Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2000 08:31:58 -0700
From: jennifer aitken 
Subject: Persia


Hi all, hope youre well

Turkish keyboards are very strange, so excuse any weird typos

We have just enjoyed 3 weeks in Iran.  It,s a fascinating and beautiful
country with friendly people, however not particularly exotic or vibrant(though
you might blame that on the somewhat repressive regime.

Our first impression on crossing from Pakistan was of culture shock,
reverse culture shock that is.  Iran is incredibly modern, with fancy
shops, spacious smooth roads and even motorways. The transport system
is luxurious, for once ants has some leg room on the buses.  Only took
us one hour to travel 80km - up til now we have been averaging 30kph!
The streets are incredibly clean, all the snackbars and butchers refrigerate
their food and you can even drink the water (how on earth i, with my
cast iron stomach, managed to pick up a stomach bug in this cleanest
of countries is completely beyond me!)  

It's really refreshing to see women everywhere.  Obviously they have
to cover up appropriately, but unlike pakistan, they are active in public
life, and much more liberated (overall literacy here is over 80% and
much the same for men and women, in pakistan it's about 35% for men and
20% for women)  In the cities, most women are now wearing a headscarf
and coat (which is what i wear), rather than the chador, which is the
long black cloak from head to toe.  I had to wear a chador once to enter
a shrine, and i can safely say it's the most cumbersome item of clothing
i have ever worn.  Dont know how they do it, the local women manage to
do it with elegance and grace, though they have to permanently hold it
with one hand (or in the teeth if you want your hands free) - so they
still have some difficulties.  
A lot of the young women in the cities
are really taking the dress code to the limits, with smart , fitting
coats that only come to the knees, tight jeans and token headscarves.
I actually coped ok with the clothing, luckily the weather was cooler
than elsewhere ...  (but today we crossed to Turkey, and i now feel completely
liberated - it,s been 2 months since my hair last saw the light of day!)
 
The people here are super friendly and welcoming, particularly the further
north you go.  We hada few times in the south where people would jeer
or point, or make smart comments in Farsi (persian). We could only
assume this is related to anti western propaganda.  However in the north
it's
so much more relaxed, maybe because people are more used to tourists,
or maybe because people here are more educated and so less susceptible
to propaganda. In any case we have mad e a lot of good friends, who are
extremely hospitable and generous.

We've had more language problems here than any other country, learnt
a lot of Farsi int he first week, and now we can conduct most of our
basic transactions without major difficulty, sadly though still not up
to much conversation, which is a shame as i bet some of the older people
have some intersting stories.  Buying a bus ticket is usually a major
mission, but so far our pidgin farsi hasn,t made us end up anywhere unexpected!


I have to confess that the street life is
not exactly exciting.  India may well be the most disorganised country
in the world, but it certainly has the most vibrant streets and bazaars.
One really great way to get into the culture here is to hang out in teahouses.
 Teahouses are the iranian
pubs, where people meet in the evenings,( usually only a male domain
but
as a tourist i get to join in).  It's great fun drinking black tea iranian
style, with your sugar cube held between your teeth, straining the tea
through it (great for tooth decay).  The other teahouse activity is smoking
the 'hubble bubble' (hookah) with fragrant apple tobacco, great fun and
gives quite a headrush.  Teahouses are definitely a good way to meet
locals and have a bit of a laugh

We had heard that iranian cuisine was something special. Well it certainly
is tasty, but not especially varied, the usual meal is a mince kebab
on plain rice with onion, tomato and yoghurt.  does get a tad boring
every
night! Even in homes, or expensive restaurants, the food is the same,
just nicer quality.  It's refreshing though to be eating less oily food,
and also there
is a lot of awesome fresh fruit (including the best dates in the world),
freshly squeezed juices, yoghurt, feta, bread and really good icecream.

The scenery is dramatic, lots of desert, with dusty mountains in the
distance.  Very occasional villages, palm trees, mirages, the odd camel
or shepherd with flock, sometimes a ruined fort.  Does get a bit monotonous
after a few hours though!

Although the  cities are modern, there,s enough beautiful old buildings
to keep you happy. A familiar sight is a mosque with beautiful blue mosaic
tiles or inlay decoration. It's really impressive work, and a great contrast
to the sandy walls surrounding.  Just when you think you are getting
mosqued/tiled out then you see an even more spectacular one.  Kicks the
butts of the great churches of Europe.  Every town
also has a covered bazaar with medieval arches , very atmospheric. Thereis
also a lot of lovely parks and gardens in most towns. If it weren,t for
a few 'issues', Iran would be alovely place to live.

It,s not the cheapest of countries, mainly because of the irritating
tourist pricing.  Food and transport is cheap.  Hotels were about NZD
10-15 and grubby with no bathroom (twice what we paid for lovely places
in Pakistan) Any 'tourist site' sets you back the same amount ...
However ii think that tourism is not quite encouraged by the establishment,
maybe because it could corrupt young minds
We had great difficulties actually getting visas for the country, we
could only get a 7 day 'transit' visa which we were told we could extend
no problems.  However at the visa office we were told abruptly that we
could only get another 5 days extension.  Not exactly enough to see the
country ... However an Oscar winning performance of feminine tearfulness
did the trick, we were given tea and sympathy and another 14 days! Still
meant we had to travel a bit faster than usual, but pretty good work
i thought.  Not planning to repeat the performance though.

It was a fascinating country to visit politically.  People are very restricted
(eg lack of freedom of speech) but aren,t afraid to tell you so (after
a quick look around to make sure the religious police aren,t lurking
nearby)  Everyone we spoke to told us that they hate the ayatollahs and
the mullahs (holy men who run the country)  So many people were trying
to leave the country to find a better life.  All the girls hate wearing
the headscarf.  It may have been that the only ones who spoke to us were
the ones who have extreme views, but if this is the case, then it's pretty
 widespread.  Most people though really respect the new president, who
has already made quite a few reforms )like allowing people to listen
to whatever music they like in the privacy of their own homes)  Everywhere
you go there are huge pictures of the ayatollahs (big brother is watching
...)  People have to carry their id cards at all times, which tell what
religion they are, and also have stamps for every election, saying who
they voted for.  People were amazed to hear that we have secret ballot
elections. People always wanted to know what we thought about iran before
we arrived , and were surprised to hear that the media is not controlled
by the government. Recently in Iran a lot of 'reformist' newspapers were
closed down, and a lot of journalists mysteriously vanished.  Buses are
frequently stopped by teh military, usually they just have a quick look
(i presume to see if anyone looks suspicious?), but sometimes everyone
has to show their ID, and on one trip 3 guys were removed somewhat aggressively,
and didn,t come back.

OUr first stop was the desert oasis of Bam, where there is an awesome,
wellpreserved old city from about 1500yrs, all in mudbrick,with a high
citadel and winding streets below.  An awesome place to explore for a
few hours and imagine it as it once was.  One of the best 'ruins' ever.

We then went to a place called Kerman, a pleasant town with beautiful
bazaar and very classy teahouses.

Next stop Shiraz, yes, the place where the wine of the same name originated,but
of course isn't available now!  Here we visited some amazing ruins called
Persepolis, a few thousand BC, looking like a cross between Greek and
Egyptian work.  Shiraz also had a beautiful shrine to a famous saint,
like a  huge mosque, the interior completely covered with mirrors, and
people crying as they touched the inner shrine.

After Shiraz we moved on to Yazd, apparently one of the oldest living
cities in the world, )abut 2000 yrs),lots of cool narrow lanes, a very
charming place 

Then on to a place called Esfahan, one of the most beautiful cities i,ve
seen, the gorgeous town square beats San Marco in Venice hands down.
 Also boasts iran,s most beautiful mosque, and a river )currently dry
due to drought) with lovely old bridges, all with teahouses underneath
Esfahan also had teh friendliest people in the country, and loads of
students keen to practise english.  ( the funniest 'translation' question
we had was  ' what does it mean ... shalala in the morning?' - so there
is some western music in the country, but not necessarily the best examples
...)  After one day in the town our 'social calendar' was full and we
had to offend some people over the next few days by turning their invitations
down!
We made some great friends here and spent some time in their homes, which
was really enjoyable.  Very generous people, one friend made some special
copper engravings for us .

Tehran is without doubt the ugliest city i,ve seen, and it's quite rare
for me to completely dislike a place ...
It,s an ugly grey urban sprawl, without any of the charm or character
that redeem , say, Delhi or Dhaka.  We didnit stay long.

So anyway, we crossed to Turkey today and are staying in a cute little
town called Dogubeyazit 'dogbiscuit', under the imposing Mt Ararat, where
Noah and his Ark are supposed to have landed.  Enjoying the vibrant streets
with lots of music (have missed that over the last 3 weeks, iran is v
quiet)
Have rather overdone my ramblings today so i should finish here, will
write again with more turkish stuff later

Lotsa love, Jen and Ants