Esteglal East Wing Tehran

... a tak jsme souhlasili s jeho nabídkou 150000 rialů za prohlídku města. Postupně nám ukázal páteční trh, Arménskou katedrálu, bývalou Americkou ambasádu, Oblouk vítězství (Azadi tower) a nakonec jsme se dostali do parku, ve kterém jsme ho potkali. I když jsme mu zaplatili 160000 rialů, tak se snažil hrát na city a vymámit z nás dalších 20000 s odkazem na údajně umírající matku. T ...

... our
late arrival.



Tehran
is an enormous city, sprawling like a dusty blanket as far as the eye
can see. The population is 17 million with at least as many cars
(contributing greatly to the pollution problem in Tehran). The
north and south of Tehran are
almost their own entities, the sheer
distance between them contributes to their autonomy as well as
highlighting a great disparity in wealth. The north is by far
the more affluent of the two, with many of embassies and high ...

Yikes – 5am and we're on the road to Tehran! The hotel kindly provided takeaway breakfast. It was the type of breakfast eaten throughout the Middle East and one which we have become accustomed to – tomato, cucumber, soft cheese, bread, olives, and hard boiled eggs.

You’ve heard of the middle of nowhere? Well, we stopped in the dead centre of the middle of nowhere for a late morning cuppa and a ...

... an older woman holding on to the bars that surround his shrine, rocking back & forth and absolutely wailing that her much-loved hero was gone. He may not have been well thought of in the West, but many Iranians saw him as a kind, humble, spiritual leader and his shrine draws hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. My friend Kate left a day and half earlier than I did so I had some time in Tehran on my own and felt completely ...

... any way different or set back cultures usually referred to as uncivilized. Some of those cultures are placed in the hart of Europe, some in Africa, others in Middle East, but the fact is that our intolerance to different cultures is growing each day we choose to be concentrated on what is set as a cultural model by the mighty western societies. Difference is what makes this ...

... dit des horreurs sur les automobilistes iraniens et la pollution de la ville ; les deux éléments se sont avérés absolument pas nuisibles, les premiers ayant l'honneur d'élever Teheran ŕ la hauteur de l'enfer Cairote et la seconde passant surtout inaperçue. J'ajouterais męme, pour le traffic pas si infernal que cela, que j'ai suivi certains de mes trajets avec un ...

My head was still asleep apart from the eye and motor-function department (and even they weren't fully staffed) as I stumbled to the shower after a far from restful two and a half hours sleep - having collapsed on my bed at 4.30 am, shortly after checking in. Trying to sleep in the greenhouse conditions (Iranians seem to like their rooms the tropical side of comfortable) was not easy. Still when it came to the morning briefing, the subdued group of 17 (Russ had still to ...

... not dangerous. Many people think your country is dangerous and we both know that it isn't ) -Are you going to Israel? (No) -Why aren't you going to Israel? (I don't have time) -You have a year, what do you mean you don't have time? (I need to be in Nepal by mid November so I could do a trek so I can't see everything in the Middle East) -Why do you want to go to Syria? (Why not? I hear it is a beautiful country with friendly people) -Which cities in Syria do you plan to visit? (I ...

... this did not surprise me) but that I should really be careful with my passport as it was very valuable to an Iranian. I asked what an Iranian would do with my passport. He said they could sell it for over $5000 dollars to somebody who would then use it to go to Canada. He explained that is how many people get out of Iran, by using a stolen passport and just changing the picture. He explained that many people were desperate to leave Iran and go to Canada. This was evident by the ...

... bus ride and I am sure he would have preferred to go home to sleep, eat and shower but instead he chose to help me out. The first thing we did was find a cab to take us to the Syrian embassy. He paid for the cab ride which made me uncomfortable as he wasn't a working man. I toldhimI wasgoing to p ay him back as soon as I got my hands on some Iranian money but he said it wasn't necessary. When we reached the embassy, I filled out all of the necessary paper work and submitted ...