Still in Tehran (getting sick of it)

It is 7pm right now in Tehran and I’m in the internet café again to pass some time before going back to the guesthouse to shower and then make my way to the train station. Museums close at between 330 to 5pm in this capital, so when i exited the museum just now at 5pm, there's really nothing much I can do anymore.

It’s been a tiring day, having walked such long distances to get to the visa office today. By the way, they call it the Disciplinary Force for Islamic Republic of Iran Department for Aliens Affairs building. Horrible name eh? And yeah, getting a bit tired of this big, sprawling city which is so polluted and living expenses are so high here! I'm forced to come back here again and again! U'll understand what I mean when u read on...

It took me 45 minutes to get to the office from the nearest Metro station cuz I needed to find my way and asked around from people for directions. Some gave me the wrong way. Geez. The guards at the door were friendly enough and there were so many people at the place. There are bound to be Central Asians as I saw a few Mongolian faces and some Afghans as well, as I have heard that there are quite a lot of them seeking refuge in this country. There are quite a number of Africans too, as there are in this internet café that I am at now. One said ‘hi’ to me the very 1st time I was here and said that he was on business trip here. Well, many Africans are Muslims, so they might be here for hols or work or pilgrimage?

The people behind the counters were not friendly at all. I was queuing up for nothing behind a whole row of men until someone told me to go to a counter and the lady told me the procedures. I had to go to the bank 300metres away to make a payment of about S$20 and then make photocopies of my passport across the street, then take passport sized photos of my face in the headscarf and finally hand over everything with my passport. Luckily I can cut queue, most probably because im a lady! The lady behind the counter informed me that I can only collect it 3 days later and gave me a small piece of paper which can go missing so easily! ARGH. I asked if I can collect it 1 week later and she said it’s fine. I decided to ask again if I can collect it 2 weeks later when I m back in the capital for my flight back on the 29th May. She mentioned something about the visa being lost and what… Bleh. It’s so troublesome! Now I have to change my travel plans and make a trip especially to Tehran! And I have spent so much on transport and accommodation and this visa that I would be better off if I had gone to Van in Turkey which was what I had planned initially! ARGH! I was afraid that I would not have enough time for the remaining cities if I had gone to Turkey, but look at what’s happening now! Wasting my time revolving around the capital! ARGH. Regrets.

Visited the Golestan Palace which was used by the Qajar rulers in the past around the 19th century. Spectacular. There were several buildings and they were housed in a big garden. Some of them are actually art photo galleries and the paintings were beautiful. Photography was not allowed in most of them. What a shame. The high ceilings, domed roofs and coloured windows could only be registered in my memory. I got a good idea of how the kings used to live in Persia.

Rushed back to my GH to pack in order to check out at 2pm, after which was lunch and then I went to the National Jewels Museum. This must be the most expensive museum to visit so far, costing around S$6. But it was really impressive as it housed all the jewelleries that were recovered and passed down over the centuries which were adorned by the shahs and their horses! Yes, their horses had lots of decorations to beautify them! All these were made of precious stones such as rubies, turquoise, emeralds, ivory, jade, as well as diamonds! Lots of them! The entire museum is heavily guarded with armed soldiers and it’s housed in an underground vault. There was this Globe of Jewels that weighed 34kg, made in 1869 using 51,366 precious stones! The seas were made of emeralds, the land from rubies and Iran, England and France were set in diamonds. No photography allowed of course and I had to leave my bag at the counter and go through a detection system to detect for any metal objects, like those that we walk through in the airport. All the items were either made in Iran itself by the order of the shahs or presented to them by kings of other countries. To think how the royal family lived so lavishly while the commoners toiled for their daily lives in the past, it is so unjust. A crown can weigh 4kg and the king actually gotta put it on his head! Wonder if he gets neckache?

I met Felicity at the museum! It was great to see an old friend again and we shared our travel experiences so far after having parted for 1 week. We went to different cities and here we meet again. She’s got 5days left in Iran and is flying out on this Sat. It was great to see her. We left the museum after it closed at 5pm and adjourned somewhere for tea. She went to the park and I came to this internet café. I’m going to go back now and shower before making my way to the railway station with my heavy backpack! Tired! Gotta get a good sleep on the train tonight! I love train rides!

On to Yazd!