5 Weeks and 13,000 KM in Iran

Wanderlust

My guide an I spent a tremendous 5 weeks in Iran, ( it means land of the Aryans as it turns out and the people have a predominant Caucasian / Persian / Asyrian / Kashmir etc. influence), checking out the tremendous range of independant cultures and historical sites to be found there. Some dating back in the tens of thousands of years or more. A lot of important religious sites to Moslems, Christians, Jews and Zorastarians. Visited with some of the 2 million Afghan refugees being used currently as a large semi illegal construction force. Or the 2 million mainly Christian Armenians who came as refugees fleeing Russian opression at the time. They were given land and still mostly live in thier own large communities. Went to pretty much all of the major cities and some incredibly backwater places. Checked out the traditional Turkmen, the Arab areas mostly near the border areas with Iraq. Of course the dwindling numbers of nomads (down to only 2 million now), and the roving Gypsy settlements that serve as seasonal field labour. Nothing but friendly good natured people wherever I went, (helpful when you get lost). It was easy to keep interested just walking randomly in every town we ended up in until midnight.

The nude beaches of the Caspian Sea are deserted, the Casinos are tea houses now. The night club strips are automobile parts stores. Although pool halls and rock or pop music are popular. The young people get dressed right up in thier designer best and fill the sidewalkes in the trendiest parts of tow or the shopping malls (Turkish, Latin, and Persian from California mostly). Alcohol is forbidden except for Christians (Armenians mostly) and the Jewish folks, so everone has become proficient at brewing thier own sauce. Probition doesn't work anywhere. Also bootleg is readily available.

I got a great education from my candid tour guide and people we met along the way about a lot of the issues facing Iran. About the democratic federal elections and several peoples theories on how the guy in power now managed to get there. About the religious leader and his far, far right place in Iranian government. (Not a widely popular bunch.) About the "burned generation" as the youth who grew up since the revolution call themselves. A treasure trove of history. Ruins and restorations galore. A good (Loud) dance party. Scotish grant whisky on the black market. Actually cheaper than here a little bit due to there being no tax or duty on it since it is supposedly not allowed. (Other than the few missing bottles from the case I'm sure.)

It was an eye opener and there is no doubt a lot of pain left for Iran in thier current situation. But generally our view of the place is wildly misconcieved.

I took 3500 pictures. Most not visually interesting other than they remind me of a situation, conversation or the like. I didn't take pictures of the nuclear reacror site because the sign said not to, but it's right next to the highway and the road weaves through the anti aircraft guns as we go by. The enrichment facility was not advertised so openly but everyone knew it was there. I ended up in the money printing / destruction area of Bank Meli in Tehran by a very strange set of circumstances where I wanted some fresh off the press currency for my collection. There were no sets on hand at the time where they usually had some. They were just trying to be helpful and my driver / interpereter and I just kept getting passed to the next guy until we got so far in passed security that we were two of the only people not wearing white pajamas without pockets, and people just sort of seemed to start thinking we were supposed to be there. The manager (I assume) was a bit surprised to see us but we had our little note (clearance) from the last guy we were passed to and he dug up some fresh bills and gave us some souvineer wallets to boot. Note Iranian officials like "Little Johny jokes too."

I had only a point and shoot Sony DSC-P200 (7.2 MP) and my hindsight desire for a better low light camera with a better zoom and more options led me on a search that led me here. I'm going to buy the new Canon Rebel XTi with a view to someday getting a Canon with a full 35 mm sensor. At least some of the lenses should work in both systems.

Here are a few pictures that look OK from my simplistic viewpoint. I have tons of pictures of museum stuff, ruins, UNESCO world heritage sites. I have a perfect one of a cow waddling down the former nude beach in the twilight, like some youth might have done in the past, but it's very blurry because the camera I had needed massive shutter time and it was a good distance away even with the little 3x zoom. I don't think I'll post anything involving anything where I probably wasn't supposed to take a picture or if the photo involves something not aceppted oficially in Iran. I got chastized a bit for not heeding the warning (I didn't understand a word) not to take pictures of some movie star when we accidentally ended up in the shoot location at a bazar in Isfahan. Movie people are just full of themselves.

If this works here is a picture of a herdsman not far from the Iraqi border area.

Wanderlust

Here are some swan Boats in a row in Isfahan in the morning. Most of them were in use by the afternoon.

Wanderlust

Here are some regulars on their leave. We are at a monument to Feradowsi who is thier version of Homer. As in Illiad and the Odessy, not Simpson. So they are doing a bunch of gooy group posses. This is supposed to be them looking "monumental". Who knows how that got translated.

Richard

Sounds like a fantastic trip. I hope we get to see some more pics. There are many people in this forum who would be interested.

Cheers,

Wanderlust

Here is a view down on a small settlement in a mountain valley right in central Iran from a very rough trail. We are a good 40 miles from any real road of any kind on little more than a goat path we managed to cram our KIA Pride down until we didn't dare risk it any more. Plu we broke the car a bit. Parts of the trail (behind us) had slid off the mountain and it was a lot of work to get this far.

Wanderlust

Here was a neat afternoon on the Caspian Sea where I watched a group of guys with two simple boats and two old tractors pull in miles of net that were strung out into the sea. Near the end the whole little village was out on the beach. Turns out this is almost more of an excuse to visit the neighbours than it is to catch fish. Like a midwest farm auction or something. They looked like white fish to me. It was done by 11 PM. As I walked down through the small city late, maybe midnight, on my own the fishermen had set up by the road and resturaunt owners were out haggling for fresh fish for the next day. This is exactly why I wan't a better camera. Dang. If I had a tripod the effect would still have been kinda neat still. Lets pretend I was going for something artistic.

annnna8888

I have been to Iran myself and I love hearing stories from other travelers who venture there. I enjoyed reading about your experience and am hoping to read more and see more photos.

Ana

Wanderlust

Thanks. I had a blast. I had a look at your photo collection. Very impressive. Well done. What sort of camera(s) do you use? I recognize the photo you have of the foot bridge at night in Isfahan. I have the same picture from the same spot as well.

wxwax

This is great, Wanderlust. More stories and more pics!

Spagbag

5 weeks in Iran sounds like a fascinating journey.
Why wasn't I expecting to see swan boats when you mentioned Isfahan?

Thanks for the interesting account and photos. If you feel the urge to post some more about your journey, don't fight it! This isn't a place that many of us will get to see.

Awais Yaqub

Great trip of beautiful country
i Love Irani eating items found near Pakistan Iran bordar
Thanks for sharing i hope you will visit Pakistan someday

ian408

Fantastic journey with some great shots.

annnna8888

Wanderlust wrote:

Thanks. I had a blast. I had a look at your photo collection. Very impressive. Well done. What sort of camera(s) do you use? I recognize the photo you have of the foot bridge at night in Isfahan. I have the same picture from the same spot as well.

Thanks! Most of the photos in my photo journal were taken with Canon A80. I took some with Canon 300D, and lately I've been shooting with Canon 350D. As you could see, I only processed two pics from Iran. I just can't find the time to do the selection of the 2000+ photos I took in Iran.

Ana

Vich

I must show my wife this thread. Her father was an engineer there (bridges, etc) in her youth and they traveled around it a bit.

I spent a couple of weeks kicking around Equador a few years back. There's a whole sub-culture of wandering (mostly) Westerners there. Some never stop and have 15 or 20 years of adventure stories. The younger ones, of course only 5 or 10. They think nothing of emailing a group of 20 or 30 "hey, anyone interested in hiking the John Mure trail this spring?". Stuff like that. They say "oh, I suppose our lives do sound fascinating from the outside". Waking up one morning, 2 women would say "hey, we're taking a bus to Puru and hike around, wanna go? ... oh yeah, we decided on it yesterday." 4 days later they show up with these amazing photos of the top of the Andes where they had hiked for 2 days. Someone else we're having beers with will say "yeah, this morning we were at 18,000 feet". I was a spectator; just amazed that there's so many real adventurers out there.

Glad that spirit's alive and well. Would love to hear more stories and see some photos. Do you have a gallery?

Wanderlust

I know just what your talking about. I'm a experience junkie myself. I have made friends in various corners of the world. I'm going to Africa for 69 days in a couple months. Every holiday and favour from a friend I could muster for a while.

I'll be mostly on my own with a local guide I drummed up. The Congo should be interesting. I suppose some would find 40% plus HIV rates, roving militias (perpetrators of the Rawandan genocide hiding out in the DRC), abject poverty, gunfights as standard election procedure, rape gangs that include the cops by some reports, crazy bugs, diseasees and viruses, shakedowns, huge rates of pressured female circumcision, and the frequent absence of creature comforts a turn off. And it is sad and sometimes scary. But man if you want to see people who value thier culture and fight for every ray of hope these are the places. These people are not coasting, thier living it. There's lots of nature, history art, and if you like some REAL human interest that defies any broad brush definition these are the places to go. "What are they like?" is an impossible question. How long is a piece of string? It's easy. Safer than LA or Hastings at night. Half as much cost to fly there for a week and have a great time as to drive to the nearest big city and live off hotels and resturaunts.
Iran was a cake walk for safety, comfort, and helpfullness. I was supprised really how Western the cities were. Not many stereotypes fit. I have never encountered a more history rich place, where it is kept so well.

Here have a few pics. Gotta go. If ya really want my stories come a long. I can only convey shadow of life with a picture. Good pictures evoke a memory, even in those who never experienced that specific scene themselves. My pictures aren't as good as the memory, and I'm not a good descriptive writer, though I can pop a couple up here when I have a moment. I can get a Jewish caretaker, a Russian athiest, an Iranian Shiite, and a native tribesman all to laugh at my little Johnny jokes on the same day.


Some skeletons unearthed in a 5000 year old Ziggurat in South central Iran. The roof fell on them.

Wanderlust

This was a really big Zorastarian temple from thousands of years ago. I can't remember if it was a fire temple or a water temple without my notes. But after the Arab conquest (Crusade depending who you're talking to over there) that swept the area it is now basically just a giant jig saw puzzel.



These sorts of ruins are so commonplace in Iran that I found houses built into the sides of large ancient structural mounds just like they were normal hills. Roads plowed through layers of many ancient cities one over the other at Susa so you could see the layers in the bank. A farmer beating chunks of 6000 - 10000 year old wall bricks out of his little field plow at the wall of Alexander near Turkmenistan. Here the wall has been built on for as long as there was history to divide the nomadic tribesman in the North from the farmers in the fertile south. The change in vegitation is abrupt but otherwise the land on either side of this looks the same.

Wanderlust

A few thousand years ago the king of Persia ordered the Persian constitution carved into stone in several main passages around the empire. It usually listed the member nations of the empire, detailed the actions of the king in protecting or subdueing them recently. Of course a bunch about lineage. Within the rules of the empire, of which everyone there is so proud to explain, is the gaurantee of freedom of religion, of movement, freedom from persecution by the kings troops and protection from same. Of course this was in exchange for tribute (tax) from the other nations. Persopolis was built as a united nations facility where the tribute was brought and high level discussions took place between nations. Tons of pictures of this kind of stuff but you can find it all over the net.

Wanderlust

Here's a neat roof. That's a wind tower on the right. Some cities have many hundereds of them. Collects wind directs it way under ground to water brought by many dozens of miles of deep manmade tunnels called quanat that bring water from mountain aquifers to desert cities to sustain them. Natural and very effective airconditioning and humidifying for thousands of years. Thats why these desert cities have so much vegitation. Water is handled like gold there. Of course nowadays the govt. provides treated water by pipeline for drinking.

Wanderlust

Lots and lots of varied architecure. Very creative sometimes.

Wanderlust

Caravansari. One king ordered 900. Facilitate trade by caravan. All over the deserts and main routs. ...restored for hotels... ...climb all over... ...bumper tag with french tourist hippies... ...no ride! Camels in heat! You not wan't to ride a female for sure!... ...massive goat and deer herd... .. tiny weeny well gaurded from poachers rather well... ... only water for 40 miles every direction... ..."Taliban built dam in Afghanistan dried up my farm. When Canadians blow up like promised?"... ...who's the guide here... ...you be guide. I know not this place. If feel better I pretend to know their language... ... is you a forienger?... ... come to tea... ...come to dinner... ...have some mango, rasins, wallnute, pistacios, dates from my orchard... ...I gotta stop. I'm pushing this little donkey into the ground... ...another road check point for drugs... ...their war on drugs makes ours look like nothing... ...lot of bullet holes in that car... ...just display, but not try to run over them... ...insane hordes of tiny motorbikes and little cars... ...no lights, just a guy with a whistle to whom no one pays attention... ...the guys in the pool hall like Nickelback but went right back to thier German heavy metal and Turkish rock... ...all natural mineral spa. So Hot People from all over world come with all disease to be cure. No clorine? No... ...Canadian made land rover... ...there is an anfortunate deep rooted hate and a lot of misinformation about regarding Israel. With every other topic there is an amazing appetite for discussion... ...nomad dogs chase my friend up a rock... ...gypsies rush the truck. I want to go for tea and a BS. My guide becomes fearfull at the prospect he may have to follow me... ...awsome persion rug. $1500 there $5000 here... ...plastic surgury is as common as ear rings, litterally... ...knife store owner gets all the neighbouring keeps in his little store to show off his customer and a little English. I get a knife for $18 that would cost $400 easy here... ...my suitcase is 65% overweight with books and souviners. They let it on anyways... ...Airport in Toronto: rent-a-cops with big guns, bio swabs, searches, questions, lines, dire messages on the intercom. In Tehran: no guns, x-ray machine, smiles, general stampede instead of lines... ...every day a dozen or more good stories... ...sure beats a tour group...

Wanderlust

Part of persopolis. Go see it sometime.

Wanderlust

And of course a lot of different scenery. This old bridge has some nomads washing thier dyed wool in the river if you look close.

Awais Yaqub

: thanks for sharing great photos