Off to Iran
Trip Start
Apr 21, 2008
1
137
225
Trip End
Apr 20, 2009
Ankara,
Turkey
Friday, September 5, 2008
I then made my way back to Bilge's home. The mom was very sweet and baked a nice cake for us to eat before I took off. It was late afternoons the mom made one last huge dinner for me to eat before I left. I am going to miss all of this hospitality.
After dinner, Bilge and her mom drove me to the bus station. I gave the mom a big hug and kiss before Bilge and I left her in the car. We then made our way across the highway and rushed to the bus station. Hamdi also drove over with his motorcycle so he could say goodbye. It was really nice of him to do that. While we all waited for my bus to leave, I asked an Iranian guy to take a few photos of me with Hamdi and Bilge. This guy would turn out to be a God send for me. More on him later.
After saying goodbye to Bilge and Hamdi, I boarded the bus. Everyone on the bus was Iranian. I was given a seat all the way in the back row by the window. It was in this back row that I met my next temporary family. I ended up meeting Ramin (a young mechanic from Tehran), Ali (aka GQ Ali), Ali (aka Nice Guy Ali), Nick, Jamshid and some other guy whose name escapes me. Nice Guy Ali was the guy who took the photo of me, Bilge and Hamdi before our bus took off. Each of these guys was sitting in the back row with me except Nice Guy Ali who I asked to join the group when I noticed he kept looking towards the back. GQ Ali was the first guy I met. He was sitting to my right and asked in broken English if he could have the window seat. I really did not want to give it up but I was going to be riding with these guys for almost a full day and I didn't want to come across as the asshole foreigner so I said yes. It was a good move as I think this helped the group feel comfortable with me. Regardless, that window seat would have been sweet come sleep time. After we switched seats, I met GQ Ali's friend, Ramin. He didn't speak or understand English very well but I was able to get him to understand that I was traveling around the world for a year. I thought this would get them to be interested in me and keep the conversation going. It worked. Rain eventually took my camera from me and looked at all of my Africa pictures. He was just fascinated with the photos. I then met Nick. Nick was traveling with a scary looking older man named Jamshid. Nick was keen on teaching me Persian and he did so off and on during the bus ride. I didn't trust Nick right away. He came across as a bit sketchy and I told myself to keep an eye on him to see if there were any reasons to confirm my distrust of him. Each of these guys couldn't understand why I was going to Iran because they all thought Westerners were afraid of Iran. This is partly true as most of my friends back home thought I was crazy for wanting to go to Iran. But I wasn't going to admit this to them. I just told them that I read about other people's travels through Iran and the consensus was that it was a very safe country to go to and that the people were one of the friendliest in the world. This was all true as it was reading about other people's travel experiences in Iran that led me to believe that I would be fine going there. They all made me feel that they were thankful that I was giving Iran a chance. All stated that they hated their government and wished they could live free like everyone else.
Shortly after the bus took off (at 8 pm), the lights were switched off and Iranian music started playing. Men started dancing in the aisle while others supported them with clapping and singing. It was as if all of a sudden a party broke out. It was really nice. Some men went up and down the aisle and offered nuts and sweets to each person. I remembered reading about Iranian generosity and hospitality and I was already seeing it 10 minutes into my route to Iran. You would never see this happen back home. People would think that the nuts were laced with poison. Anyhow, I knew right away I was going to like Iranian people. While this small celebration was going on, I was in the back talking nonstop with "the boys". It couldn't have been any better. We all got along.
Shortly into the bus ride, I learned that it was going to take us 28 hours to get to Tabriz and not 20 hours as I was told by the people who sold me the ticket. I don't think I have ever been on a bus for such a long period of time. That window seat I gave up was looking even better now. This also meant that I would arrive in Tabriz around 2 am. I didn't like the thought of arriving in my first city in Iran in the middle of the night. So I decided that I would stay o the bus until its final destination point - Tehran. Although this meant I would be on the bus for 36 hours (!!!), it would also mean that I would arrive in Tehran during day light.
I was pretty tired by midnight. I was exhausted from answering everyone's questions about me, about Canada, about my thoughts on Iran, etc.
I hope everyone is doing well back home.
Dino Vagabond
