Out and about in Shiraz

Today we met  our group.  One US person had withdrawn because Iran banned US visas, but we have one person from Ireland who booked at the last minute.  So we are 12.

Started with our first mosques today.  The leader said that she would be pointing out the characteristic features of each one that we visit. Persian mosques typically feature an arch at the front, called an "iwan" (or ivan) and more internally.  A mosque can be a "four iwan mosque" or fewer than that.  There are beautiful decorations on the walls.

From the Pink Mosque.  One of the few depictions of a christian church in a mosque. But no bells apparent on the church.

The iwan at the Madrassa. 

 Looking up.  No, it is not a wasps nest, it is a stalactite ceiling or honeycomb ceiling, or muqarnas.

They are beautiful.  If you look closely, you can see painted decorations.  I want one under our front porch.

We visited a shrine of two brothers, a sacred site in Shia Islam.  We had to wear a chador.  A helpful attendant knotted it very securely for me.  At least it wasn't black!

Who is who? It was cold and windy.

As is becoming commonplace, we were approached by a group of girls who wanted to "interview with us".  The tour leader obliged to be interviewed.  Where are you from, how do you like Iran we were asked.  I could hear her asking questions too!

Saw a cat today - guess what kind - the one with long fur!

Tomorrow is a long day - we go to Persepolis - the ancient capital of the Archamedic empire, and see another palace complex on the way home.  At least the rain has stopped but the temperature will be between 4 and 7 degrees.

The streets of Shiraz - and dizi.

After breakfast, we went for a walk to see what the streets of Shiraz are like, and to get some local money. It didn't take long to experience the Iranian friendliness we had been told about.   One man said "Welcome to Syrah" as he went by, others smiled and a vendor selling camel hair goods was very chatty, but unfortunately we could not understand a word! He demonstrated the camel-hair knee pads, presumably for riding camels. Not sure whether they would be of use to my horse-riding relatives!

These are Iranian number plates!

We had been told to get a receipt for any money exchange we made, so we could get a refund if we had rials left over. We asked the money-changer for a receipt - this is it! (Blogger won't rotate it for me).

He tore off a page of paper, put on this stamp and wrote something in squiggles! I think it would be safer to just spend whatever rials we exchange. There are no credit cards in Iran – a result of sanctions no doubt.

Some of the street smells reminded me of Auburn and Greenacre.

The pics are of lunch.  Kin Mun ordered "dizi".  This is how it came.

The waiter explained.

The soup from the brown container is poured into the bowl, the remaining chicken, peas and lentils are mashed up with the silver gadget. Bread is torn into small pieces, put in the bowl, mashed also, and then eaten with the remaining mashed stuff from the brown container.

The finished product.

It tasted like a Parsi Chicken that I have made.  I hadn't realised at the time that the Parsis (in India) originated in Iran!  It also was similar to a procedure we had experienced at Xian, in a Ughur restaurant. Food does not keep to national boundaries.

And the saffron ice-cream is yet to come.

Iran - first impressions

We departed on Qatar Airways from Singapore. There was a long nearly an hour wait for takeoff because of "sector congestion" to the Gulf region. The newish A350 was very uncomfortable seats – hard seat and even harder and bulky head rest, with seemingly less room than the A380 and 777 we were more used to. The entertainment system was very good (hard to use touch screen and control for Tetris) and inflight wifi free (though we did not use). It being a night flight didn't help (no choice), for we hardly slept. Maybe we were too used to SIA, we subconsciously waited for peanuts and drinks on takeoff, and stewards and stewardesses fussing over us. With Qatar, it was a quiet solemn flight with few of them to be seen in the entire 7 hour flight, and hot towels were replaced by cold wet ones.

Landed in wet Doha. Large glitzy airport, (why the Gulf states like Dubai and Doha go for glitz?) we meant we walked and walked to our transfer gate. Only 1 hour to Shiraz, the smaller A320 was much more comfortable even though the flight was bumpy nearly all the way. 

Shiraz airport was small and basic, so we thought we could get through quickly but no such luck. Queued at the short "Foreign Passengers" queue only to be told we needed first to get our visa (which we previously applied for online through our tour operator) from a different counter. There we were quizzed on "insurance" which the clerk quickly accepted without reading when we showed a printout from QBE. We then had to go to another counter to pay, but no one was there. Eventually someone came and took our money (75 euro for me, 145 euro for Kay, had to be paid separately). We then had to go back to the first counter, but the man was kind enough to bring the passports to us, complete with the appropriate visa labels. Personalised service! After that immigration was a breeze.

We wondered what happened to our luggage all this time – not to worry, the other passengers were still waiting for theirs to turn up. We were met by a hotel guide, a nice lady (in head scarf just like Kay by now),  and equally nice driver (with a Peugeot). It was a short trip to our hotel, a journey that reminded me of our arrival at Kochi in India: dark wide main roads with low rise shop buildings, some new road constructions along the way.

Zandiyeh Hotel where we will be staying for 4 nights including the first early morning arrival was impressive like any 5-star hotels anywhere else in the world.  Lots of marble finishing on walls and floors and no life forms are depicted in decorations in accordance with strict Islamic tradition, just geometric patterns, which reminded me of Uzbekistan. Our room was very comfortable but on closer examination, finishing was shoddy in parts, like crooked wall power points and bathroom telephones. Everyone was polite and friendly, that's important. When we found our room stuffy because the airconditioning (only heating) did not provide sufficient ventilation they quickly unlocked the windows for us to led the outside (sub 10 deg) air in to cool.

First breakfast in a strange land is always a challenge. The sausage was a strange meat, and there others that we will need the next few days to work through.

Shiraz

We are safely in Shiraz.  Access to the blog is unreliable (another aspect of Iran's China links?!) so I am doing this by email.

First the grumbles - it was a miserable flight - In the much acclaimed A350, seats are uncomfortable and made me resolve to take only day flights or shell out for business class.  The A320 from Doha to Shiraz was MUCH better.

We sorted out our visas at Shiraz, (very bureaucratic and reminded me of Russia, the only difference being the smiles of the Iranians - none in Russia),  had our luggage XRayed ( a bit late I would have thought) and our hotel transfer was waiting for us.  We got to the hotel at 5am and crashed for a few hours.

Have just sampled the breakfast and not being very hungry, we tasted everything from the two kinds of lentil porridge, halva, dates (lovely), Iranian bread, pomelo. More to try tomorrow including "kookoo" (looks like chocolate cake).   There is a mixture that looks like an Iranian version of "kaya" (coconut Jam) but is orange (pumpkin or carrot based I guess) and tastes very good.  Their sausage is in the same category as the pickled fish when we were in Norway - as Rob said, "don't get between me and pickled fish...."

Iranian friendliness was apparent even before we got to the Shiraz terminal.  One man struck up a conversation with us in the bus between the aircraft and the terminal  - "Where are you from... "  and then we got his story - living in London, just married, wants to bring wife to UK but cannot, thinking of Australia, has friends in Australia etc etc.

More to come - still sorting out how to post pics.

Gardens By the Bay - and DOH.....

Today we (KM, BL and I) went to a dahlia display at gardens by the Bay. It was quite cold in the airconditioned dome.

Now we are at the airport.  Another first for our luggage tags. 

More when opportunity presents.

Tuesday - Singapore

Today was shopping for me and KM went off to have lunch with friends.

Some pics from the day...
We went to Lau Pa Sat for dinner.  When I lived in Singapore, it was a "wet" market - meaning it sold meat.  It was a traditional noisy, hot and smelly market.  Today is has been refurbished and specialises in satay after 7pm weeknights. It has other food too.

But if you lift up your eyes, you can see the changes.

A satay seller.

Seen today.  I asked one of the staff how they pronounced it - and they said it just like they do in Sydney. 

Reservation system at the Raffles City Foodcourt.

I think the iphone is inside the paper bag.  Very trusting - well a little anyway!

KM's contribution to funny pictures

I went to meet up with old schoolmates at Buona Vista. As usual, a  "new" shopping centre that I had not been to before.

Star Vista at Buona Vista

Bigger surprises were some of the food stores with catchy names, which some may consider quite rude!!

Monday - family, food & language

Pics taken today at lunch.

I hadn't planned to make this all about food, but it has turned out that way!
Saw these today.  We thought we had fusion, but here is some more.  Vietnamese food served in a bento box.

And Japanese curry.  The waiter told us that it was like our "grandmother's curry" - ie Keens curry.  With Japanese type displays.

The quirks of English and the dangers of abbreviating "gastronomy".

Singlish is very word-efficient.  Who needs a  fancy advertising agency to come up with a campaign - unless it WAS developed by a fancy advertising agency!

1st day in Singapore - Gov House and bits & pieces.

The Government House in Singapore (The Istana) is open to the public 5 days a year.  The rest of the time you have to make do with a beautifully presented micro-museum just across the road.  Also on display were gifts from various heads of state, including the Queen and the former speaker of the Australian Parliament.  The guide offered to take a photo that made us look as though we were in the real deal.  Not dressed the way we were of course..... But here it is!

Some othes bits and pieces from today:

Which is the best deal?

Black yoghurt!  We were told it was edible charcoal.   It actually tasted quite good.  Waiting to see what colour comes out the other end - black and white too?

This one is for you, Pat!

Kim Chi is pickled cabbage - the latest fad?!

Waiting for this to come to Eastwood!

And mending.  

Cool Singapore

Whoever would have thought that you would come to Singapore to cool down!  But after leaving Sydney in the middle of a heat wave, we flew into balmy, breezy Singapore.  Thanks to Pat & Graham, we caught a fast train from Epping and were in the air-conditioning after that. The plane was full, on time, and we caught up on our sleep.

And for those of us born there, it was nice to look out the window and see a familiar name!

All the family are well.  Had some noodles at the airport and the usual ice-kachang after dinner.  Not one of the better ones, but at $2.20, who can complain.  KM had chendol.