Shiraz & Kerman

23rd May: I just visited Persepolis today!!! Whoa oH! It's one of my 'countdowns' to the many places I wanna visit and I have done it! Gosh. It's majestic and awe-inspiring... The HUGE columns of more than 100metres are amazing... Imagine the ancient Achaemenid empire that used to span across Persia, built by Cyrus the Great. I have taken aerial photos at a high point and I will post them online. It's not hard to imagine the grandeur of the entire palace and place. I tried to visualise everything and the nearest description I can give to you would be something like that of the great buildings u see in 'Lord Of the Rings'. Yeah, it's that magnificent.

I arrived at Shiraz yesterday after taking a domestic flight from Tehran. It costs me only S$60 for a 1-hour flight. Reasonably fair. I was back in Tehran again after taking a night train on 21st from Kerman. It took about 13 hours. Comfortable. And I made a new friend again on the train, Maryam, who's doing her PhD in Urban Design in the Uni of Kerman. Whoa. We chatted and had a great talk; both of us understood each other's cultures better and I definitely had an interesting viewpoint from her on the country's politics. More on that later.

I was so happy to get my passport back yesterday! I was so worried that they would not give me a 2 week extension after reading the horrible reviews from Lonely Planet. They gave me a 1-month extension till 17th June! I would love to stay on even longer till then if only I need not start work on 6th June! Argh. It would be back to reality then.

The train actually took off from Bam, the city that destroyed the Arg (Citadel) of Bam. Gosh, I have seen photos of it and saw how bad it was. I wanted to take a day trip from Kerman to the place, but seeing how bad the destruction was, I decided not to. And I kinda regretted now. Cuz there were 4 other ladies in the cabin with me who experienced the earthquake. Maryam translated for me saying that they had actually experienced a few minor ones the night before the major ones. People were afraid and were already sleeping outside their homes. Then the unexpected big one came along at 5am in the morning, which caught everyone by surprise. Gosh. And that's why so many lives were lost. One of the ladies in the cabin actually lost her young cousins in the cabin and her auntie has gone slightly delirious. Sad. They also asked me about the tsunami and whether Singapore was affected or not. I was kinda embarrassed to tell them that we are very lucky. We are sheltered by Malaysia and Indonesia. Geez.

Maryam asked me my view about earthquakes. There was one that measured 5 on the Richter Scale just the week before in Kerman! Ah! If I were there earlier, I would have experienced it! People are afraid and there's nothing they can do. Although Central Iran lies on some tectonic plates, but for thousands of years, there were no earthquakes and certainly not as frequent as these days in Central Iran. Bam had stood safe and strong and proud over the years. So why the recent flux of earthquakes?

Maryam and the people in Bam, and maybe Central Iran, believe that it's due to the nuclear activities that the Iranian government is conducting. They denied, but the United States have so many satellites that can detect. So they cannot be wrong. Interesting theory. And why does USA also keep threatening Iran? Of course it's because of the natural resources the country have. If u look at the map, u will find that Iraq is to the left of Iran and Afghanistan to the right. Both were already invaded and it's now Iran's turn! It's always about the money. Today during the trip to Persepolis, my driver was a very open-minded driver who criticised his government and told us about even more interesting things. A traveller said that he read somewhere the total exports of Iran last year totalled 36billion USD!!!! The country is indeed very rich, but why are most of its people still struggling to live?

Over the course of my travels, I have heard much about the viewpoints of many common men who do not approve of their government. And also of the relationship between Iran and the other European countries and USA. Very insightful. Once again, Im appreciative of my life in Singapore.

20th May: It's a Friday when I arrived in Kerman on the morning train. Geez. Have I mentioned before that Friday is a Sunday to the Iranians? Our weekends are on Sat and Sun but theirs is on Thurs and Fri. So when I 1st got to Tehran on a Tues, I did not realise and many of the museums close on Thurs afternoon and certainly Fri. Argh.

The streets were like a ghost town and it was quiet! There was no shops that opened at 8 in the morning. Most shops start late at 8-9am. I walked to the bazaar and met a tour guide who actually wanted to be my guide for the day at a whooping S$30! Whoa! And I had wanted to get a car to go the desert to see some natural formations of the sand, but it costs another whooping USD50! Crazy! So decided to go to some other small towns outside Kerman and use the public transport which would be very cheap. Hossein insisted on guiding me and he reduced the price from $30 to $20 to $10. But I insisted on going myself and he drew up some instructions for me.

He did help me get my train tic for the following night and my air tic from Tehran to Shiraz. As all shops are closed(well, almost), he knew of places that were opened and brought me there. After he gave me directions to get me to Mahan and Rayen(the 2 places I wanted to go), I gave him a fee for helping me. Wanted to give just S$2, which is a green coloured piece of note, but he demanded it's not enough and then I pulled out another one, and then he said onemore. So a total of $6! Just for helping me get the tics! ARGH! As for directions, LP guide has it. I don't really need his help!

Things happen for a reason. I got a shared taxi, but ended up in a couple's car who were going to Rayen as well from Kerman. I went to the Arg which is just a quarter of the size of Bam, but still beautiful. As it was locked, I had to call up Hamid Reza who was the caretaker of the Arg and the couple helped me. I paid them the fee of what I would pay for a savari(shared taxi) to Rayen and they were so happy. Think they did not expect me to pay so much.

Hamid got his daughter to bring me around and opened various doors for me. I gave him a tip after that and also a pen for his daughter. He was so appreciative of it and he drove me to the place where I would get a savari to Mahan. Who knows he met his friend, Reza, along the way and then I just gate-crashed on the family's picnic on the outskirts of Rayen where they have a HUGE(read:HUGE) pistachio farm!!!! WHOA! I was so happy and grateful that I am yet 'taken in' by another Iranian family. The entire extended family was there and the kids and the mothers all loved me... Geez... Many photos, many laughter, much tea, much bread and I even tried the qalyan! The waterpipe or nargile. It actually tastes just like the flavour they have inside the pipe. Nice. I like it. :) I had planned to try it when my 'would-be' travel partners came to Iran, but I still got the chance!

Reza only drove back home to Kerman at around 8pm and I was dead beat. Fell asleep on his very comfortable car, an Iranian produced Khodro. He detoured to Mahan to show me the Prince's garden which I had wanted to go earlier in the afternoon after Rayen! And he paid for my admission as well. Oh dear. It was really very, very thoughful of him.

Dinner was really late at 11pm at his house. And if u have not already guessed it, yup, I stayed overnight at his place! His 2 dear daughters wanted me to stay. So I slept on the younger daughter's bed and it was a very good sleep. My guesthouse in Kerman really sucks and the toilet outside stinks big time. Im so glad that I got to stay overnight at such a nice place. Did not bath though! :p

Next morning, after breakfast, Reza sent me back to the guesthouse. I really don't know what to say of the hospitality that I have received here. Although Kerman is a desert town, but the people are certainly very warm. Iranians are a jovial and loving bunch, showing their love outwardly and there's always lotsa hugs and kisses. They love dances and singing too, especially so during their private parties. I have 1 more week here, but Im sure Im going to miss this place dearly.