complexities in Iran

Yeah
I write this in Pakistan in retrospect. I cannot possibley convey the mammosity of my experiences in Iran in this breif prose but have a look at my photos they will enhannce this I hope. I have many more but will down load the rest later I selected the choicest ones.
People were so open to me and I have a very complex and unconsolidated overview of life in Iran.
The obvious thing for me is the way women are in Iran... so different from our lives in the west. Women have to cover their heads by law, all women over the age of 9 but many girls younger than this wear the scarf, through choice/ social or family influence? I talked to different women who gave me different perspectives on the dress code, for example Mesoumeh who told me that her habit and scarf protected her from dangers of the environment and people and other threats (interestingly I felt at my most vulnerable when I was with Mesoumeh because of how she crossed the road- this was the worst thing about Iran for me its a mad dice with death as you ddge the traffic, the women in black seem to glide through the traffic as though invisible but me well thats a different matter!). Other women detest the code, they find it belittling and restrictive. Can appreciate that.
We had a wonderful experience when we went looking for a women's hairdresser. We went on a goose chase around Yazd and finally happened to ask the right person by saying "Zan" and mimicking skissers in our hair, they showed us to theis door at the end of an alley and behind a locked door and then we were taken by women to a salon, a proper salon with gaggle of women inside who sat us down and gave us cay, brought by the hand of a man who reached with it round the door so as not to see us scarfless. WHat an experience we could take off our scarves, and dance with the women while Tess had her hair cut to a impeccable standard. I wnated to ask so many questions but language was a problem.
Me and Cammy (gorgeous french traveller) spent a day with Amir and his lovely family who showed us the sights of beautiful Yazd and took us to have lunch with his mum (Ashraj) and sister (Nagme- the feristere- angel). The women didn't take off their scarves at home, presumably very religious so I didn't either. In the evening they took us around Yazd to see the No Ruz celebrations (Muslim New Year) wow it was wild. We were central attractions as usual and people were delighted when Cammy jumped over the fire and I shouted "Adetou more barak" to them. It was like scenes from the apolcalypse fires, smoky streets, people riding bikes doing wheelies the streets crowded with people, the police came to break up geatherings (fun is not allowed in Iran) but they just sprang up elsewhere.
Me and Tesse caught a night bus from Yazd to Zahedan. we arrived in Zahedan at 5am and the border does not open untill 9am (but it was New Years Day so the officials were late) and the bus driver took us to his home where we met his wife, son Emra and sister. We had a fun few hours playing and communicating on the level that is beyong language. Then Akin took us to the square where we could get a taxi the 72km to the border.
The boirder was a dream, we were treated like princesses and looked after impeccably.
We met the German couple here and we got a lift to Dalbandin, spent a night in the police cell here and got treated to dinner with bikers from Czech and shaven heads by the barber, on the main street in view of men we were given bald heads... everyone kept proudly saying how Pakistan was free compared to Iran. I want to write more about this idea of freedom in Iran, Pakistan and the west but now we have a lunch invitation in Quetta so later.
Pakistan the land of pure people.

Velcro head

Greetings from Pakistan
We crossed the border yesterday with success. We spent last night in a police station in Dalbandin, between Taftan and Quetta. We were treated as princesses and treated to free haircut *me and my travel companion Tesse a dutch angel both had our heads shaved, we realise it would have been a good idea to do it earlier as our head scarves stay on muchbetter
We got a liftall the way to Quetta with a German couple and here weare. We feel like we have stepped onto the subcontinent.... which of course we have Iran is developed and feels western but here is totally different from anything experienced b4. We have been welcomedwith delightful hospitality and grace camels, smiling open faces and enormous generosity.
I am yet to translate my Iran experience into words to share with you all. I will do. I will try to depiect the diversity of experiences and gifts that I recieved. The iranian new year no ruz *more barak *the sun calender fell on 2th 9am and this was beautifulto share, and totally crazy in Yazd on 18th.
I have photos theycan helpme to communicate but probablynot completely. when Ican download them depends.... Cantcharge my camera and technology seems to be a bit spacey here.
I love these moments
More soon
love to all
Ktoe xx

Mechal arzar bosham (I want to be free)

Well what to tell....? Iranians are always approaching us and asking what we think of Iran and how is our time my reply is " Man khosh bakt" (I am lucky) I feel it intensely. Lucky to be me, lucky to have a British passpeort to give me access to these special experiences, lucky to have bumped into Erkki who has become my home on the road, lucky to be alive and meet all of these beautiful people, lucky to be free.
When we were in Tabriz, just arrived in Iran we were walking along the street and I suddenly had a burst of my rebellious streak, I was hot and enclosed in my hijab, and I looked around at all of the women in head scarves, and none of the men, and said 'what will happen if I take my scarf off now?' Erkki said 'you'd get stoned to death pretty probably. That is the truth unfortunately so I realise that when I break the social confines in Britain then at most I get some disapproving looks but here its much more punitative.
We had an interesting experience a couple of nights ago when the hotel staff came to the door in Bander Anzelli and said something to Erkki in Farsi which he didn't understand but thought they wanted him to go downstairs. I put my hijab on just in case, we didnt know what was happening and the police were at the door wanting to see Erkki's camera. They were very polite and not menacing at all, it was all a bit of a mystery in fact they left thanking us and that was it.
Erkki thought maybe it ws because he had taken a photo of a military building earlier and the police had tracked us down (as the only tourists in town).
We are now in Esfahan where we have landed in an extremely plush hotel quite by accident and given a room for equiv of $20 per night. We are knackered after a sleepless all night bus ride from Rasht.
Had a wonderful meeting yesterday with Bob who gave us lots more insight into Iranian culture

will write more on this later
love to yous
xxx

"A good heart is sometimes enough to see you safe wherever you go."

Depart london Kings X St Pancras 26^th February 2008

Travel to Brussells on Eurostar. Then Thalys to Cologne.

26.02.08

I had a few spare minutes at Köln Hbf so I stepped outside with my new pal Rolph a lovely guy around my dad’s age who was going to Romania by train to minimize his carbon footprint. He goes several times a year to one orphanage which he provides training in child care/ development to aswell as doing fundraising for. We stepped outside to the magnificent sight of Köln cathedral standing over the new square with its gothic intricacies and splendor. It has probably survived since the 1400’s and withstood all the bombing.

28.02.08

Hungary – Romania

I woke up to huge mountains covered in snow in Romania I had an eventful night and was woken up by passport control abruptly on leaving Hungary, this was the 1^st time my passport had been checked since leaving St Pancras!! European union is very liberating in this sense. Then the Romanian passport control barked at me and questioned me about my Iranian visa…

Arrived in Bucaresti where I will spend 1 night, initial impression is that it zings with stories and life in a completely different way to the one I know, there are remnants of communism in the culture, people have simple lives, and I guess by that I mean their lives are not complicated by an obsession with consumerism and gadgets…

Very cheap in Bucaresti. I stayed in a hostel there and spent hardly anything. I had a lovely roommate Mika, a German social worker on a tour of Romania. We swapped information, she told me about traveling through Pakistan to India and I gave her the contacts for lothlorien and she seemed really interested to go there and be a co-worker. Beautiful moments in passing.

29.02.08

Bucarest- Istanbul on Bosphor sleeper train

The lovely Turkish guard took me under his wing and gave me the cabin next to his to myself and he brought me cay (black tea)

The train passed through Romania glances of envy at people’s simple lives small holdings with a goat, sheep, chickens. A part of me longs for that.

The train passed over The Danube which was impressive and on into Bulgaria. There was snow here too. The countryside feels familiar with its arable scenes.

Some wee boys approached the train and asked me for euros I said I only had Romanian lei and they said yes to it so I passed them a 100 lei note (about e30) the Bulgarian policeman asked me if I had intended to give them this much and I replied its no use to me.

I met Erkki at the Turkish border where we had to disembark the train to get our visas. Erkki is an Estonian Fin who is on a journey to India too, taking the same route as me. We connected and decided to travel on together, we parted temporarily in Istanbul as I went off to meet Özge and Lewis in Kadiköy.

Turkey welcomed me with a big hug (and so it continues).

It was wonderful to stay with family in Istanbul they treated me with such love and generosity that only family can. We had a fabulous time together, visiting mosques, bazaars, eating lush Turkish cuisine. I loved Istanbul.

I brought an ankle bracelet from a jeweler called Noor Allah he captured my heart briefly with his lively creativity.

4.03.08

I traveled by bus to Safranbölu the home of gorgeous Osman. Turkish bus travel is really entertaining, there is a host who makes himself very busy giving everyone hand wash, water, buns, cay…..Very cheap too 30 ytl for a 5 hour journey. Loved Safranbölu, so pretty with its diverse architecture, all sorts of influences can be seen from Ottoman to the Seljuks. I found a lovely pension with my own room and dinner with the family.

Lots of stars here, constellations look different somehow.

5.3.08

I traveled by bus once more to meet Erkki in Ankara

Again I was entertained by Yasi and Oor.

We caught the night train to Malatya, a long but beautiful ride through the snowy Turkish mountains and then desert framed by the mountains.

Turkish hospitality was never ending for example when we bought the tickets in Malatya for the trans asian express the conductors then offered us cay a bit later on. I was struggling with a phone card in Istanbul station and this guy came up and offered me to use his mobile with no expectations.

6.03.08

We arrived in Malatya to a rapturous welcome everyone was so pleased to see me in a head scarf but I was told to cover up. We were warned that smaller places were more conservative. I was really desperate for a Hamam as I hadn’t yet had one (much to my disappointment) and we were given a lift to one but then told that it was men only. Felt like this was my 1^st real taster of the mans’ world that is in Islamic countries.

We hooked up with the Trans Asia Express from Malatya which will take us onto Iran….yeeba!

I say express but its not really….This train goes very slowly.

Kato: “This train seems to have just got even slower….”

Erkki: “Are you in a hurry or something?”

I sat in the restaurant carriage and sat in a different compartment to the men with my scarf on. The men are sitting and having intense conversations and staring lovingly into each others eyes, me I sit quietly feeling a bit out of place. Feels very different from Turkish trains when always we were the focus of much entertainment and fun with or without language.

The views from the windows were of magical and endless snow scenes.

We crossed Lake van at sunset and it was fabulous waved off by grinning snowy mountains.

8.03.08

We arrived in Tabriz in the morning about 7am so even tho the train had been 2 hours late and had gone as slow as a snail it managed to get in on time our new Norwegian friend Kristian suggested that the Iranians were mighty clever as no one could understand their timetables and thus they always seemed on time.

The train conductor took a shine to me and came and tickled me in the morning when we arrived at Tabriz and refused to shake my hand but then tried to kiss me out of sight of other men.

Tabriz took us by the short n curlies and didn’t leave any room for adapting to this foreign environment. We felt glad we had come through Turkey as it had eased us in a bit.

On arriving in Tabriz we headed straight for the tourist information and met Nasser Khan who is mentioned in the Lonely Planet, he showed us a fantastic welcome, and as advised by my Afghan friends in Istanbul Grand Bazaar I said I was from Scotland, which seemed to be preferable to England as it turns out, an English couple arrived later on and I noticed that he was definitely less warm to them, perhaps due to the Government’s intolerance of Iran? I was approached by an Iranian lady holding a small child and she asked me why we came to Iran and what I thought of wearing the headscarf I replied that it was very interesting for me, unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to continue this conversation as we were whisked apart by the thronging people. We found a hotel, basic but good and checked in as husband and wife. Our new friends Kristian and Johanna left their bags in our room and Erkki crashed while we went off into the Grand Bazaar (the biggest in Iran 35km of shops in wee tunnels). It was very strange we were approached by Iranians numerous times (always men tho) and they would only speak with Kristian and ignore us girls, I felt a bit freaked out by it and longed to be with Erkki who had become my traveling home. We caught a cab to Park E Golli in the evening and had a wee walk over the melting but still crunchy snow. In the evening we met a new friend Massoud who together with his cousins took us under their wing and helped us to find some food, we ended up with hamburgers but we were well happy, Iranian hamburgers are more scrummy then any I have tasted in the western world!! Massoud is studying English and spoke to us very openly and warmly about his country, he asked us why we came to Iran and we told him about our trip, he said without any bitterness or resentment that they (Iranians) didn’t go anywhere because they were poor.

9.3.08

I visited the Blue Mosque in Tabriz this morning and was delighted by it. It was of similar design to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul but in process of renovation, fantastic project piecing back together all of the beautiful mosaics. This time I went on my own and was offered help by a young man who spoke English. We then caught a taxi driven by a lovely man Mohammed Ali (very modern he shook my hand and everything!) to Kandovan an ancient village about 50km from Tabriz with houses that have been carved out of the rock. I am not sure what sort of rock it is but chalky and soft, maybe limestone?

Mohammed Ali drpped us at tabriz bus station and we caught a bus to Sar’eyn. The bus journey was fun. A woman sat behind us started talking to me Sappita, she spoke good English and her family were lovely but we communicated through her she reminded me of Constantina and I showed her a photo and she agreed. She wanted us to go to her house but because of Ta’oah (a tradition in Iran where you are supposed to turn an offer down 3 times before you can be sure that it is for real) we did not take them up on their invitation, much to my regret. In retrospect I think the offer was genuine but its very difficult. At the bus break they invited us for cay and we had photos, I placed myself next to Sohrab and he quickly moved (men are not supposed to sit next to unrelated women) I realized after and apologized to which he told me (through Suppita) that there were no borders between Iran and Britain. We then caught a taxi to Sareyn where the taxi driver found us a cushy hotel, with a balcony and kitchen for only 15$ per night for both of us.

10.3.08

Dad’s birthday, we manage dto find a telephone and post office because of the famous Ali in Sar’eynwho every one would phone when we approached them for help and he would translate for us. We invited him for dinner in our wee pad later and I cooked (and burnt a wee bit) ommlette. He then took us for cay and water pipe in an exotic feeling although a bit faded water café.

We are in Sara’eyn (also Sareen/ Sarein there are no exact translations from Farsi to English- transliteration). Apparently we are the 2^nd tourists of the year so far! Sar’eyn is famous for its natural hot springs which can cure any ailment from skin problems to asthma. Separate men and women bathing of course, we had very different experiences and it was interesting to compare them. Having arrived in Iran and felt suffocated by my headscarf now I could take it off in public and I felt very hesitant, however other women were going without and so I abandoned my fears. Some women wore swimming caps but most had their hair free. I wanted to speak to them but the language was too great a barrier, I know that they seemed happy though.With their heads free the women seemed to be able to touch azad (liberation), and some evn walked around topless! In the changing room they put on some Iranian music and started dancing. It was very beautiful, I spoke to someone later who told me that his wife went to the baths every week. Doesn’t surprise me really if it is one place they can feel like this. The baths were gorgeous 45C swimming in a bath is lush and freeing in itself, in terms of breaking out of conventional restrictions.

11.3.08

We left Sar’eyn cheered off by Ali (which incidentally means ‘perfect’ in Farsi too) who offered us his friendship, he cycles around Iran, captures my imagination and desire for adventure.

We met Amir in the Savari (shared taxi) Amir grew up in USA but is Iranian and got fed up of not being treated as an American citizen so moved to Iran 7 years ago. What an interesting story he had! He said that not many international people come to Iran so when people see us they are very curious. Yes indeed.

So onto Bandar Anzelli by bus, we found a cheap hotel and wanderec around the streets. Bandar Anzelli has a nice feel to it, it feels like a holiday place.

12.3.08

Today I went for a boat ride around the wetlands and into the mouth of the Caspian sea (a sea or a lake? Answers on a postcard please…). Pretty houses on the shore, birds, (gulls mainly also saw a wagtail).

Errki-

My traveling companion is a dude for sure. We make a good team and we are a very harmonious pair. Feeling very happy with everything.

Local elections coming up on friday. The different parties are busy campaingning, music, fliers, all very peaceful (more so than in the UK in fact). We can't get an idea of the different electees because all the information is in Farsi and altho we're learning (numbers and essential communications are as far as we've got so far). Our new friend Massoud will bring us up to speed. I am starting to feel a bit annoyed at the negative world view of Iran, we are being so well treated by this beautiful country, it feels a bit unreal in fact. Erkki says that he feels kind of uncomfortable because people are so generous. I feel I am more used to this culture because of knowing Zahra who has introduced it to me over the years.

I am frustrated by the lack of physical contact tho, its not without warmth but just no one touches anyone else in public. I guess I realize that this is my attachment, I feed off giving and receiving affection. Erkki says his attachment is to music.

We leave Bander Anzali tomorrow, headed for Esfahan by bus 16 hours over night.

Feel like we're living the dream for sure

xx

Sensory overload in Iran

So we arrived in Iran after a long journey from Turkey we left Ankara wednesday 5th and arrived in Tabriz 8/3/08.
I have a head scarf and a black mantou ( a tent like thingto make my body look shapeless).
I surprised myself by how qickly I came accustomed to it, and even forgot to take it off last nightwhen we arrived in our hotel.
Christ I have so many stories to share but I feel that now is not the time to write them as it is sunny outside, and there are hot spings here so we will go to them now, separate men and women bathing of course! But I will be allowed to wear a swimming cossie ooer!
More soon, m wonderful companion, Erkki has a laptop do it will be possible to tell my tales
blisses
xxxxxx