fiercely and he wheeled my trolley to an area where there was a concentration of men and their taxis wrote, "Airport Taxis". Guess that guy was not registered!

My hotel room was expensive! It's about USD10 per night and there's not attached bathroom! Only a pathetic sink that will vomit out choked water every now and then. Disgusting I can say.

It was late afternoon and there was still time for a walk out before the sun sets. The sun sets late here at around 8pm too. It's long day and short night now.

Seriously, there's so many experiences in just this 3 days that I really dunno what to type. What's to come will be random thoughts that just pop into my head.

When I arrived, it just rained and it was cold! Tehran is 1000 odd metres above sea level and it's very cool here! I was feeling cold when I got out of the airport! I hardly perspired here the few days as I was walking around town although there is the sun. The weather is so inviting. Haha. Have not washed my clothes from the 1st day thou. Planned to 'recycle' them! That should dispel all thoughts of Iran being a very hot city. The headscarf is keeping me warm!

In case u all don't already know, the ladies here need to be 'covered up', as in the hejab dressing. I saw all kinds of ways of wearing the headscarf. The ultraconservative will wear the chador and then the young and hip ladies would simply cover their hair for the sake of covering! And their scarves are so colorfuL! I would even say they are very beautiful scarves! When I walked down the uptown area where the rich go to shop yesterday, I sawso many pretty ladies! Their make up was so thick and they are well-dressed despite in a manteau. Without the headscarf, many of them would look like any other European ladies! Serious! Many dyed their fringes as well so that they can display it. Whoa! Trend-spotting man!

Even the manteaus come in different colours. If u are wondering what's a manteau, it's like a trench coat but of thinner material. Go type in yahoo.com to see waht it looks like. I went to buy one and it's not cheap! S$38! For the sake of blending in and reducing the amount of unwanted attention I get when Im not wearing one. I did not want to buy one actually and hence borrowed so many long-sleeved from friends. Now there's no need for them! And this manteau also keeps me warm cuz the wind is so chilly here at times! So im wearing a red shawl as a headscarf and a black manteau. Red and black goes well together!

Public transport here is cheap. However, a very interesting thing to note is that the male and female are segregated into different compartments. The female usually at the front and male at the back. That's the way with the Metro and buses here. But females can get on the male compartment on the Metro though. It's quite a sight to behold this morning as I step into the rush hour train where 99.9% of the females are in black headscarfs with me as the odd one out. :p Haha. And when it's rush hours, it's really amazing. Is that the right word to use? Hmph...

Yeah, did I mention Metro? They have a pretty good system of Metro here. Very good I can say. It's being extended to other parts of Tehran still and they really need it to curb the pollution. With a population of 14million in the city,this city is congested! But once again, which city in the developing country is not?

For this past 3 days, I have been meeting people who can speak English and they approached me once they know that I'm a foreigner. It was Mr Tariq at the Bahrain airport 2 days ago and then a local who studies in Cyprus yesterday. And yet another local today who took up 3hours of my time as we chatted and walked around Park-e Shahr today. A very pleasant park in Southern Tehran with fresh air and a chance to get away from the noisy traffic. It reminds me of Sultanahmet Park in Istanbul where the families would congregate at dusk. I actually planned to write my diary in the park just now. But I did not want to appear rude. Hence, my time to myself was gone. Geez. More on this another day perhaps. The cafe is closing! I ought to be going home too!