Sunday, 5 March 2017
Lost in Translation - and loos.
Lost in Translation - food
This from the cafe at Persepolis. We bypassed these offerings and opted for coffee, without soil or distillates, here on earth.
This from some buffets.....
A health warning!
And if you can't have it all...
No idea about ardur - hors d'oeuvres? Despite the spelling, I always recognise dessert!
But the best of all was at breakfast one day, where "Espionage Crepe" was available. A brave person took one and found it was spinach.. It was remembered for the whole trip!
This from some buffets.....
A health warning!
But the best of all was at breakfast one day, where "Espionage Crepe" was available. A brave person took one and found it was spinach.. It was remembered for the whole trip!
Thursday, 2 March 2017
Safely home
We had a good flight this morning from Singapore, helped enormously by the vacant seat between us and the fact that it was a day flight.
Now unpacking. And I have lectures tomorrow - a third year Politics subject - Politics & Religion! How timely.
Now unpacking. And I have lectures tomorrow - a third year Politics subject - Politics & Religion! How timely.
Tuesday, 28 February 2017
Singapore
We arrived safely in Singapore. Our flight was delayed in Doha, and we were kept waiting when we had boarded. Waiting so long that they had to disarm the doors.
We have just had dinner, which our bodies think is lunch. We will catch up with family tomorrow (Wednesday) and then fly home Thursday.
And I am using the editing function of Blogger once again. Will fix up the blog over the next couple of weeks.
We have just had dinner, which our bodies think is lunch. We will catch up with family tomorrow (Wednesday) and then fly home Thursday.
And I am using the editing function of Blogger once again. Will fix up the blog over the next couple of weeks.
You know you are in Iran when
You know you are in Iran when
Strangers in the street say "Welcome to Iran"
Men's toilets have no urinals but cubicles just like women's
You are not allowed to photograph government buildings
Everything is first discovered or invented here
Four traffic lanes can take six lanes of cars
The choices in the restaurant menu are either lamb or lamb.
You are treated better than the Americans and British in your visa application
Women have the front seats in public buses.
Cars are allowed to go through red lights
The chinese restaurant is called The Chinese Restaurant
The Shiites are good guys and the Sunnis are bad guys
Muslims are allowed to have shrines
Door knockers are not gender neutral.
You have been in Iran too long when
You know the difference between the Achemenids and the Safavids and the Qajars.
You can cross the road without being shielded by the locals
Your headscarf doesn't fall off and showing hair is sexy
You like having barley soup for lunch, breakfast and dinner.
You get drunk on the local beer (zero alcohol)
Gender specific door knockers, so you can tell who is at the door. Can you tell which is which?
Gender specific door knockers, so you can tell who is at the door. Can you tell which is which?
Onboard flight leaving Tehran; Last outing in Tehran
K minus scarf, smiling showing bare arms !!
We did go to the Grand Bazaar, but it was so crowded that we abandoned any shopping plans. After talking to a local man who wanted to talk to us, we resorted to Plan B. This was to turn to the right from our hotel and look for the shops we had seen from our bus. On the way we had "Cup Corn" for lunch, and an ice-cream as well as a conversation with the owner. He has two children, both living overseas (one in England) for the past 40 years. The daughter left "because of the scarf" - meaning the new regime.
We walked on and had to cross the road, this time without Amin who used to get us across the pedestrian crossings. The first time I just followed a lady and weaved in and out of the cars with her. (Thanks to Deryn for teaching us this technique in China many eclipses ago!). The second time we asked a woman if we could cross with her, and she willingly got us across. It was much appreciated. Another young lady also wanted to help Kin Mun!
It was a much more successful shopping expedition. We also found a craft shop and I managed to get some of the ceramic ware I had been eyeing.
At the airport, I went to the shop with my remaining 50,000 rials and was told that I could get 2 packets of nuts as well as a bottle of water. So that was the end of our Iranian money!
We did go to the Grand Bazaar, but it was so crowded that we abandoned any shopping plans. After talking to a local man who wanted to talk to us, we resorted to Plan B. This was to turn to the right from our hotel and look for the shops we had seen from our bus. On the way we had "Cup Corn" for lunch, and an ice-cream as well as a conversation with the owner. He has two children, both living overseas (one in England) for the past 40 years. The daughter left "because of the scarf" - meaning the new regime.
We walked on and had to cross the road, this time without Amin who used to get us across the pedestrian crossings. The first time I just followed a lady and weaved in and out of the cars with her. (Thanks to Deryn for teaching us this technique in China many eclipses ago!). The second time we asked a woman if we could cross with her, and she willingly got us across. It was much appreciated. Another young lady also wanted to help Kin Mun!
It was a much more successful shopping expedition. We also found a craft shop and I managed to get some of the ceramic ware I had been eyeing.
At the airport, I went to the shop with my remaining 50,000 rials and was told that I could get 2 packets of nuts as well as a bottle of water. So that was the end of our Iranian money!
Monday, 27 February 2017
Last day in Tehran - and Iran
The tour has finished and we have a day on our own in Tehran. We will head off to the Grand Bazaar for last minute shopping. We leave for the airport at 5pm. Then it will be headscarves off and after Doha, a glass of wine!
Last night we said our goodbyes to the tour group after dinner at a chinese restaurant. This was obviously owned and run by locals, there were no chinese people anywhere on the staff. There were some among the patrons though.
Not sure when the next post will be - perhaps Singapore. Hard to believe the climatic change we will experience. From Tehran's current 8degrees at 1,200m and 30% humidity to Singapore at sea level, 31degrees and 70+% humidity!
Last touring day in Iran
On our last touring day in Iran, we visited three museums. I could easily post photos of the exhibits ranging from pre-Islamic period of Archaemenids to the Islamic Republic of today to fill up our entire blog, but I won't.
Instead, the highlight of today for me was a chance glimpse of the tallest mountain in Iran, Mt Damavand at more than 4000. It was just visible in the haze and to justify a post I will need editing tools which which I will have only when I get back to Sydney.
Tehran is blessed with a view of the mountains that is snow capped throughout the year. Here's an example.
Sunday, 26 February 2017
Tehran
Our first day of touring in Tehran.
We went to the Golestan Palace, built by the Qajars, the dynasty just before the Pahlavis - the last Shah was a Pahlavi. This is one section where we could take photos. Apparently mirrors were transported from Venice, but many were broken, so the art of mosaic using small pieces of mirror was born - or so the story goes. It seems to me that they liked it so much that they kept on smashing mirrors anyway. Some rooms were absolutely covered in these pieces and I imagine you could light a huge room with a tiny bulb.
Thanks to Google, this is an image of what we could not photograph.
We also saw the National Jewels of Iran. Security was huge, 3 lots of scanning. No pics. Thanks to Google, this is the crown made in 1967 by Van Cleef and Arpels from various jewels that they lying around in the Treasury. It was made for the coronation of the last Shah's wife.
And also thanks to Google, here is the Shah's...
And there were lots, lots more. Some of them beautiful, others just staggering. I remember looking at a lovely white fringe, then seeing it was made of the tiniest of pearls strung together. No wonder these jewels are part of Iran's reserves.
This is a pic of Kin Mun at the Azadi Tower. You will recognise it when you see it. The last Shah built it in 1971 and it was on the route to the old airport. The present airport is in the other direction, and you no longer see this tower, but you do pass the shrine of Khomeni.
Today was much milder than any other day - max I think about 15 I think - which made things much easier.
Our last tour day is tomorrow (Sunday) and dinner will be at a chinese restaurant, I think the organisers are aware that the food is repetitive. We are so lucky in Australia and Singapore at the variety of cuisines we can get. Not that the food here is awful - it isn't - but there is so little variety. Not to mention a glass of wine. I say I don't miss it, but then it does come to mind when we sit down to dinner!
We went to the Golestan Palace, built by the Qajars, the dynasty just before the Pahlavis - the last Shah was a Pahlavi. This is one section where we could take photos. Apparently mirrors were transported from Venice, but many were broken, so the art of mosaic using small pieces of mirror was born - or so the story goes. It seems to me that they liked it so much that they kept on smashing mirrors anyway. Some rooms were absolutely covered in these pieces and I imagine you could light a huge room with a tiny bulb.
Thanks to Google, this is an image of what we could not photograph.
We also saw the National Jewels of Iran. Security was huge, 3 lots of scanning. No pics. Thanks to Google, this is the crown made in 1967 by Van Cleef and Arpels from various jewels that they lying around in the Treasury. It was made for the coronation of the last Shah's wife.
And also thanks to Google, here is the Shah's...
And there were lots, lots more. Some of them beautiful, others just staggering. I remember looking at a lovely white fringe, then seeing it was made of the tiniest of pearls strung together. No wonder these jewels are part of Iran's reserves.
This is a pic of Kin Mun at the Azadi Tower. You will recognise it when you see it. The last Shah built it in 1971 and it was on the route to the old airport. The present airport is in the other direction, and you no longer see this tower, but you do pass the shrine of Khomeni.
Today was much milder than any other day - max I think about 15 I think - which made things much easier.
Our last tour day is tomorrow (Sunday) and dinner will be at a chinese restaurant, I think the organisers are aware that the food is repetitive. We are so lucky in Australia and Singapore at the variety of cuisines we can get. Not that the food here is awful - it isn't - but there is so little variety. Not to mention a glass of wine. I say I don't miss it, but then it does come to mind when we sit down to dinner!
Saturday, 25 February 2017
Odds and ends
We were not offered a sniff of the camel hump. Enough there to satisfy the average Chinese tourists.
At lunch today we were told that a party of 200 was turning up at the same restaurant at Kashan, and so we had to start on ours earlier. We found out when the crowd turned up that it was a funeral lunch, all women dressed in deeper shades of black than ever, and men too were in black. The two genders were separated at the lunch table, men on one side and women on the other.
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