Kowsal Hotel Tehran

... pro šest lidí, které teda vypadaly poměrně ošuntěle - dveře se zavíraly obsluhou pomocí nohy ale stejně se nedozavíraly a vchod byl velmi úzký, velmi jednoduše mohl některým silnějším jedincům způsobit problém vůbec nastoupit. Stejně tak byl malinký i vnitřek. Bohužel nebyl při jízdě příliš vidět obrovitánský Teherán, proto ...

... risk in protesting this way – each night the Basij militia would patrol Tehran listening out for anyone chanting pro-Mousavi slogans. Any protester unlucky enough to get caught would face serious reprisals at the hands of the militia.

The second day we were in Tehran was another landmark for Nikki and Heath – the day all their freight from NZ finally arrived. Sim and I got busy helping Nikki unpack the mountain of boxes in their hallway, the ...

... flight to Tashkent (Uzbekistan) on Friday morning. It’s just Mike, Glen and me left now. Sadly for Glen, he and his wife, Chrissy, will be separated for the next week. Her Letter of Invitation to Turkmenistan was processed, but his wasn’t. Go figure? I can understand why ours weren’t – they probably put our passports at the bottom of the pile while they tried to figure out where New Zealand is.


After 2hrs, we ...

... cet immense complexe, d'une taille stupéfiante et dont je ne préfčre pas imaginer la puissance émotionnelle les vendredi (sans parler du 4 juin, jour anniversaire). Tout prčs enchainai-je avec l'énorme cimetičre "des martyrs" oů reposent les victimes de la guerre "imposée" de 1980-1988 contre l'Iraq de Saddam Hussein (le bougre avait cru bon profiter de l ...

... he viewed the self-same revealing videos! Al this whilst driving six inches from the vehicle in front before passing. We loved that guy! The bus dropped us at the entrance to the airport - probably the domestic terminal, the details at this point are not entirely of importance - and minus our pottery (some opted not to entrust our purchases to the Mohammads care and control on the Tehran-Shiraz leg) we hauled our bags into the sauna-like concourse where Mohsen garnered ...

... it's a shame that the natives don't quite feel the same way. Although they are all proud of their most precious history and the famous ancient Persian empire, most of the people that we met hated their President and almost everyone was looking for a way out of Iran. Back to our money problems, which - as you may have guessed by the length of our stay in Iran - pretty much instantly disappeared upon our meeting with the Haghighi household. Potential trips to the British ...

... Two girls came out from the classroom and approached me. They both introduced themselves to me. This was the first time I actually soke with an Iraniam woman so I was in unknown territory. Fatima, the beautiful girl I noticed earlier, introduced herself first and said in broken English "Hello. How are you?" She had this huge smile on her face. You could tell she was excited about meeting a foreigner. Behind her was her friend, Hasti, who didn't know much English either ...

... much of it at this point in Tehran. The problem was that Ali was really hungry. Because it was Ramadan, all the restaurants were closed. I offered for him to go to my hotel and we could eat in the lobby but he said he was too uncomfortable as there would be Iranian people there. The funny thing I have learned while being here is that very few people fast. Many people still eat during the day during Ramadan. But they all eat at home. No one eats outside for a few reasons. One, it ...

... remain open during the day to feed fading foreigners. Saying that, it was bloody hard finding food in Tehran thanks to the sheer size of the city and the lack of anything decent on offer. It is a vast, incredibly hectic place, and the driving is out of this world. There are never more than 3 inches between the car behind, in front or to the side, and a majority of these are the awful environment-damaging Paykans. Thankfully they have ceased production but ...

... pads, I began to discover, much to my discomfort, that I am a target of intense ogling by virtually everyone on the street. To arouse so much intense attention and scrutiny on a constant basis is an unsettling experience. At first, I felt annoyed by the loss of urban anonymity that I have always enjoyed in big cities throughout the world. With each stare and excited utterances directed at me, I grew increasingly self-conscious, even half-wondering if I am sporting some ...