Tehran, Tabriz and the Republic of Armenia: a border crossing meltdown

We headed in to meet Mehdi for a dinner with his friends from university.  First we hired some bikes and went for a ride around the city.  Beautiful on sunset.

During the bike we brought a drink as it was right on iftar (when the fast finishes).  The store keeper had a poster printed from a page of the lonely planet.  He is the food server in the photos and he said it is a highlight of his life!

 

Mehdi’s college friends were diverse and interesting.  Some speaking English and some not so well.  Even if you can’t understand the accent you can still understand a good joke when it is told. 

Amir spoke perfect English with an amercian accent.  He had watched 1000s of American films over and over again to perfect his enlish.  The first movie he watched ws Top Gun.  He said it took him 2 weeks to watch, understand and perfect the first 45 minutes.  That is commitment.

The group

We also talked about how it is illegal for a young couple to be together before marriage.  In Iran you must talk to the parents first before you talk to the girl!  Only if the parents and extended family agree can you start dating.  First dates will consist of tea at the family home and after 2-3 months going out to the park or a movie. 

After dinner we went to Mehdi’s relatives homes while we waited for our bus to depart at 130am.  The people are just too kind and friendly.  At each place all the relatives gave up seats for us, even the old granddad who could barely stand despite our protests.  We were presented with drink after drink (non-alcoholic of course) and plates mounted with food. The fast was clearly over.

We jumped on our VIP bus which cost 12USD for a 7 hour journey. The seats are lazy boys and you can nearly lie perfectly flat.

Arrived early in Tehran, very very tired from 4 hours sleep on the bus.  We found a park at the bus station and slept on the grass for a few more hours.  We often see people sleeping on the grass at bus stations and train stations. 

We caught a taxi up to the Sa’ad Abad Museum, the location of the Shah royal family palaces.  These places oozed opulence and excess.  The Shahs lost power partly because they lived such a highfalutin lifestyle. 

Cars including the famous bullet proof, bomb proof 6 ton Mercedes 600.

We saw some of his gun collection

 

alking around the grounds we came across a tennis court with some guys having a hit.  Curious I watched for about 10 mins before being asked if I wanted a hit. I jumped on court eager as a beaver.  I couldn't get a ball in play for some reason, It was a clay court but this was no excuse.  After 10 minutes of failed rallies I gave the racket back.  The guy explained to me that we were at 1800 meters altitude which made the balls weight about half of their usual…

After this we caught a taxi to Eli’s house for lunch.  

They were not fasting and the food was insane.  I left 5kg heavier.

The sleeper compartment on these overnight trains is luxurious.  TVs, snacks, lighting, electric plugs full length beds. We were with Max, a man from Tabriz and Joseph, a man from Yerevan, Armenia.  While the others chatted, I planned my travel through Turkey but then Joseph mentioned I should come and stay with him and his family in Armenia.  I didn’t even know that Armenia was a country but now I am going there.  It is on a but of a whim but it is not very often you are in a train in Iran when an Armenian invites you to spend 4 days in rural Armenia so why not.

 An IT guy never sleeps

20/8/11

We arrived in Tabriz at 7am.  Max, one of the guys in the compartment, offered us a ride into town to wait for Fahid to pick us up.  We were dropped off outside the ‘Blue Mosque’ and ate some pistachio nuts in the grounds in defiance of Ramadan.  Fahid picked us up and took us to the local park for a look around.  It is a Friday so the main rest day in Iran.  The park was packed full of families playing all range of stports and doing exercise. 

We joined some of his friends for a game of volleyball for a while. 

At one point a police officer blew a whistle and shouted out at us.  I hacd no idea why but on asking the girls they said it was because boys and girls were playing volleyball together.  Even in a family and friends situation it is illegal.  Everyone shouted back at the officer and told him to move on.  He continued to watch and at one point there were 3 watching.  Stupid stupid rules.

After the volleyball we were dropped off at our hotel by Fahid.  The hotel was the most expensive we stayed at, $30usd a night, and had the worst facilities.  Internet was confined to one slow computer with all the usual facebook and blogspot blocks.  This time we had no way around. What was worse was the Chinese guy who sat on the computer literally from 9am till 6pm chatting to his friends in China on MSN.  He is placed in Tabriz for 2 months working for a company, He said he only left the hotel grounds a few times a week and never went for a look around because he was scared of being kidnapped. What a life…

It was bizar time with high roller Dodd after some skux shoes.  As the purchase was made we had a call from Fahid asking if I wanted a hit of tennis.  There was no way to turn that down.  We had a great hit of tennis on sunset at about 30C.  I explained to him that such conditions occurred about once every 5 years in NZ.

 

First taste of Iranian fastfood for dinner.  Iran bans all western brands so there is no MacDs, Subway or KFC.  Instead they have very similar named companies selling similar products.  KFC for instance  is called Kentucky Chicken…  They do not recognise western trademarks at all.

20/08/2011

 I went do to use the computer this morning only to find that it was infected with about 30 viruses.  Probably a result of trying to download various illegal copies of the Armenian Lonely Planet…

I went into town in search of internet cafe.  After wandering aimlessly for about an hour I visited the store that Dodd brought shoes at yesterday. I knew that the 17 year old son at least knew a word of enlgish.  He immediately pointed me in the right direction. 

Internet café still did not allow facebook but it allowed me to boy the lonely planet and have a chat to mum and dad on skype.  In total 1.5 ours of internet cost $1.20.

Back at the hotel I waited for Fahid to pick me up.  He said he had an afternoon of activities planned.  First we went for another hit of tennis, this time at a fancy country club. 

 Perfect clay court

Incredible fake grass football pitch.  Me want.

He then dropped me at the bazaar for a couple of hours while he attended a meeting.  I had a great time wandering about using up the rest of my Iranian Rials. I brought Fahid a couple of presents for his generosity and a gift for the family I am meant to be staying with in Armenia, still haven’t heard back from them…

Fahid and I had another fastfood dinner.  Even though Fahid’s English isn’t great it is wonderful how a connection can be made just through a few words.  After dinner I jumped on the bus bound for Armenia!!

It was 10pm at night so read a book for a while then went to sleep. AT 2pm the bus stopped and I was told it was time for the border crossing.  Here is where the fun began.

I have two passports.  UK and NZ.  UK visas for  Armenia are only $30 whereas NZ are $60 so I planned to use my Uk passport to enter. We hauled our bags off the bus and one at a time we filed through passport control.  When my turn came the shit hit the fan.  I handed over my UK passport, it did not have the Iranian visa in it which confused them.  I handed over my NZ passport and explained I had two passports and that I wanted to enter with the UK one. They could not understand the ideal of dual citizenship and disappeared to make a phone call.  Half the bus was held up behind me but eventually the gaird decided to let them through.

I was taken away for an interview.  I was asked all about my time in Iran.  I told them about travelling with Matt Dodd.  As I told my story I realised how implausible it sounded.  I flew in from Malaysia, Dodd from Oman and we met in Shiraz.  When asked where Matt was I said he had gone to Iraq and that I was going to Armenia to meet a family who I had met 2 days ago on a train……

After about an hour with the whole bus waiting for me they let me through on the NZ passport.  The passport control guy had no idea what the cost of a NZ visa was.  After initially asking for $30 I said $10 and he agreed.  So after all the drama I saved $50 on the visa!