Tag Archives: Iran ๐ฎ๐ท
scared
I woke up with a knot in my stomach. It was fear. Many months ago, when I was walking through Mashhad, two men saying they were police (and showing me ID) had demanded to see my papers and my money, and they had stolen a hundred dollars from me. I had made a blog post […]
hospitality and a cow
The rain had been so strong I had woken up in the middle of the night because of the hammering noise that it made on the roof. But when I got up in the morning, the rain was gone, and so were the clouds, and it was almost as if nothing had ever happened: I […]
they build their castles
When I left Talesh, I was looking at a distance of about 30 or 35 kilometers with no place to sleep. That meant the possibility of having to camp. But I was in a better mood than the day before. The highway was hugging the hills, and the hills were rolling: I sat in the […]
The Grumpiest Way
It was going to be a short, easy day. But when I woke up, I felt grumpy. I had no idea why I was that way. Maybe I was just tired. Maybe it had to do with hormones or something. The only thing I did know was that I did not want to talk to […]
enchanted
This morning my friend Hooman took me to a waterfall: But first, we had to cross this bridge: The waterfall was enchanting: It was the kind of place that makes you want to take off your clothes and swim (and possibly drink a Mojito). Of course none of this was possible. But it was awesome […]
the Audrey Hepburn among roads
I had spent the night in a nice little hotel on the roadside, and in the morning I took some photos with the owner: There are many pictures like this – many pictures, and an infinite more pictures that live only in memory. Then I was back on the asphalt again: The Caspian Sea was […]
a church in Iran
Sunday morning. I woke up in a hotel that was located in an old Russian building, high ceilings, big doors and all: It was a bit run down, but I loved it: And I wished I could have stayed longer. Instead, I went back to the Armenian church. It was behind two doors and an […]
sleep off the heat
Naturally and totally in line with her character, the Caboose decided to go kaput this morning, just as we were preparing to leave the eco lodge. And it wasn’t just a minor problem, either: we crossed a tree branch, there was a thumping sound, and one of the axles had snapped in half. There was […]
time to
There is a time for everything. A time to sow and a time to reap. A time to stay and a time to leave. I was still waiting out the storm in the wooden house. I had looked at the sunset from the verandah, and I had looked at the night sky from my mosquito […]
wonders of Gilan
People from all over Iran had been telling me about this province where I was right now – Gilan. “The food!” they had said, painting greatness into the air with their hands. “The nature!” And sometimes, with a sly smile: “The women!” And yes, Gilan seemed like a good place. I slept under a mosquito […]
a house to cry over
If you look at the map, you will see that I had been walking in the wrong direction for the last two days. I should have walked to the northwest, but instead I had opted for a northeastern route. The reason was this: I had seen this eco lodge called Lotka on the map, and, […]
Mehdi did not wait
I had breakfast in a little place: Omelet. Bread. Tea. Then I continued walking down the path through the fields: Everything was quiet. There were not that many people around and not that many buildings, either. Some of the houses that I saw looked like their owners were preparing to shoot arrows from the roofs: […]
world, please
Much to my own surprise, I decided to leave Rasht this morning. After just one day. I had wanted to stay a bit and explore the city, but then my plans had changed, and so I got out the Caboose from her shelter, loaded her up, and left. After all, I could always come back […]
Iran’s fastest immigration police?
My visa (the one that I had gotten in Armenia one month before) was about to run out. So I needed to extend it, just like I had done when I was in Bojnurd three months earlier. So I put on my plastic bathing slippers (the ones that I had bought in Turkmenistan almost a […]
Rasht
Money was scarce in Iran. The value of the Rial was plummeting, and people were worried about the future. And still, this friendly hotel manager had insisted on buying me dinner the night before: Persian hospitality. I left Kuchesfahan under a thick cover of clouds: These little dudes caught up with me as I was […]
an American dog and a faceless man
As much as I enjoyed being there, I still had to leave Lahijan at some point. So I did. I walked out of Lahijan on a Friday morning, which meant that it was the weekend here in Iran, which in turn meant that most shops were closed and the streets were empty. I turned onto […]
higher than the House of God
I was still taking my daily selfies. Sometimes I would take them with people whom I liked, or with an interesting building or a landscape in the background. But then sometimes I didn’t know at all what to photograph myself with. Today I looked around in my room, and there was this clock. It had […]
hipster problems
The pink Macbook that I was using to sort my photos, to edit my videos, and to write this blog – it had stopped working. I mean, theoretically it did still work, it just had no power. The charging adaptor was kaput. I had tried to MacGuyver the thing for a while, but to no […]
colossal rains
For once, the weather app was of the same opinion as the people around me. It said that there was going to be rain, and the people said the same. Only there was no one who could say specifically how much rain there was going to be. I was surprised when it started coming down: […]
worship or relax
The hotel had a breakfast option where you could choose two nutella pancakes stacked on top of each other: I decided to make this my daily routine. A blister on my right foot had gotten inflamed (probably because of my water antics two days earlier), so I treated it with iodine and hung out in […]