Iran

The border crossing into Iran went surprisingly easily. As a British national I had to be fingerprinted but the officials were so apologetic about it, its because Iranians are given such a hard time at the British border. The Australian’s and New Zealanders within the group found it highly amusing. The main border official had just opened a bottle of apple juice and he gave it to me – you don’t get that level of service at British customs! For the border all the women had to wear Iranian outfits, we wore a black chadour, a headscarf and cloak in one. The women have to be covered to the ankles and wear a headscarf through the Iranians we met in the queue all thought we had dressed far too conservatively. The Iranian government have relaxed considerably in the last year and the women now wear a lot of makeup and show a lot of their hair under the headscarves. Our first stop was the city of Tabriz, we attempted to find a camping ground, but it turns out that the people of Tabriz love to camp in their local park, so we did the same. We pulled into the park, set up our tents and kitchen and began to cook. No-one paid us any attention as everyone else was doing the same. It was such a wonderful atmosphere in the park. There were tearooms, a craft fair, camel and donkey rides for hire, a lake with pedaloes and boats upon it. Families were walking around, lots of children were rollerblading, adults were using the free gym equipment that are in all Iranians parks. As alcohol is banned in Iran there were no drunks or groups of badly behaved people, it was simply a friendly relaxing atmosphere. As a people the Iranians are so friendly. People are stopping us on the street to ask if we are enjoying their country, we are being given ideas on what to see next. Iranians are coming us to us and in hushed tones telling us that they hate their government and they are nothing like the president – all the time looking over their shoulder making sure nobody is hearing what they say! My blonde hair is creating a bit of a stir and I have been photographed standing next to loads of people. From Tabriz we headed through Zanjan and we are now in Esfahan. The architecture here is stunning. This is me standing outside the old palace pavilion. The mosques are decorated with stunning blue tiles and the Persian style squares are vast and breathtaking. We were in Esfahan on July 4th and 5th which are special days in the Iranian calendar. This is the birthday of one of the 12 Immans and on an Immans birthday the people celebrate by making vast quantities of food and drink and giving it away on the street. This is all done by the people, no government involvement at all. I was given free cups of juice and ice-cream and soup was offered to me. When I said I should not take it, it was for the local people, they said no – it is for everybody. The place came alive on those two nights. Everyone was out on the streets, mingling, so many motorcycles driving up and down (mainly on the pavement) honking their horns. It was a real festival atmosphere.