The Beast of Qazvin
Trip Start
Jan 08, 2005
1
46
135
Trip End
Ongoing
Qazvin,
Iran
Thursday, September 8, 2005
We went to see the Jameh Mosque, which every town/city has. They are tiled and usually quite large and impressive. I liked the Nabi Mosque. It had a lovely courtyard with big trees. Quite tranquil and an escape from the raging traffic!! We found one gate, the Tehran Gate. Took some photos of the tiles adorning the walls and went to find some shrines. The insides are usually covered with little mirror shapes in designs that cut your reflection into tiny pieces. There was a more unusual one that we saw as well. It was the 14th century mausoleum of the Qazvin historian Hamdollah Mustawfi (1281-1350) and was more of a large turret shape and was set amongst some roman road ruins. Bit different and in the middle of a square surrounded by the walls of houses. We eventually found the Rah Kushk Gate with lots of tiles on too. People were lazing around in the shade on the grass (no dogs, no random piles of poo! Bonus!) watching a group of boys play football using the gate as a goal post.
I needed to buy another top of some sort to wear, as my only suitable manteau was getting really dirty from my backpack and of course wasn't smelling the best!! We took a wander round and round the bazar looking at the hundreds of gastly, dark, boring manteaus hanging all over the place. We found a sort of acceptable coloured one but the price was outrageous so we moved on. I then thought, stuff it, I'll just get a boring black one and it won't show the dirt. So we tried to find a cotton one that was a bit easier on the eye, but they're all so ugly!! I tried a couple on but David's patience was wearing thin. I couldn't bring myself to buy any. They look awful on me, so we decided to leave it and I'd just have to wash this one more frequently (like every night)! There was the alternative of David's very large shirt that he had in his bag, but only as a last resort.
We dreaded searching for a place to eat dinner as the food here isn't the most inspiring. The place we had decided on was shut so we had to make do with the most horrible chicken meal in the world. It filled the gap but I wasn't sure if it would stay there. Humph. While we were staring at the remains of our dinner, Mona rushed in! They had seen us through the window as they were driving by. It was lovely to see her and I wished we had seen her earlier so that she could have guided us to some more flavour-filled food stuffs. We waved goodbye for the second time, they to their comfortable, cosy home and us to our twin-bed, stark, lifeless hotel room (with shower but shared shitter).
On arrival at the hotel, David went in to get the key as I waited outside. A woman approached me and asked if we wanted to have dinner with her. We said we had already eaten but she was insistant that we come back to her house for tea and fruit. We accepted as we'd had such a nice time with the previous family. Her name was Laila and she knew our nationalities and full names. She said she didn't work at the hotel and they had given her the information. We should have left there but I think the oil from our horrible dinner had dulled the senses. The bus was an experience. My first of segregation. The bus had a metal rail divider at the middle door. Women load in the middle door and sit at the rear and men board from the front and stay seated in the front. Laila paid for us both. It was really strange with just women all around me. She chatted to me on the bus and I decided then and there I didn't really like her. She was really up herself and kept asking me how good her english was and if it was better than the other family we had stayed with. It was a struggle to get off the bus too as the other women just didn't want to move so I had to step on lots of toes and shove my way out (top tip for crowded bus - use elbows and shoulders). When we arrived at Laila's house she immediately took her manteau and scarf off and urged me to do the same. She should have kept hers on. She was a beast!! (bit bitchy, I know, but she was). She had some stretch jeans on that just weren't meant for her body with the tag was still attached. I took my scarf off but declined to remove my manteau as I only had a little singlet top on (no bra) and didn't feel comfortable with so little on. I told her so and her eyes popped with excitement(warning lights started flashing!!). She wanted to see what I was wearing underneath. She asked if I was wearing a bustier and wanted to see that too!!! FREAKSHOW!! I kept my manteau on. Her sister was in her pj's, luckily her father wasn't, and brought us some tea and fruit. They seemed less concerned with the clothing regime than the other family and were very proud to have a DVD and computer and were happy to keep letting us know. We sipped the tea and then began the heavy debate we had so tried to avoid. What was our religion? They just couldn't understand that we chose not to believe in anything. They were asking stupid questions and coming up with the most ridiculous answers. They asked which came first, the chicken or the egg? We said we didn't know and could they tell us. They couldn't. David asked how the world was populated if there was just Adam and Eve who produced two sons. Did Eve have sex with her two sons? They at first said that they were clever people then said they lacked wisdom and had sex with lemurs. We said they were basically talking about Darwin's theory of evolution, but they didn't accept that. Whilst David continued his debate with the father and the son, Laila began asking me some very personal questions which I tried my best not to answer, except the one about shaving. She stroked her face and said she had to shave and asked if I did!!!!! SCARY STUFF HERE!! The warning lights were bright neon and alarms were ringing in my ears, I was extremely eager to leave. We made an diplomatic exit as quickly as possible. Right bloody looneys.
We decided we would be Christians from then on and both have university degrees. We might even make up some children just to keep them (the other nosey-parkers) happy.
I was really angry with the hotel staff for passing our personal information. We didn't know who else they would have given it to. I wanted to say something to them but David said it was pointless - which it was. We had had to pay upfront and didn't have anywhere else to go, and it was late so we decided to check out as early as possible.
Only saw two other tourists today, they were leaving. Perhaps the Beast had approached them too.
As David has warned - if you are travelling to Qazvin (somtimes spelt Gazvin) DO NOT stay at the Hotel Iran.
