Late last night went for a stroll down towards to Patronas towers. Absolutely stunning by night.
Woke at 830am hoping to make the most of my 3 hours in KL before I headed back to the airport. Somehow ended up with a buddy for the morning when I explained to an English guy ‘Matt’ the virtues of having bananas on toast for breakfast. We decided to go exploring together. First stop were the Patronas towers again. We ventured out of the heat into the mall under the towers filled with Gucci, Prada and Nike…typical.
With time running out we checked out the national aquarium. The most disturbing being the giant water rats which were about the size of a cocker spaniel.
Awkward looking stingray
I made my way back out to the airport on the high speed train system. What took 1 hour 40 by bus on arrival took only took 25 mins on the way. I was struggling to find the correct ticket counter among the masses in KL airport but when I saw this sight I knew I was at the right place…
I was one of the last people to board the plane and may have been the only non-Iranian. As I walked down the aisle I couldn’t help but feel 300 eyes look at me with interest. I was lucky enough to sit next to Eli, an Iranian student studying in KL. We talked for the majority of the 8 hour plane ride. The most interesting topic covered was the political situation in Iran and the social/economic harms it is causing. Moreover that a large proportion of the young educated people want to leave Iran due to restrictive social, religious and free speech laws. Eli was convinced that the only way to fix Iran’s issues was to have a firm divide between politics and religion. Eli was amazing because she willingly talked about all facets of her life and religion even when some of my questions were surely borderline.
As we touched down in Iran the whole plane erupted with rhythmic clapping and people shouting ‘we finally arrive in Iran!!!’ Eli commented ironically that this was one of the few times the people could happily celebrate as parties are banned in present day Iran.
We touched down at 930pm and I still had the mission of finding my way between airports. Thankfully Eli’s family offered a ride as it was on their way home. Something I have quickly realised is genuine and unfettered generosity of the Iranian people. Eli’s dad not only escorted me and my bags into the airport but also gave me a very important piece of advice, “make sure you use the men’s check in and boarding area rather than the womens” he said. It was 11pm and I stayed up all night waiting for my 630am flight and hoping the Mr Mohamad would show up as arranged with my ticket. Luckily Mr Mohammad did show up and I was soon enough boarding the plane to Shiraz.
The departure displays were sub-optimal. All I knew was that my flight was IR425 and little else.
With the immaturity of a 11.3 year old I had to post the safety card from the "Fokker 100" plane
Iran from the air
Anyway, I have arrived at the Niayesh Hotel in Shiraz and am waiting for Matt Dodd to turn up so we can go explore this place.
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