Wednesday, 31st August 2005. Dogubayazit to Maku (Iran)

We got to the border crossing at about 12:30. We had agreed to cross with Linda, so we drove up together. We drove straight past the long line of lorries waiting to cross and promptly drove past the first customs point - oops. A chap came running up the hill to ask why we had missed the checkpoint, and he then proceeded to guide us through the whole process - for a fee of course! Crossing from Turkey was actually fairly simple, it's just a matter of visiting the correct booths in the right order (which isn't that obvious). There was no customs check of the vehicle on the way out. As the only man in our little group all the questions etc were directed at me and I was given all of the passports and paperwork. Once across the border things got a little more complicated. First our passports had to be stamped and our visas inspected. There was one man doing the inspecting and about 50 people all crowded around his window trying to make sure that theirs was next. The phrase "form an orderly queue and wait" appears not to be known in Iran. Luckily the soldier who opened the gates to let us across the border took our passports and pushed them to the front of the queue. After the passports and visas received the ok, it was on to the most nerve-racking part of the process: Customs. At this point another "helper" came over an we engaged his services to help smooth the process. We could see one car being taken apart by the customs guys and hoped that they would not insist on such a thorough inspection of Hector. Luckily they didn't, and after we had got the carnet stamped and the various other bits of paper signed and countersigned we were off down the hill to the final checkpoint which we sailed through with no problems. We had made it into Iran. No one even looked into the back of Hector, no-one wanted to see our International Drivers Licenses, no one mentioned that we had to buy insurance. In fact, all the guys at the border were interested in was the Carnet itself, and making sure that the chassis number matched.

After customs we drove 20km to a town called Maku where we had a cup of tea and booked ourselves into a hotel. In the evening we took a stroll around town and there were lots of "Hello, how are you, where are you from?" conversations. In fact, everyone that we met tonight has been really friendly.

Amy and Linda having tea in Iran.

Thursday, 1st September 2005. Maku to Tabriz.

Amy drove today and got lots of funny looks as a western woman, wearing Hejab and Ray-Bans, driving a great big Land Rover. We wanted to take advantage of the fabled low cost fuel in Iran, only to discover that there is something of a diesel shortage in Iran at the moment. This was not good news, yet we received the same story at every petrol station that we pulled up at. Those garages that did have some diesel, or were expecting some, had huge lines of trucks outside them waiting. We joined one of these lines at one point, only to be told that there was a garage with diesel 25km down the road. We left the queue and headed off - no garage that we could see! We still have over 1/2 tank left, but it is best to keep topped up if this is going to be the situation all through Iran - especially on the desert crossings! We made it to Tabriz, where the traffic became truly terrible. On the open road Iranian drivers seem to be no worse than any others, but in the towns they appear to lose their heads and all hell breaks loose: cars going the wrong way around round-abouts, motorbikes going wherever they like including on the pavements, barely an inch between cars and an apparent creed of "might is right" so that the biggest things on the road can go where they like and stop where they like, whilst everyone else has to get out of their way. We plunged into the chaos and found that we had missed the road that we wanted, so Amy did an "emergency U-Turn" by cutting across 6 lanes of traffic and leaning on the horn. We made it without a scratch, and eventually found our way to El Goli park, a green park with a lake just on the Southern outskirts of Tabriz. We booked ourselves into the camping bit and picked our tent from the ones available. After we had settled in we went for a walk around the lake and again were treated to lots of "hello"s and "how are you"s. Because of the lake, the park is a very popular place for Tabrizis to come for the weekend (which is Thursday and Friday here, not Saturday and Sunday) to get away from the dust and heat of the city so there were lots of people around. One lady invited us to sit with her and her family and share their lunch of fruit and nuts. We sat talking to them for a couple of hours, and were joined by the park guard who also spoke a bit of English and wanted to talk to us. We talked about everything from our jobs and families to why we thought not many people came to visit Iran. When we explained that perhaps many people in the West were scared to came to Iran because of what we see on the TV or read in the papers they were shocked, and said that there was no reason for foreigners to be scared in Iran.

Amy driving in Iran                    Mark outside our tent.     The family who shared their lunch with us

In the evening we joined the hundreds of people walking around the lake and went for dinner in the restaurant in the middle. Whilst we were waiting our friend the guard came over and invited us to go to the funfair after dinner as he was on duty that night and would let us in for free! We were also approached by an Iranian lady who shared her packet of crisps with us whilst wishing us a pleasant stay. Needless to say, after dinner we went to the funfair (or "Toy-Town" as the guard called it) and had a great time. It was an amazing sight seeing the Iranian families, some with women in full Chador, enjoying the rides and amusements like families all over the world. In the West we perhaps have a mental image of all Iranians as flag-burning, fatwa-issuing, dour, humourless and fundamentalist people who never smile - which couldn't be further from the truth - the people we have met have been kind, polite and full of laughter and good spirits.

Amy outside the restaurant and on the Big Wheel

Friday, 2nd September 2005. El Goli Park, Tabriz.

We had planned to go into the middle of Tabriz today (by cab!), but soon realised that as it was Friday (the holy day) everything would be shut. So instead we again joined the Iranians in soaking up the atmosphere of the park.

Saturday, 3rd September 2005. Tabriz to Qazvin.

we got lost leaving the lake, and stopped to ask directions. The chap we asked very kindly got in his car and told us to follow him, which we did until we were back on the motorway heading South East. Our plan for this morning was to stop at every petrol station that we saw, and to wait if they were expecting a delivery of diesel. This plan was shared by every truck driver on our route and soon we were part of a convoy moving from station to station. At last we found some diesel and we were ushered to the front of the convoy. I think that they only expected us to take 80 litres or so, and I'm sure that faces dropped when we got out the jerry cans and told them that we had 2 fuel tanks! In total we filled up with just over 160 litres of diesel for 26,000 Rials, or about £1.60! We left the petrol station to a salute of truck horns hooting and made great progress along the almost empty toll road to Qazvin, where surprisingly we found our hotel (with parking) with no bother at all, even if we did have to drive through the middle of town to get there. After booking in we went on a shopping expedition: Amy wanted a new headscarf and coat and I wanted a pair of light cotton trousers. It was great fun wandering in and out of the shops, trying stuff on and being plied with tea and cakes! Eventually we both found what we were looking for, so went and had a great meal of really thick steak - shame that there was no red wine to go with it...

Sunday, 4th September 2005. Qazvin & Alumut/Assassins Castle

After walking into town to buy some cakes and pastries (Iranians love sweet pastries, fairy cakes etc etc) we ordered a taxi to take us along the Valley of the Assassins to a village called Alamut where there are the ruins of Gazor Khan, the fortress of Hassan-e-Sabbah who was the head of the Hashish-Iyun ("assassins") cult. Hassan was chief of a mercenary organisation in the 11th century which recruited its members by getting them stoned on hashish and transporting them to hidden gardens where they were attended to by beautiful maidens. Having thus been shown the classical Persian vision of paradise, and assured that they would return there upon their deaths, the recruits were fearless fighters who were dispatched to murder leading political and religious figures of the day. We hired a cab because we fancied a day of not driving, and because we didn't want to use our precious stash of diesel on what could be a very long trip up very steep and windy roads. We made the right choice as the road was just the type Hector doesn't like, and after about 3 hours we arrived at the foot of the mountain where the fortress was. Our hearts sank when we saw how far we'd have to climb to get to the top, but we'd come all that way and weren't going to turn around now. So off we set in the sun and the dust, first walking up a steep track, then climbing up hundreds of stairs carved into the rock, and finally climbing up very shaky wooden stairs held up with wooden scaffolding. The dust blowing around at the top of the mountain was terrible, but the views were superb and well worth the effort.

Mark and Hassan the taxi driver    Prone to overheating, these Paykans   Fertile valley beneath the castle.

On our way back, Hassan the cab-driver stopped to get us some grapes, some bread and some blackberry's which was very nice. Apparently the area around Qazvin is famous for it's seedless grapes, and very nice they are too. We headed back to the hotel where unfortunately Hassan tried to take the Michael over the bill. I'd arranged a fixed price in the morning of $27 for the round trip. He now wanted $50! So we all went back to the hotel where the receptionist, who spoke a little English, acted as referee and translator whilst we argued it out. Lots of people got involved, at one point the hotel Chef came out to add his piece, and it seemed like the crowd was gradually being won over to our side, especially when we pointed out that if, as Hassan said, he had been waiting for 5 hours then we would still be there! We eventually settled on $35 dollars for the day - all part of the haggling process I suppose!

Monday, 5th September 2005. Qazvin to Kashan.

We picked up the little yellow road which would take us South whilst avoiding the mayhem that is Tehran and drove through some fantastically rocky desert landscapes. We got to Kashan with no problems, found a place to stay (we have a suite of rooms including a kitchen and 3 bedrooms, for £23!) and made ourselves at home.

Welcome to our town.

Tuesday, 6th September 2005. Kashan

Today we wandered around Kashan on foot. The first stop was the Bank, where we changed up some dollars. Because the exchange rate is pretty good, we ended up with bundles of notes which almost didn't fit in Amy's handbag! Suitably wedged, we headed for the covered bazaar which truly is like something out of Ali Baba. The streets are covered by vaulted brick roofs with holes and grills every now and then to let shafts of sunlight in. There was a very relaxed atmosphere to this bazaar - not at all like the terrible grand bazaar in Istanbul and we were free to wander around and drink tea as much as we liked. One shopkeepers lad called Kazim even took us up onto the roof of the bazaar for a walk around. You can really appreciate the scale of the place from the roof, which we found was made of mud and straw in some places, and you also notice the Badgirs, towers which are designed to catch any cooling breeze and channel it down to the bazaar below.

After the bazaar and a pizza for lunch we went to the Bagh-e Tarikhi-ye Fin, or Fin Gardens. These gardens are the classical Persian vision of Paradise: where the earthly landscape is barren and rocky, the gardens are lush and green with scented flowers and huge trees to provide a canopy of shade, and with water in abundance being directed along tiled channels to pleasant pools and pavilions. It was very peaceful in the gardens, and it was great to sit in the shade by the water.

Amy the Iranian Millionairess           Mark and kazim on the roof of the bazaar.    Fin Gardens

After the gardens we headed for one the restored great houses of Kashan, the Khan-e Ameriha. This was once home to Kashan's Governor and is currently being restored to its former glory. The scale of the place is huge, with hidden courtyards accessible by narrow passageways and an underground Hammam.

Amy in front of one of the garden pavilions    Khan-e Ameriha

In the evening it was out to dinner to a place called Delpazir, which we had a job to find. We hoped to be able to try Fesenjun which is something of a speciality but they had run out. Nevertheless the meal was great and we would recommend going there. To get back to the hotel we took a shared taxi - 6 people including the driver crammed into a Paykan (think Hillman Hunter) screaming around the streets of Kashan at 110kph in the dark with no lights on...exhilarating stuff!

Wednesday, 7th September 2005. Kashan to Esfahan.

It's not that far from Kashan to Esfahan, so we set of fairly late to test out our theory about 14:00 being the best time to drive thought towns and cities. The journey was once again through fantastic rocky desert landscapes which give you a feeling of immense space surrounding you. We were pulled over at one of the numerous checkpoints which are manned by a policeman and a soldier. I (Mark) had been practicing my best Farsi for "Good morning Officer, what appears to be the problem?" and got out with the passports to give it a go. Plod and soldier were suitably impressed and asked if I spoke Persian - when I said "a little" again in Persian we all became great friends, they didn't even bother to look at the passports and after a chat they wished us a pleasant stay in Iran and waved us on our way. According to our plan we got to Esfahan at 14:00 and as we hoped there was very little traffic about, so we drove right through the middle of town, over the river and found the hotel that we wanted to stay at (the "Park and Pol" overlooking the Si-o-Se bridge) with no problem. We settled in, had a bit of a siesta and then, when the temperatures had dropped a little went for a wander over the bridge and found a fantastic restaurant called Shahrzad where we were able to try the classic Iranian dish Fesenjun - duck, chicken and/or quail marinated in and served with a walnut and pomegranate sauce - it was delicious, as was the saffron ice-cream that we had for pudding! After dinner we again strolled along the river where we got chatting to a young Iranian couple who shared their bag of sunflower seeds with us as we sat by the river looking over the bridge. There is a wonderfully relaxed and friendly atmosphere in Esfahan and we think that we will really like it here.

Thursday, 8th September 2005. Esfahan.

We had a touristy day today walking around Esfahan and looking at all of the sights. We started by walking over the Si-o-Se bridge and up the main street until we veered off to walk through the Bazaar which was straight out of Aladdin where we had a cup of tea. Then it was off to the Jameh Mosque which was amazing - it contains examples of all of the major Persian architectural styles at their peak, there are fantastic columned halls and cool underground rooms which are lit by alabaster skylights, and mathematically perfect brick domes which are so well constructed they have withstood 800 years of earthquakes.

Amy and the Si o Se bridge        Courtyard of the Jameh Mosque    Interior of Esfahan Bazaar

We then walked down to what must be the highlight of Esfahan- the huge Imam Square. At 500 meters in length it is the second largest square on earth after Tiannamen, and at one point in its history polo matches were held in the square under the gaze of Shah Abbas the Great. These days the alcoves along the squares sides are full of craft shops where we watched copper-smiths and miniature painters practicing their respective arts. It got rather warm in the square so we found a tea-shop on the roof where we had a cup of tea and a Qaylan of orange flavoured tobacco whilst chatting with the regulars.

Mark in Imam Square                One of the mosques on Imam Sq    Enjoying a tea and a water pipe.

During our wandering we met a young Iranian called Hamed who was setting up a project to encourage young Europeans to come to Iran and spend time living with Iranian families. He had also made a film about being young in Iran which was shown on the Australian TV channel ABC. He invited us out for the evening, so we met up with him at 20:00. We went to a coffee shop in the Armenian district of Julfa, and noticed the hundreds of young people out on streets enjoying themselves. We then took a cab up into the nearby hills where we stopped at a very pleasant place where lots of Esfahanis came to enjoy a cup of tea and the cool evening air.

Ready for a night out                The water pool in the hills.

Friday, 9th September 2005. Esfahan

We had another walking about day today, soaking up the atmosphere of Esfahan. As it was Friday not much was open, and it was very peaceful just walking around the quiet streets and Imam Square again. We bought some food and water and joined the hundreds of people pic-nicking on the banks of the river. After a short while a young girl and her brother came over, introduced themselves and started to chat to us. A few minutes later their mother came over and asked us to join them for lunch, which we were happy to do. We spent a very pleasant couple of hours sitting in the shade chatting. We left them having arranged to meet up again at 18:00 before we went out to dinner. When we met up again we walked over to the Si o Se bridge where Mark and the brother walked through the water to the other side and back again. Whilst they were walking Amy noticed our friend Linda (with the motorbike) on the bridge and went over to say hello. She was with a young German couple called Susi and Daniel who were in their 3rd year of travelling around the world - currently in a Tuk-Tuk! Amy arranged to meet up with them all, and after Mark had climbed out of the river we said goodbye to our Iranian friends and went to have a cup of tea under the bridge with Linda, Susi and Daniel. After a good chat catching up and swapping stories we all went for a delicious roast chicken meal.

Detail of fresco in Imam Square             The family Heidari and Amy.              Amy and Sheida after swapping fans    

Mark in the river                      Susi, Linda, Mark and Daniel.

Saturday, 10th September 2005. Esfahan to Shiraz

We left the hotel really early today to make sure that we got out of Esfahan before the rush hour began, so at 06:00 we were on our way just as it was getting light. We made really good progress to Shiraz - in fact too good as it was clear that we would arrive there way before our 14:00 target. We wanted to stop and kill some time, but in the middle of the rocky desert there's nowhere to stop apart from the hard shoulder where there is no shade and where you are going to attract the attention of the police and the army. So we pushed on and just outside Shiraz swapped drivers as Amy didn't want to repeat her Tabriz experience. We knew that the traffic would be bad but didn't think that it would be as bad as it was. Imagine driving down Oxford Street in the middle of the rush hour in temperatures of 45 degrees. Now imagine that instead of the traffic being in 3 lanes that there are no lanes, and that everybody is wired up on a sugar and caffeine high. Add to this a fatalism that suggest that it is the will of Allah if there is a crash, motorbikes speeding through the tiniest of gaps (some doing wheelies in the process), taxis triple parked whilst the 7 streams of traffic behind them all try to squeeze past using a gap only wide enough for 2 cars without slowing down, pedestrians walking out in front of the traffic and instead of slowing down the cars speeding up to swerve around them and my personal favourite of cars reversing down the road against the flow of traffic at speed because they've missed their turning/seen something nice to look at/don't fancy the long drive to the next roundabout. It was, to say the least, challenging driving Hector through this madness but we managed it without a scratch on him. Unfortunately the parking at the hotels we planned on staying at was all underground (no hope of getting Hector down there). We did find one open-air car park, but they wouldn't let us in. At this, Amy let rip at the poor guard demanding to know why they wouldn't let us in when we could clearly see empty spaces. As the guy didn't speak English she stormed over to the nearest hotel, grabbed the first English speaker she could find and came back to continue her protest. It was only now that we found out that the car park was due to be demolished the next day and turned into a building site!! Eventually, a young Iranian got into Hector and directed Mark to another open-air car park where we could park. During the drive to the new car-park he told Mark that he drove like an Iranian - he took it as a complement...We found a room in the Kowsar hotel and crashed out before going for a walk around town to find somewhere to eat. We couldn't find anywhere (is Shiraz really a cultural and culinary capital of Iran?) and ended up having pizza and chips with all the locals.

Sunday, 11th September 2005. Shiraz.  

We walked around Shiraz today - through the bazaar where we had a drink in an underground Hamman (bathhouse) and then down to some gardens (Bagh-e-Narajestan) which were very pleasant, but also very expensive- 30,000 Rials each! There was a fantastic old house in the Gardens which still contained some of the original decorations - lots of pictures of hunting scenes and women painted into wooden roofs and wall tiles.  We've then spent the afternoon updating the website and trying to upload it.

Detail of interior roof                Ceiling of the mirrored room      Painted tile work

Monday, 12th September 2005. Shiraz to Persepolis.

Amy drove today and we easily found the way out of Shiraz and towards Persepolis - the ancient capital of the Persian Empire constructed by Darius and Xerxes over 2,500 years ago. We had decided that if we could find anywhere to stay near the site we would, but we were not too hopeful as our guidebook explicitly stated that there is no-where to stay near Persepolis. However, we found the Iran Touring and Tourism Investment Company (ITTIC) had recently built a fantastic complex of log cabins not 1km from the entrance to the site. After a bit of haggling over the price of the rooms we booked ourselves in for the night. We had thought that we might visit Persepolis in the evening, but the chap on reception recommended going early in the morning, so we went for a walk towards the nearby town of Marv Dasht and found a fantastically over the top restaurant called the Parsian. Inside the walls were covered in green concrete styled to look like the inside of a cave, there were fake vines and grapes hanging from the blue, pink and green neon lit ceilings and along each wall there were dioramas of stuffed Wolves and their natural adversary - concrete Dolphins! The effect was totally mind-blowing and it's a good thing that we're not allowed to drink, as being drunk in such a weird place could be pretty bad!

Tuesday, 13th September 2005. Persepolis to Yazd.

We were up early and drove the 1km to Persepolis to arrive at 8:00am. We paid the bargain price of 5,000 Rials each to get in and were amazed at the scale of the place - it's huge! Considering that it was built 2,500 years ago It is also very well preserved and very easy to get around. The palace itself is on a man made platform at the foot of some hills, and you climb some ceremonial stairs to get up to the level of the palace. You then walk though a ceremonial gateway which is flanked by 2 statues which have the bodies of bulls but the head and face of humans. These statues are also covered in old graffiti (most of it written by British soldiers stationed in or traveling through Persia during the 19th century - for example St. Rt. Willock of the 17th Light Dragoons left his mark in 1810, whilst the officers of the 39th Company of Kings Own Central India Horse left their calling cards in 1911.) From the gateway you walk to the Palace of 100 Columns past some wonderful Griffin statues. From here you then walk through the Unfinished Gate into the Apadana Courtyard and the Hall of 32 columns. The relief's carved into the side of the Apadana staircase are absolutely amazing, really intricate and still in very good condition.  They depict members of the subject nations of the time ranging from the Ethiopians in the bottom left hand corner through a climbing pantheon of Indians, Cappadocians and Medians up in the top right hand corner.  We also walked around Darius's palace and the central palace or Xerxes hall of audience.  You can't get into Darius' palace , but you can see the relief's and cuneiform writing on the columns. Persepolis is a stunning place - as impressive as the Pyramids or the Acropolis, and 

We called into the museum, but this only contained the pots and pans that they have uncovered.  We left Persepolis and continued our journey to Yazd.

A Mede on the Apadana staircase     Mark being eaten alive          A bull pot found in the excavations

I (Amy) drove to Yazd from Persepolis.  The scenery was very boring from Persepolis to the Yazd turning as we had seen it on the way down to Shiraz, but once we turned off the main road and started on a little yellow road things became interesting.  First I had to contend with the hidden speed bumps which when you hit them at speed are not very pleasant and then I had the mad Iranians overtaking me and then trying to squeeze into the non existent gap between me and the lorry in front thus forcing me to brake hard! But once out of the towns we soon entered the vast expanse of nothingness...  for miles around you can only see sand and dust, it is pretty amazing as you get nothing like this back home.  We continued through the desert landscape and we soon arrived at Yazd, where we easily found the Silk Road Hotel, but unfortunately finding a room wasn't so easy - the Silk Road Hotel was booked up until tomorrow, so I drove back along the main high street and pulled up on the side of the road whilst Mark tried to find the Beheshty Hotel, he did and again they were fully booked. We decided to drive to the outskirts of Yazd to the ITTIC travel Inn place, luckily they had a room but for only one night.  According to the guide book their price was around $60, we had no choice to take the room regardless of price and hope that the guide book was wrong.  We chilled out in the room as time was by now getting on, and we ate in the hotels restaurant - 125,000 Rials for an average meal very expensive.

The nothingness...                      A scary looking creature driving!

Wednesday 14th September 2005; Yazd.

We had decided to try the Silk Road Hotel again, so I drove back into town, unfortunately it was rush hour.  We made it and they had a room but we might have to switch rooms tomorrow night as it is already booked.  Nevertheless we took the room and hope that we wont have to switch.  By the time we had drank our free iced coffee and taken our stuff to the room it was nearly midday, so we strolled around the bazaar, which was tiny compared to others and then found a little restaurant, which the guidebook said was romantic, to see if Mark wanted to go there tomorrow night for dinner for his birthday.  It wasn't that great so we just had a quick lunch of Quail and chips and a drink of rose water (Amy) and Chicory (Mark) sherbet, and then we returned in the direction of the hotel and Mark checked the Internet whilst I hunted for cigarettes in the siesta time.  Back at the hotel we relaxed for a bit and then went and had tea in the hotels courtyard, which was very pleasant.  We couldn't decide where to go for dinner so we ate at the hotel.  the food was wonderful, I had a chicken curry and Mark had Camel meatballs, the meatballs were lovely and the curry delicious, we then had a relaxing evening smoking a qaylan and drinking - water.

Exotic location, no?                                    Mark eating Quail in the 'romantic' restaurant

Thursday 15th September 2005; Yazd

Today is Marks birthday, we got up reasonably early to have breakfast and then Mark suggested that I take him on a Walking tour of Yazd, which I did. Yazd is a pretty cool place - most of the old town is made of mudbricks, and there are lots and lots of winding lanes leading to little courtyards and squares. I took him to the Water museum, which shows you how the Iranians created an underground water system.  We then walked to a tea house and had a 15 minute break, as by now it was again almost midday (we must get up earlier).  I tried to lead Mark to a telephone office so that he could call his Mum, but I took him the wrong way and we had to ask directions!  We eventually found it where I called my Dad and Mark called his Mum.  We were both starving hungry by now but everywhere was shutting, (Thursday and Friday is the Iranian weekend) so we headed back to the hotel and had lunch there.  

We are currently sat in the room whilst we update the website and read our books.  We shall be going out to dinner tonight to celebrate Marks Birthday.

Mark by the 'Qanet' underground water channel entrance    Where we had a Tea

Friday 16th September 2005; Yazd to Kerman

The further East we head the more desert like the scenery gets, and the journey from Yazd to Kerman was no exception. Amy drove today and once again we hit town at the right time, so getting to the Akhavan hotel was a piece of cake. Mr Akhavan welcomed us in with the usual cup of tea, and some very tasty local biscuits which are made of shortbread with a layer of Dates running through them. The hotel room had the first bath-tub that we'd seen since Erzurum so we decided to do some of our washing in it...and much needed it was too as the water went black (sorry Mum....). Dinner was a set menu of local dishes, including a very nice lamb stew.

Saturday, 17th September 2005.  Kerman.

Once again we ended up in the bazaar area of town, and once again in an underground Hammam sheltering from the mid-day sun. This time however an Iranian gentleman called Hossein Vatan introduced himself and offered his services as a guide. He is one of the guides mentioned in our book, so we decided to trust him and arranged to meet up later when he would take us to a "Zurkhana" (House of Strength).  We had to wait about half an hour for all of the participants to arrive, they vary in age from about 5 years old to 80 years old.  Once in the hall we took our seats around a sunken ring where the participants took their places on the floor.  There is a man in an alcove with a bongo beating out a rhythm and singing poetry by Hafez and Sufi verses, whilst the participants show feats of strength by doing symbolic press-ups for ages and then they take turns to whirl like dervishes in the centre of the ring.  It was a very different evening it wasn't what I had expected, but we both really enjoyed it and are glad that we had the opportunity to see it for ourselves.  Afterwards we got a lift back to the hotel where we burnt the photos and films of the evening onto disk for Hossein.

Whirling the clubs                   Shaking the steel symbol bow        Praying to Ali

Sunday, 18th September 2005. Kerman to Bam.

Mark drove today, the scenery was much like it has been recently, so nothing much to mention, but once we had arrived in Bam things were certainly different.

On 26th December 2003, a massive earthquake hit Bam causing immense devastation and killing 26,000 people.  As we drove into Bam the first thing we noticed was that people are still, even 1.5 years later, living in tents or shipping containers on the side of the road.  There is massive poverty in Bam and the only things that appear to be happening are to rebuild the Arg-e-Bam (the ancient mud city and castle) to bring back tourists and build a massive stadium with luxury apartments where they waste money every night on fireworks (somebody has their priorities confused, fireworks or living accommodation!) Of course we got lost driving around Bam, so we headed for the remains of the Arg, and walked around them for a little while. It was actually very unnerving walking amongst the wreckage - everyone was talking in whispers as if they were at a funeral. After leaving the castle, we eventually found  "Akbar's Tourist Guest House" - it had proved difficult as there were no road signs or roads for that matter.  Akbar's was originally a proper hotel but it was flattened by the earthquake. It is now a collection of shipping containers where Akbar continues to welcome guests. On the way in, we didn't notice a low hanging wire which we promptly tore apart. This Akbar explained was the wire for the public telephone box - we weren't the first to disconnect it and we had simply pulled apart a previous attempt to fix it. Thinking that we wouldn't be too popular having wrecked one of the few things that worked in Bam, we got our ladder off the roof, some insulating tape and some of our electrical connectors and Mark, much to his and Akbars surprise, managed to re-wire the telephone so that it worked as good as new. We settled into our twin container with shared bathroom and met Mark, a New Zealander who was backpacking from India to France to work through the Ski season.  He was telling us all about his travels through Pakistan, he said that the people were very hospitable but that the pollution was sometimes unbearable making his eyes run and his throat sting!!!  Just as we were about to go out to buy some Scooby snacks Thomas and Claudia, the German couple we had met briefly at Akhavan hotel, turned up so again we sat down and chatted about traveling to Mirjaveh together to cross the border.  After we had purchased some food I asked Akbar where we could get some dinner and he said that we were to all eat together at the house.  The food was delicious and it gave everybody an opportunity to catch up on travel gossip. It was a great way to end our stay in Iran, which we have really enjoyed.

Amy at Arg-e-Bam                       Amy and Mark sat with the other travellers and Akbar.