Family Stay
Trip Start
Aug 23, 1996
1
190
452
Trip End
Ongoing
Soltaniyeh,
Iran
Wednesday, September 7, 2005
According to the locals in Zanjan, the place to catch a minibus is to far to walk, but they are Iranians and never walk, so we walked and in 15 minutes, we were where we needed to be. I grabbed an old lady, and in my best Farsi, I asked her if this was the place that we needed to be at, but she did not understand me and she grabbed a couple of young girls. They asked me what was my problem and I told them that I needed to get to Soltaniyeh as I wanted to go to see the mausoleum. They said that the minibuses were slow and I should take a taxi. I explained that as I am not from Iran, the drivers would rip me off. One girl said that as she was going our way, she would come with us to make sure we would pay the right price. Bargain. We had a new best friend. After about half an hour, we arrived, swapped emails and sent her on her way.
We walked through the gates and was accosted straight away. This guy, as usual wanted to talk English and drink tea, but we were on a mission to see this mausoleum, so we declined and had a walk around. Realistically, it was covered in scaffold inside, but the sheer scale of this building is amazing. There were loads of colourful tiles to be seen, but then we were accosted again by a group of students. One girl had an Aunt who lived in Sydney and she really wanted to go. She also tried to convince us to go back to Tabriz as she wanted us to stay at her place. I explained to her that you try not to go backwards, so we declined her offer. After they left, we walked all over the building, all the way up to the top where the views were superb. Needing a tea, we came down as there was meant to be an underground tea shop. We looked but could not find it. We decided to jump into a cab and grab our bags and head for Qazvin. As we went to the exit gates, the girl who had come with us was running towards us. She said we had to go to her place and have dinner and stay the night. She would not accept no for an answer. So, we went back to Zanjan, grabbed the bags, drove back past Soltaniyeh and to her village of Qeydar. She explained that her Mother was not happy with her and that she show proper Iranian hospitality. We were amazed. Mona, was our new host, well, her and her family that was.
Mona jumped out of the taxi, so I paid. She was not happy with this, as we were here guests !!! We met her Mother, and her sister. They fed us this food, which was like a lentil soup and some yoghurt dishes. It was great. Then her Father came home and was excited as he had been to London, so he pulled out his A to Z for us. He then took us on a tour and we went to see another mausoleum. The local cleric was excited to meet an Infidel and told us so in Farsi. He gave us all tea and then kissed me goodbye. He would not touch Lucy !!! We went back to dinner and sat on the floor, Iranian style. The food never stopped coming. It was amazing. Once we had finished, we moved into the family room for a conversation which touched many subjects. We were asked on our thoughts about the Ayatollah. We told them how he was viewed in the West and they explained why Iran had to have the revolution. We then moved onto religion. I explained that I do not follow religion and that many people in the West do not either. They found it hard but respected my reasons. Conversations moved through many topics, Mona's Mother was disappointed that she could not speak English as she was enjoying the topics we were debating. This woman was a Doctor in Philosophy. Luckily for me, she couldn't, otherwise, she would have blown me away !!! Around 01:00, we crashed, but by 07:00, we were back up, enjoying another lively debate over breakfast. Just like lunch and dinner, the food never stopped coming. As the morning moved on, we realised we were going to have to leave. We wanted to get to Qazvin, and when we asked how we could get there, Mona's Father, insisted on driving us the 150 Klm's there. We tried to say no, but we were taken to the car and made to sit like good infidels !!!!!
This was our homestay. The Iranian hospitality was unbelievable and if you ever get offered the chance to stay at an Iranians place, take it with both hands open
Infidels Seen
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