Grand Tehran

... of those who take a trip to Alamut. As a guest who doesn't have the fear of being seen and targeted by the guards, you will be filled with wonder as to how to get in. Just imagine how hard it had definitely been for those foreign troops unfamiliar with it. Surely, an exploration into the fortress itself will be like decoding the secrecy of life and survival in this overwhelming fortress.<br><br>Author: Rahman Mehraby <br>From: http://www.destinationiran.com <br>

... eaters gave it the thumbs up and James went on to have this dish several more times on our travels. Our meal was slightly tainted by the fact the restaurant, Shofre Kahne Sonnati Sanglag (catchy name), tried to charge us at least 3 times the local price &#8211; it took a bit of haggling time before we escaped back into the park.<br><br>We headed back to Northern Tehran, surrounded again by grand houses that would have been built in the decadent days of the Shah. The leafy streets were ...

16/06/09 Tues (Tehran)<br><br>We had been unable to secure a Letter of Invitation to enable us to get a Visa for Turkmenistan. Sadly, it meant we were going to have to say goodbye to 'Kristina' and crew tomorrow and meet up with them again in Uzbekistan in about a week.<br><br>It also meant we'd be arriving in Uzbekistan earlier than anticipated and we would need a Visa extension. So, we were up and off on a long winded taxi trip to the Uzbekistan ...

... le culte de l'argent ; les shah prendront le relais tranquillement), à leur gloire, sorte de petit Versailles au coeur de la capitale composé d'une multitude de bâtiments d'un luxe écrasant et, aujourd'hui, réinvestis en galleries (un coup des tableaux iraniens de l'époque, un coup du mobilier Qajar, un coup des oeuvres d'art offertes par des dignitaires étrangers ...

... out that I could make it to the end of the trip without an IMF bailout, and so splurged $24 on a pottery bull. The next thing was trying to get it back to Broughshane without the horns being knocked off it! The bus journey back to Tehran was uneventful as far as I recall. Great news was announced in that our bus in Shiraz had broken down and was not available. Ah! Great news? How come Gary, I hear you cry? Go on then. Cry it! The net result of this mechanical mishap was ...

Quite some time since the last report and, for that, I apologise. Internet is scarce in Iran and - when you do find it - the chance that one or both of the travel blog or facebook will be filtered is almost 100%. Curse the Iranian government (I figure that it's ok to write that now that we are safely out of the country); they really are berks. As soon as we had crossed the border into Iran, we knew that our time was sure to be filled with tales upon tales of great ...

... classroom door and the teacher told us we would need to wait until after the break to join the class. Break time was only 5-10 minutes away. While waiting, I asked Majid what was expected of me. He said that all I would need to do was sit in the class and observe. I wouldn't be speaking unless the teacher asked me to speak. I was fine with this. Much easier than I thought. I then asked him what should I do after I am introduced to the class. He looked confused after I asked this ...

... It turns out that this guy has been living in Canada for over 20 years and the Canadian government just suspended him. I asked him what that meant and he said he had to leave the country for 30 days but was then free to return. I didn't think this made any sense. I can't see any government suspending someone. Either you stay for good or gone for good. I asked why he got suspended and he explained that the Canadian government found out about his ties to a controversial ...

After 2 nights in a skanky hotel in the middle of the dusty, polluted spare car-parts district of southern Tehran, we seized the opportunity to take Nazli up on her kind offer and gave her a call. Luckily she sounded delighted and two hours later we moved our clobber into her ground floor flat in central Tehran, far away from the gear boxes and spare tyres. Ramadan started 2 days into our stay with Nazli - we were planning on taking part but Tom whipped up some ...

... A long wait followed at the baggage carousel. Tired passengers scrambled around each other to collect their luggage, but not a curse was uttered nor a single argument broke out amidst the chaos. Somehow the Iranians resemble the Chinese in this regard without the verbal and physical violence. I was so exhausted by the time I got into my room at the Hotel Naderi that I went straight to bed, ignoring the mosquitoes and the lack of air-conditioning.