Iran – Days 8 to 12

Posted on May 3, 2014 by Dave

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As I may have mentioned, days 8 to 12 in Iran went by in a blur and involved much time, shopping, walking and long rides on the bus.  Near the last two days, tour members started departing as we made our way back to Tehran. The last night in Tehran we dropped off our luggage in the lobby of a downtown hotel and Derek, Michael, Stella and I walked to the same park we visited the first or second day of our trip. Michael finally got to ride a Ferris wheel–something he had wanted to do during this trip and then immediately departed for his long train ride to Turkey.  The remaining three of us had tea in a restaurant in the middle of the park and then tried to locate another restaurant we visited earlier in our trip to have our final meal in Iran. We were able to navigate the Tehran subway system with the help of a couple of guidebooks and survived being packed into one of the trains like I have never experienced before.  Fortunately, we found the restaurant was located only a few meters from the exit of the subway station. We ordered dinner and were surprised when some of the other members of our tour group arrived–serendipitously, the French and Italian couples had the same idea to spend their last night visiting the restaurant.  We had a very good last dinner together before the French and Italian couples left to find a female friendly shisha bar. Derek, Stella and I managed to navigate on foot back to the hotel where our bags were stored. We sat in the lobby for two hours–Derek and I waiting to be taken to the airport and Stella killing time before going back to her own hotel. She was staying an additional few days.  We all left the hotel around 11pm, riding in a car owned by one of the hotel workers. It was a bit sad that the trip was ending and we were all going our separate ways. We dropped Stella off, said a quick goodbye and made sure she walked to her hotel safely. For some reason the drive to the airport seemed a lot longer than the drive from the airport on day 1. We had a very uneventful pass through Iranian customs and a long two-leg flight back to Chicago.

I hope to post some photos from the trip in the next couple of weeks. Another really good trip overall and I don’t yet want to consider what’s next for me on the travel horizon.

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Attention Yum Brands Legal Team…..

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Dave
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Coincidence #1 ?

…I think you have a copyright infringement lawsuit awaiting your attention in Isfahan, Iran. Although no one knows anything about the state of Kentucky in Iran, there are at least two restaurants in this town that are using some very familiar American logos to peddle some food.  Of course it could all be a coincidence.

It has been difficult to keep the momentum going with the blog as the group has been running around all day and staying up extra late each night.  I have already blown my shopping budget three times over thanks to a certain Aussie girl who has been a bad influence on my fiduciary behavior.

I have another good post brewing but it deserves a post of its own. I’ll try to get started on it tonight.

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Coincidence #2 ?

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Late night picnic with the Iranians

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Dave
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Isfahan picnic with Iranian family

This may be a bit longer post as it spans two days. This was Esfahan Week in the city and we were told that it’s basically a celebration of the city, its history and famous people.  Each night there was live music performed by a popular pop singer from Tehran.

Sunday, after the performance was over and our bodies were exhausted from the long day and night of walking the square, we started heading back to the hotel when we were invited by Mirian, a young local girl and English language school teacher, to join her family who was still in the middle of their late night picnic. We joined them for about 20 minutes, sitting on their large blanket laid out in the grass, and introduced ourselves, nationalities, where we were staying in Esfahan and a bit more chit chat. We then left for our long walk back to our hotel.

It took Derek and I close to 40 minutes to get back to the hotel and when we arrived at the front door we were greeted by Mirian and the other family members we met in the park. They wanted to invite us back to the square for more food and conversation the next day.  We were initially confused concerning how they managed to find us but then remembered that we told them the name of the hotel we were staying at.  Still the situation seemed a bit peculiar  but certainly not out of line with the warmth and inquisitiveness we experienced from Iranians throughout the previous days of our trip.

The next day was the busiest day of the trip with morning and late afternoon site seeing followed by 5 hours of power shopping.  We had dinner at 8 and we were all exhausted. We walked to the middle of the Imam Khomenei square and sure enough Mirian and her family were there with containers of food. We sat on a blanket for close to two hours while Marian asked us many questions about ourselves: what age we were, if we were married, why some of us were still single, our impressions of Iran, etc.  She was the only member of her group that could understand and speak English so she translated all of our answers for the rest of her family. All the while they were passing out the different food that they had prepared.

It was a really fun and occasionally awkward two hours that ended with all of us exchanging contact info.  Again it illustrated how friendly Iranians are and how interested they are in learning about the lives of folks that visit their country.  Ultimately, to me, it showed how much they really do want to be closer to the rest of the world.

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Yazd and surroundings – Day 7

Posted on April 26, 2014 by Dave
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View from the top of Chak Chak

We boarded our bus around 8AM for a couple of hour bus ride outside Yazd first visiting the old abandoned mud city of Kharanaq and then onto the Zoroastrian town of Chak Chak that was built in A.C. 637. Although wandering through the mud houses of Kharanaq was interesting, Chak Chak was a much more compelling and physically challenging site to get to. The Chak Chak walk starts out as a series of fairly steep switchbacks then onto many separate stairways of steep steps. Eventually we reached the very top where Zoroastrian ceremonies occur and where a fire has been kept lit for over 1500 years.

We headed back to Yazd at mid afternoon and stopped at the Silk Road hotel for lunch which consisted of curried camel meat and rice…and non alcoholic Iranian beer of course. We finished with cappuccino and started out again seeing a few more sites and visiting a few shops along the way. I saw a couple very nice silk carpets in the $5000-7000 range but had to settle for a $30 brass candle bowl which I spent 15 minutes trying to negotiate the final price. I don’t think my efforts ever result it any deals but the process is enjoyable.

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Camel meat at the Silk Road hotel

Derek, Michael, Nishi, Stella and I went back to the hotel and had tea and hookah and talked for a couple of hours and then headed out for a walk for another few hours and finished the evening at an ice cream shop near Yazd center. Derek and I were confident that we knew the back way through the alleys of the old city back to our hotel. It only took us 10 minutes to become completely lost. With mild panic setting in, we asked two local teenagers the direction. Fortunately one of them spoke perfect English but unfortunately we pronounced the. America of the hotel incorrectly and became even more lost. Derek finally remembered that he had a map of the hotel and that got us back on track. One of the teenagers had a motorbike and pushed it alongside while we walked until we found a place where we could get a cab…which is what we should have done in the first place. We probably walked over a mike and a half and ended up right back close to the ice cream shop where we started…a huge circle. The teenager pushed his motorbike the while way and his friend eventually hailed us a cab and negotiated the fare. We have found Iranians to be the most friendly and honest folks we have ever met.

We are on the bus to Isfahan right now and the tour guide gave us a lecture on maintaining a low profile when out and about in the city. He told us to be smart about what we take photos of and minding our manners. He also told us not to go out in Isfahan until he got the proper approval from the local authorities. Although he was addressing all of the folks on the bus, I think he was speaking to us three Americans on board. Oh well.

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Singers at Chak Chak

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Shiraz, Pasargadae, Zeinoddin and Yazd – Days 5 and 6

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Dave
Art Student at Yazd Mosque

Art Student at Yazd Mosque

We departed Shiraz at 8AM for our long bus ride to Zeinoddin Caravanserai, the place we were going to stay for the evening before continuing on to Yazd the next day. The Caravanserai served as a rest stop for the merchants on the Silk Road trading route hundreds of years ago. That’s my first history lesson for the day. In our way, we stopped at Pasargadae, the burial place of Cyrus the Great, father of the Achaemenid empire over 2500 years ago.

We arrived at the Zeinoddin around 7:30 in the evening and we shown our room which was basically a rectangular stone area with a curtain pulled in front for privacy with two sleeping pads setup. There were many of these rooms setup right next to each other along a circular hallway. There was not much privacy other than the curtain and because of the open concept, you could hear everyone’s conversations (and heavy breathing while sleeping) bouncing off of the stone ceiling. Still, it was a very unique place to stay and i am glad it was included in the itinerary. Dinner was served later in the evening buffet style and male dancers with sticks entertained afterwards. The best part of the evening occurred after everyone was asleep and Derek and I decided to stay up and BS in the center courtyard. We talked about smoking a hookah and as soon as the words were out of our mouths, one of the workers appeared from the room next to us inviting us to sit down for a smoke. We don’t think he heard our conversation and I am guessing it was a very good case of someone reading our minds. We smoked for close to two hours trying to communicate with him and his friend ,with us having no grasp of Farsi and they with their limited English. Afterwards, I tried to sleep on the stone floor with the thin mats but my shoulder was killing me. I didn’t want to take an Ambien for fear of keeping everyone up with my snoring all night.

The next day, we had breakfast, collected our visas and hit the road for a 90 minute drive to Yazd where we saw a few sites, the highlight being a beautiful Persian art student drawing at one of the mosques (see photo above). I think every guy in our group was mesmerized and was trying to sneak a photo but Michael had the courage to approach her directly and asked her to pose for a photo.

The evening began with Michael, Stella, Derek and me meeting in central Yazd to explore the town. We met up with Jan, the son of a German couple who is traveling with our group and he tagged along with us.

As part of an effort to buy one thing in each town that the town in famous for. In this case Yazd is known for a textile called termeh, a kind of multicolored shiny cloth with metallic gold and silver threads running throughout that can appear extremely gaudy and ostentatious or stylish and cool, depending on the pattern and quality of work. Of course, I didn’t stop at buying one, instead it bought three as I kept finding one I liked better in each successive store I visited. Finally, to stop myself, I forced myself not to visit any more stores. So, after chastising Stella last night for her complete lack of buying restraint, I exhibited that same behavior tonight. The scary part is that we haven’t even reached Isfahan yet, the shopping capital of Iran. Thankfully there are very few places in Iran that accept credit cards.

We ended the night at an Indian buffet located inside of one of the hotels and then a long walk back to our hotel where we crashed immediately. A really good last couple of days. Hoping they continue.

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