I'm going to Iran (updated)

GuyB wrote:

Now I know where the idea came from... [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2017/04/24/190211/s1200_Screen_Shot_2017_04_24_at_2.02.02_PM.jpg[/img] [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2017/04/21/189428/s1200_DSC_0401.jpg[/img] Cool stories and photos. You win the Vital MX Travel Adventurer Award. :)

Now I know where the idea came from...





Cool stories and photos. You win the Vital MX Travel Adventurer Award.

roundtheoutside wrote:

Trip was great. My girlfriend has a persian dad and that's why we decided to go and check out where she was born. Actually we wanted...

Trip was great. My girlfriend has a persian dad and that's why we decided to go and check out where she was born. Actually we wanted to go to Daytona SX this year but due to the travel ban and other uncertainties we didn't go and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we planned the Iran trip instead. We got in touch with some distant relatives in advance and tried to learn some farsi which was a good call. The first two days we been in Tehran (mostly museums) and after that we went to Behshahr (her birth place) by train through the Elburs mountains (highest elevation is mount Damavand with 5604m). We spent a week in the Behshahr area (ca 90.000 population) and I only can confirm your impressions of the persian hospitality. We had invitations for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day at different places and with different familys. Everybody treated us like kings. between meals they rode around with us, showed us everything you have to see when you're there for the first time, went into all kinds of stores, went hiking in the mountains, swimming in caspian sea and even to the local MX track on friday (the persian sunday...). Once I went to a bakery around the corner in the morning and on the way I met like 4 people who I met before and all of them were super happy to meet me again, I almost felt like a local.
The food: I was in love with persian food long before but what we got to eat there almost brought tears to my eyes. All kinds of kebap, fesenjuhn, ghorme sabzie, Ghameh and the usual bits and pieces like salads, mast o khiar and so on. all these dishes every day on one table!! A dinner like that takes easily 2 days of preparation for the cook and his assistants. And they were super happy when they realized that you really like it. When we arrived at the train station the day we had to leave, much to our surprise there were like 50 people waiting for us to say good bye and everybody had a little present for us. Man that was overwhelming.
We then headed south to Isfahan to check out some historical buildings and stuff like that and that city (population 4 million) was total mellow, kind friendly and relaxed. People were interested in why we are there, wanted to make some selfies with us and I never ever felt any kind of unsafe. When some guy on a bazar walked like 3 steps beside you to draw attention to his stuff somebody behind us yelled at him and the guy apologized for his obtrusivness.
Man, I experienced so much there I don't know what to tell first

As for the political situation, to understand you have to know what happend there back in the 50s with the UK and the US involvement in oil affairs and that's the sad part. Iranians suffer from the mullah regime and the economic embargo. The people revolt against the regime on a small scale to avoid the draconian punishments the mullahs are known for but basically Iran becomes more and more a pretty secular state. Even though the Islam is a state religion, not that many people live it in their private lives. The government builds pompous mosques in every town but people barely go there. Most of the people I met were pretty educated with a university degree but they all have problems to find a proper job. Big companies are not allowed to settle there due to the economic embargo and that keeps the people down and makes the regime even more powerful.




Tehran art museum (the collection of the shahs wife - great one)




our host in Tehran




weekly market in Behshar





hiking in the hills




famous bridge in isfahan



our little daughter was a superstar



famous square in Isfahan (2nd largest in the world)

Nighttrain wrote:

Roundthehouse - that's a good read and very cool pics. Iran is nothing like I imagined. Adding Iran to Norway as must visit countries. Conversely, Sunhouse's...

Roundthehouse - that's a good read and very cool pics. Iran is nothing like I imagined. Adding Iran to Norway as must visit countries.

Conversely, Sunhouse's pictures and write-up of his travel to North Korea was as imagined. No plans to visit that one.

Ebs wrote:

Cool reads and photos, thanks for sharing. Is it unnerving when random strangers are so friendly toward you like that? I think that would sketch me...

Cool reads and photos, thanks for sharing.

Is it unnerving when random strangers are so friendly toward you like that? I think that would sketch me out at first in a foreign land, like they had ulterior motives and I was being set up somehow.

roundtheoutside wrote:

Sunhouse! The longest distance trip I made was from Behshahr to Bandar e Torkaman at the Turkmenian border - completely different there. The view of the...

Sunhouse! The longest distance trip I made was from Behshahr to Bandar e Torkaman at the Turkmenian border - completely different there. The view of the city was a little ramshackled, people wear different clothes then they do in the other parts of Iran and they look more like mongols. I'd say it is more Turkmenistan than Iran. In Behshar I've been at an archeological excavation site of a city which was founded 6000 years ago and existed for 3000(!) years. The archeologists were from munich and unfortunately they kicked em out when the revolution began. Since then they just covered everything with a cobbled asbestic roof and left it like it was back in the 70s. But there was a dude who was the guide or something who was super cool and nice. We walked around at the site and he explained everything gladly.

The forests reminded me a little of appalachia. The humid climate just make it jungle like and there are some cool waterfalls, riverbeds and viewpoints to stop and have a picnic. The Irianians I met like to hike in larger groups and they even carry carpets and tons of food on the mountain just to have a cool picnic on top. Iranians in general love to have a good picnic.

I met some people from Bam in the south of the country and they told me that there are a lot of specialtys too there. It's a kind of a economic zone with less regulations, so life seems to even more "western" there. But it can be very hot down there. The younger generation in Tehran usually leave the city to have a party. On the country site there are almost no controls by the morals enforcers so that's why they go there. It is all "private" but you know, you'll be in on it

edit: flight was with alitalia from Düsseldorf via rome. Nothing special...

mxer146 wrote:

Me and the Mrs. just spent 10 days in Egypt for our honeymoon. It was my first time overseas and it was an absolute blast. The...

Me and the Mrs. just spent 10 days in Egypt for our honeymoon. It was my first time overseas and it was an absolute blast. The Egyptian people were extremely friendly and the exchange rate was definitely in our favor. We did Cairo, Luxor and Hurghada. I managed to sneak a few pics of King Tut's mummy and inside the tombs where they were definitely not allowed!! I would definitely recommend it to anyone. We never felt unsafe or scared of our surroundings. We even got a free day in Istanbul when we missed our connecting flight. The blue mosque was absolutely amazing.



ss






.