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More Trip Pics
Did you like Iran? Yes. I had a lot of fun.
Would you want to live there? I'm not sure why people ask this. I think they want some self-assurance that the US is better than Iran. The short answer to the question is no. I would not want to live there. Of course, I don't want to live in any other country. Heck, I don't want to live in any other state, or city for that matter. Iran was a fun place to visit. My lack of desire to live there really is no reflection on the country itself.
Did you get sick? None of us got sick. We ate in plenty of restaurants and drank plenty of water. No problems at all.
Any problems at the borders? We had no trouble with customs or immigration anywhere. The most questioning we got was in Amsterdam on our way back into the United States for security.
Anybody give you any problems there? Iran is famous for its hospitality and I can see why. The people, family and strangers alike, were all very welcoming and helpful to us. Of course, I respected the culture and traditions and was with a native, so I am sure that helped.
More Trip Info/Photos The first couple of weeks of our time in Iran we spent traveling around the country. First, we headed north to the Caspian Sea area of Iran. Here we stayed with family, and got tours of the different cities. After returning to Tehran, we flew down south to Shiraz and Esfahan for a few days each. We flew on Iran Air (the official airline of the country) and it was quite a pleasant trip. On both 45 minute flights we received toys for the kids, candy, and a meal. On short flights in the US you're lucky to get a drink. The cost for two flights for four people was around $130 total. The sites in Shiraz and Esfahan were amazing, especially the ruins of Persepolis. Here are some photos of the sites.
Here are the entrance stairs to the 2500 year old city of Persepolis.
Here is the entrance gateway. The size and intricacy of the carvings on these ruins was amazing.
Here, a short climb up and overlooking the ruins, is the entrance to the tomb of one of the kings of Persepolis.
This was one of the many mosques we visited in Shiraz, very beautiful architecture.
The center of Esfahan is dominated by an enormous public square. On three sides of the square are two impressive mosques and a palace. On the fourth side is the entrance to the immense bazaar.
Here is the ginormous and beautiful Imam (formerly Shah) Mosque, which sits on the south side of the square. We got a nice tour from one of the janitors at the mosque. In this mosque are echo points. Scientists have measured something like 37 echoes at these points, though the human ear can only pick up seven.
On the east side of the square sits the the Shaikh Lotfallah mosque. A very beautiful and impressive structure.
On the west side of the square is the Ali Qapu palace.
This mosque is the largest in Iran. We took a wrong turn on our walk there and ended up walking through the back alleys of the bazaar. Definitely, not the tourist spot. When we arrived they told us that the mosque was closed, but we convinced them to stick around and give us a tour.
Here is a picture in courtyard of the beautiful Shah Abbas Hotel. After Shiraz and Esfahan we were too tired to travel any more so we entered the "Meet the Family" phase of the tour. For anyone who doesn't know my wife, she has a lot of family. Her parents were killed in a car accident when she was two, so she was raised by her grandparents. That gave her a connection to another generation of relatives that she probably wouldn't have had. This phase had much less interesting pictures, but it was just as fascinating. One of the highlights of this phase was a visit from a cousin who was a music preservationist. He visited the house and played us a few songs on his tambor, which is a three-stringed instrument that was made 1500 years ago. Great sound.
I got to see some photos snapped during combat from a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war. I met an author whose books on religion got him an interview with the government every few months. I met a man who ran for the Majlis (the Iranian congress). All these people and more gave me a fascinating insight on the culture. The best part of visiting all these family members was eating. They all got forewarning of what my favorite Persian dishes were and boy do they know how to cook. I had to postpone my Atkins diet while I was there, and surprisingly I even lost a few pounds on the trip. Those keeping score at home will note that I also postponed by four-year ban on caffeine while I was there.
One of the more somber days was visiting the graves of my wife's parents. I have never seen cemeteries so large. Here's a shot of their tombstones.
Here's a shot of a snowy day in Tehran.
I did have quite a few political discussion with folks over there, but in the interest of safety I won't be able to share those. Sorry. Copyright
Here's a shot of the Nike Bus that I told you about before.
Carl's Jr. probably didn't receive any royalties on this hamburger chain's logo.
This one wasn't a copyright violation, but I found the text funny. What kind of "action" are Diana and Sara into?
That's all for now. As I go through the video and pictures some more I may find some more interesting shots and stories to share. Filed under Musings by Brian - Mon Mar 29, 2004 @ 12:00 AM (Permalink - Discuss)
Back in the Saddle
U-S-A! U-S-A!
Yesterday, I had my first experience with shared taxis. We stood on the side of the road with a bunch of other people and whenever a taxi went by people would shout out their destinations. If the taxi was headed there they would stop, and you would hop (or cram yourself) in; if he was headed somewhere else he would just speed away.
A taxi finally stopped for us and I hopped in the back seat that already had two people in it, then my wife and her grandfather shared the single front passenger seat (all the cars are manual transmissions). About a half-mile down the road, the two people in the back hopped out and two women hopped in the back with me.
They asked me in Farsi if I was Iranian, out of politeness I guess since it is pretty obvious I am not from around here. I answered that I was from America. I have never had a bad experience when I have told people this, but I still worry about the reaction I will get. These women were ecstatic to see an American. The woman told me how her husband loved America, and she did too.
Later, that day we were leaving a park and a busload of kids started calling out “Foreigner” in Farsi (not in a bad way they just wanted a reaction). I waved to them and they giggled. I think the next time I will start breakdancing for them. I feel guilty that a wave can be so entertaining.
Today, we spent some time shopping in northern Tehran. This section of the city is very nice. The cars are nicer (I saw a Nissan Maxima!), and you can tell that it is much more liberal up here. Except for the scarves, which barely covered any heads, it could have been any big city in the US.
I have yet to bump into any other Americans here. The only other foreigners I have seen have been Germans and French, oh and a couple from a Spanish speaking country. Most people assume that I am German. I can see people puzzling out the relationships in their heads when I am walking down the sidewalk with a group of Iranians. It has become quite amusing.
On the mildly humorous side, one of my favorite sayings is "It's a free country." I get quite a chuckle whenever I say it here.
That’s all for now Filed under Musings by Brian - Fri Mar 12, 2004 @ 12:00 AM (Permalink - Discuss)
Iran Drive Club
The Nike swoop is a popular symbol here. I have seen it on busses and on dashboard covers (pictured) among other things.
Metallica must be popular here. This is this second spot of Metallica graffiti I have found here.
Here is the promised story about Iran Drive Club. My parents should stop reading now. I had plenty of warning about the crazy driving here, so I was prepared. All the stories I heard were true. Stop lights, lane markers, no passing zones and one way streets are only suggestions that are rarely followed. Motorcycles go anywhere; sidewalks, bazaars, opposite direction of traffic flow. I have seen and been in cars that go in reverse down the freeway and on ramps. There is no such thing as a safe following distance. Iranians have one hand on the brights and one hand on the horn leaving no hands for the wheel. Once you accept these facts, it is quite fun (as long as I don’t have to drive). I do admire the anarchy and the driving skills. Nobody gets pissed off when you cut them off, or flash your brights at them. You do have to be an aggressive driver if you want to get anywhere, and everybody seems to be one. They use the horn properly; to let you know they’re coming not as some sort of finger substitute. I think the less rigid rules of the road keep people from having road rage. Of course, there is no time to get upset because you have to stay very alert. Even with all this chaos I have not seen any car accidents. I did see one motorcycle Filed under Musings by Brian - Wed Mar 10, 2004 @ 12:00 AM (Permalink - Discuss)
The American
Most commonly I will get “hello” from people as I pass by. The most entertaining came from a class of uniformed school girls in the Esfahan bazaar who giggled hysterically every time I said “hello” back to them. I would catch them staring and they would giggle some more. Not only am I entertaining to geeks, but I've got the Middle Eastern school girl demographic laughing as well.
One of the more poignant moments came when a young woman approached me while I was taking a brief rest. She asked me in English where I was from and I told her 'USA.' She said it was her wish to go there. 'I've been studying English for three years, and I don't think I'm progressing very well.' She got tearful when I told her that her English was very good.
One person my wife asked where we could eat breakfast and the next thing we know were eating bread and cheese, and drinking tea in a loft in his shop. He ended up getting us a discount at our hotel too. The reputation for the hospitality of Iranians is well deserved.
On an unrelated but geeky note, I snapped this photo of Tux on an ad I saw in Esfahan.
Yes, that means our digital camera works once again. Three sets of bad batteries were to blame for our earlier difficulties. I also ran into a cousin of a son of a great uncle reading a Red Hat Linux book that had been translated to Farsi. He also had a book for Access 97.
Here are a couple other Engrish things for you. The first I did not have the camera with me when I walked by a store selling CRUST toothpaste. I am not sure I would want to brush my teeth with that. Next one I did get a picture and it speaks for itself.
Rice is a staple here.
News from the trip. We just got back from our trips to Shiraz and Esfahan. Both were awesome. We saw all the sites. I really liked the tombs of the four kings outside of Persepolis. The entrances to the tombs were high up on the mountain side. There were bas-reliefs on the bottom of the cliff. Here is a one of them. It is over 600 years old. Seeing Persepolis and these tombs made me feel like Indiana Jones.
That's all for now. Filed under Musings by Brian - Mon Mar 8, 2004 @ 12:00 AM (Permalink - Discuss)
Tomorrow 9 O'clock Next stop is Shiraz and Persepolis, then after that to Isfahan. Both areas should be very interesting. Not sure if I mentioned it before, but our digital camera died from too many drops so we've been without a camera for a couple days which is the major suck. One of Hedieh's cousins surprised us and bought us a film camera, so I'll have to be going old school for a while. I also screwed up and taped over the first three days on our videotape. Luckily it wasn't anything exciting, except for the bumper car ride. Probably, won't be any updates from me for a week or so as we won't be taking the laptop with us to Isfahan and Shiraz. Filed under Musings by Brian - Tue Mar 2, 2004 @ 12:00 AM (Permalink - Discuss)
Pictures
In other news, I could start a whole "Engrish" site with all the translation mistakes around here. One of the funniest was for a laundry detergent. The word for snow in Farsi is Barf. The detergent was called Lemon Barf. I guess that's one you get when you drink too many vodka and lemonades. Most of my wife's relatives have satellite systems. I've watched German kids shows, parts of Battlefield Earth dubbed in French and Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman dubbed in Farsi. Very funny stuff. There's also a computer brand here called Super Bork. Cracks me up every time I see that commercial. That's all for now. Off to Shiraz and Isfahan and possibly Yazd in the next 7-10 days. Filed under Musings by Brian - Tue Mar 2, 2004 @ 12:00 AM (Permalink - Discuss) |
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