Tales from the Dark Side: Day 10

I was up early today and went to breakfast after putting my bags out early. I took my Persian phrase book, notebook, phone, pen, and hotel keycard with me. After I got my breakfast, I wrote down a few phrases in my notebook and conversed with members of my group. After breakfast, I went back to the room, but there were so many people waiting for the elevator, so I took the stairs to the second floor, which was 2 floors up. I waited forever for an elevator, but eventually, one came.

I got my things, took some photos from the windows, and then left.

I also got some video of the elevators to share the music.

We then checked out of the hotel and we're on our way to the Sialk ruins.

Another replica.

Next, we went to another magnificent historic house.

A friggin' huge wasp/hornet thing.

A group of schoolchildren at the exit.

We had a little time to kill at this point. While we wanted to see the toy and puppet museum, there wasn't enough time for that. We just hung out on the street instead.

Then we went to the Agha Bozorg Mosque in town. We had to cover more of our hair for this mosque, which is also a madrassa.

Then, we walked through the streets to a restaurant. We had to wait for a while, so we had "tea" first. I had grape juice, which was lightly carbonated, which was lovely.

Hot chocolate and my grape juice, and cookies. I saw The Model take one, so I had one too - one of the pink & purple flower cookies.

The pink & purple flowers reminded me of Berry Berry Kix.

After about 45 minutes or so, I walked around a little and saw some cookies. Then I saw our remaining driver, who will now be referred to as 'The Model', take one of the small, yellow cookies as shown in the photo, so I took one too. I had the one that reminded me of cereal. It tasted like that one kind of cookie my mom makes at Christmas time. At this time, lunch was ready. I think I contemplated trying to sit with the guides and driver, but ended up sitting with the group. Our delicious lunch began to be served.

Bread & condiments Salad Rice Patties of a kind Stew Stew Vegetarian Alleged meatballs Jello for dessert

Afterward, The Model introduced me to his new driving partner - the other one went back to Shiraz, allegedly to see his girlfriend. Later, on the bus, one of the member of our group and I were talking about The Model, and she mentioned that he touched me, which I hadn't remembered until that moment, but he had, to get my attention. It wasn't significant to me, but I forget that, in Iran, the sexes don't touch in public - at least, so I thought. Back in the restaurant, it was time to leave and walk to the bus to drive out of Kasham, to Qom.

We were then on the road to Qom. I took some photos of the agriculture from the road.

Then we got to Qom, where we could not have any of our hair showing.

We had to take a separate bus into Qom. The city is building a light rail into town to reduce bus traffic around the mosque.

Then we walked around the mosque in Qom. Not being Muslims, we were not allowed to enter.

Then we left the mosque and stopped at a WC before getting back on the bus to our bus.

Back on our bus, we re-did our scarves and set out on the road to Tehran. It was very pretty, but 45 minutes was as long as I wanted to spend in a place that strict. Of course, I'm sure that sounds surprising, since, to nearly everyone else, Iran, itself, is strict. Well, it is and it isn't - the rules for women for most of the places were very easy to follow and allowed for a lot of variety. I did not mind wearing a headscarf very much at all - though my opinion would change in hotter temperatures. Everyone on the trip, and most of the women in Iran, had their own variations of type of scarf, how it was worn, and what amount of hair they showed. I might even argue that headscarves allow for more freedom of expression than exposed hair, but back to the trip.

The rest of the drive was through the standard desert that is most of the Iranian countryside. We passed the Hoze Soltan Salt Lake and drove along with a train for a while. We noted it as it was the first freight train we had noticed in the country.

Click the image to see a video from driving past the salt lake.

Finally, we approached the dusty, congested metropolis of Tehran, which was also surprisingly green.

This may be the tomb of Kohmeni

Click each image for a link to videos from entering the city.

We had a hell of a time getting to the highway, and had a detour down some side streets. I saw a guy in a door with a yellow Guess shirt, and first, I noted how long it had been since I saw a Guess shirt. Then I noticed his huge arms and wondered if he was a bodybuilder and pointed that out to another on the bus. Then we noticed that he was standing out an Iranian GNC analog and laughed. He was a perfect advertisement for the store. Sadly, I have no photo of him.

We made our way gingerly down the street and The Model was getting out of the bus and helping the driver - the new guy I met at lunch - maneuver the bus through the narrow, one-way streets. We were finally on the highway then and on the way to the hotel.

We finally got to the hotel, which was very nice, but not as grand as the Abbasi Hotel. The room was much nicer, however. We rested in the room and this time, my roommate stayed in and I went to walk to dinner. It was a crowded place where people were smoking houkas. We had a traditional Iranian dish that included sloppy bread. Then we had some ice cream that I didn't really like.

I sat with the drivers and our guide and tried to have some conversations with them. I finally got online and showed them some photos of my family, me as a child, and where I grew up. Later, we got our houka with blueberry tobacco, as requested by one of the drivers. They had little plastic things to put in the pipe to be more hygenic. I had a good time with the drivers and we took selfies. I learned that th new driver was 27 and a Scorpio and the attractive driver was 33.

Shortly after my phone died, we took off for the hotel. The new driver called the previous guy, who is now jokingly called the "son" of the attractive driver based on a previous question of another member of our group. He gave me the phone and I spoke in Spanish, since I knew I wouldn't get a word of what he said in Farsi. I then gave the phone back to the new driver, we approached the bus, and we said khotahafez.

Back in the hotel, I got ready for bed and transcribed my travel checklist onto a new paper, then I prepared three items for laundry and went to bed. We were going out at 9 in the morning.