Pollutionsville
Trip Start
Aug 23, 1996
1
193
449
Trip End
Ongoing
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Tehran,
Iran
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Day 1
As we got closer to Tehran, the traffic got thicker and so did the pollution. There was a definite haze over this city. There were also Hillman Huntersas far as the eye could see. We pulled into the bus station, for our usual dance number. There was a taxi office, but when we asked the price, I told them to jam it. The closer we got to the Metro station, the lower the price came down. Eventually, we got what we wanted. I sat up front and shat myself. The driving here is mental, especially in the front of a Hillman Hunter. I wasn't enjoying it as there was so much pollution around, I could feel it in my eyes. The driver dropped us off at our hotel, but it was full, so we found another. We unpacked and went for a walk. Amazingly, this city is packed with cars, so we share the pavement with the motorbikes !!! Onwards we went, straight to the US Den Of Espionage, or the old Embassy. They say you shouldn't take photos of the paintings on the wall. Fuck that I say. Took some nice ones and moved on.
Day 2
We decided to hit the bazaar. They were huge. Before we started, we found a juice bar. It was great. In we went. We walked around, was grabbed by a young guy who started telling us how bad the regime was and how the US need to come in and do an Iraq here. Noooooooooo. He took us to his carpet store for tea, and then we fucked off. There were carpet warehouses everywhere. We got sick of it and as it was lunch time, we found a little restaurant in a park, sat down and had some food. A Kiwi couple came and sat next to us. It was good to speak to someone who could understand us !!! After we had finished and paid up, the waiter asked for a tip !!! Don't ask for a tip is what I told him, so we exited and went to the National Jewelry Museum. The stuff in here was pretty impressive. Unable to take photos but they had the largest uncut pink diamond in the world. The free tour that we latched onto, gave us loads of information. I was very impressed with this
Day 3
We jumped onto the Metro again. Basically, there is segregation here as well. The front two carriages are for women only, but if you are running for the train, women can enter the mens carriage, but men cannot enter the womens !!! We caught it out to the end of the line as we wanted to see the huge building site/Mosque that is out there. This is the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini. We had to go in separate entrances. I was beeping as I went through the airport type security, but being an Infidel, they waved me through. Once Lucy came through, she said that she was felt up !!! Lucky girl !!! Men on one side, women on the other, and Infidels wherever you want to go. People were playing and sleeping. Different to Ho Chi Mihn's. We went up and took some photos. The Extremists did the same, making sure that we were in their shots. Once bored of this, we went across the road to the cemetery which has 1000's of people buried from the Iran/Iraq war. Exciting !!! Back onto the Metro, Lucy said fuck it to the segregation and sat with me in the mens. A few other Extremist ladies joined us, and we were stared at by all the men. They kept it up until we reached our stop, which was Khomeini Square. Getting off is worse than the London Tube. The locals give you half a persons space, then you push and shove. We were getting off here as we wanted to see to the National History Museum to kill some time. Basically, there was a lot of stuff from Persopolis. Obviously, they had taken the best stuff and kept the shit there. We could only see, when we go there. There was some older stuff, plus Salt Man. When we read this, we thought it might have been some new Iranian Super Hero, but it wasn't. They had found some guy who was around 1600 years old. He was very impressive. You could even see his gold earring. Included in the price was a tour of the National Islamic Museum. After we had seen the Prayer Rugs, it was pretty boring !!!!! Apart from nearly being run over by the idiots on the pavements, that was the end of day 3
Day 4
We arose early, and checked out. We had a trip booked on an overnight train to Esfahan, so we went to see Golestan Palace. Basically, they make you buy separate tickets for each individual room, so we bought the three that we wanted and went ahead. The first one has a huge alabaster throne. It is also open on the front. Quite weird for a room, but this is Iran remember. We went off to the next room, and asked if this was the correct room, they answered yes, so we went in. The rooms here were highly decorated. Ok I suppose, but no Versaille. We had one ticket left and this was to see some photos. Before we got there, there was a sign pointing to a room, that we had bought a ticket for. Little fuckers, had taken our ticket, so we went up to the counter and explained to the Extremists on the desk, and amazingly, they let us two Infidels in. Not much was in here, a few mirrors and some paintings. We went to see the photo exhibition, it was ok. However, all the pictures of the women looked like men dressed in drag !!! That was the palace done. We crossed the road and had one last hit of the bazaar. After seeing the Prayer Rugs the previous day, I wanted to see what they sellers had to offer. I was keen to add to my two Turkish and one Kurdish Prayer Rug collection. We walked around, and was eventually asked for tea and a showing. He had a couple of nice ones, and the prices were ok, much cheaper than Turkey but we told him we needed some food and we would come back later. A couple of hours later, we came back, but his shop was all locked up. Another guy, happened to be standing there and said he had better Prayer Rugs, how unusual. We went with him, and he had some ok ones, but nothing that jumped out at us, so we bid farewell to him. We grabbed our packs, made our way to the station, as we were now on our way to our next stop. Esfahan
Infidels Seen
To Fucking Many To Count
