Iran

By the time this edition is published we will have left Iran which is probably just as well!

Well first one has to say what an amazingly friendly and tolerant people the Iranians are. Friendly as we have been helped by all sorts of people to find our hotel, change a tyre, replace an inner tube etc. Everyone is happy to help and it is quite extraodinary the generosity of these people. Tolerent as they have to put up with a load of intolerant moody Mullahs who quite frankly have stiffled this country's development and wasted money on atom bombs and ever bigger Mosques. It is not surprising that the average Iranian wants change - 4 channels of Mullahs dictating on TV all day, No extramarital sex and only your mates to talk to !. If the last election was trouble the next will be dynamite. As we noticed in 2005, girls play lip service to the dress code and we hardly seen a full blown bat since we arrived here.

It is a little sad to note the speed with which Turkey is developing and the complete lack of change here. Outside the cities the villages still consist of mudhuts and ramshackle brick buildings, the roads are like Turkey's were 10 years ago and the only sign of wealth is in the Mosques and a few tall buildings.

However, back to the people, they are clearly warming to the idea of change and we can only hope they get their way this time - not many of the younger generation can see the Mullahs as an improvement on the Shah.

We left Tabriz for the long drive to Tehran, some 680 kms, this was not a very exciting day although we did manage to have another issue with the same rear wheel going flat on us. This time we managed to change it fairly quickly on the side of the motorway but not before an Iranian family had stopped and brought over a bucket of fruit for us to eat whilst we changed the wheel. Can you concieve of that happening in the UK or even in Europe, I think not. Just amazing.

We arrived in Tehran late afternoon to be met with a massive amount of holiday traffic fleeing the city for Ede. We had met up with the Landrover and Porsche, the former having our Iranian guide on board and this made locating the hotel in this huge city very straightforward. I then headed off with the guide to get the inner tube replaced whilst David recce'd the hotel.

The following day we were out earlyish to drive to some dump in the middle of nowhere near the Caspian Sea called Minudasht. The road was hideous, full of holiday traffic going over the mountain pass to the North which rises to 7,000 feet and in sight of several mountains with snow on them. They must be high as the ground temperature at 7,000 feet was 35 degrees. The route was very pretty but laborious and after we got lost in Sari, David and I had had enough of the drive. We did develop a number of new definitions however in regard to Burkas -

A car full of Burkas - Batmobile (Bit obvious I know).
Fruit Bats - Young Iranian girls with lots of boys hanging round them.
Vampire Bats - Older ugly women who look as though they wouyld bite.
Ding Bats - Bats with money.
Bling Bats - Bats dripping with gold.

and finally a definition for a group of Mullahs. (Seen by Chris Grieves in a car called a 'Pride') hence - a Pride of Mullahs.

Yet to find the definition of a Brick Bat ! any thoughts ?

So, as you can see a riveting days driving to arrive in a dump of a hotel where water ran straight through the sinks onto the floor.

Did manage to get hold of a can of beans for the next day but supper was horrid.

We could not leave Minudasht quick enough and neither David nor I had a shower or a shave before departing at 0630 for Mashad and our first rest day. We drove the Northern route, close to the Turkmenistan border and through the Goleston National Park. Many Iranians from Tehran and Mashad come to this high park and camp on the side of the road in huge groups. Not sure why they do not venture off the road but they seem happy anyway. Passing through that early in the morning we see many starnge sights including dozens of tiny tents with huge families in them, trucks with two pairs of feet sticking out off the flatbed and even a few couples entwined on the road in blankjets.

However, the drive is the easiest and fastest we have had in Iran and we arrive in Mashad at lunch time without any stress at all. In fact we stopped in the mountains and brewed up for breakfast consuming our tin of beans along with tea and coffee. By the time we have finished breakfast whilst watching a family denude a tree of Walnuts we have several vilagers and a tractor alongside us watching these strange people in an old Bentley.

We stay at a really good hotel in Mashad called the Homa, it is Friday and the place is heaving with slightly better off Iranians having the Sunday buffet. This is the first decent food we have had in several days and we tuck in to an enormous helping of soup, salad, Beef Stroganof and Creme Caramel. So much so we have to have a siesta after lunch and before we go looking for petrol and somewhere to change oil the next day. Petrol is hard to come by in Iran and every petrol station has a large queue waiting to buy their ration. Diesel is even more difficult as many lorries out here are either petrol of CNG (Compressed Natural Gas). the latter is becoming ever more popular as Iran has plenty of gas. We think the reason that petrol is an issue is that they do not have the refining capacity to produce a surplus of petrol. they also import all lube oil presumably for the same reason. Anyway we have always managed to find petrol and Mashad was no exception.

Our first rest day is most welcome and I plan to carry out a full service of the Bentley that has now gone 4,000 miles since leaving home. David is in charge of sight seeing and disappears off with one of my cameras to document our stop in Mashad. I however, drive off to an small unit where the owner has a pit and lots of oil. He does not speak a word of english but with the help of my 'Point It' book we manage to change the engine oil and find oil to top up the gear box, overdrive, rear axle and shock apsorbers along with a full inspection of the underside of the car. all looks good as far as I can see.

Next it is two doors along to a tyre shop where I am surrounded by local kids who all want to sit in the car and have their photo taken. Many people stop to take photos and I have to juggle taking off wheels with keeping an eye on the car. After many emails Richards bros and I have come to the conclusion that the Dunlop tyres have some rough edges on one side caused by their mold. The solution is to take all the tubes out, remove the tires and sand down the offending rough edges. This is a big job and takes two lads and myself two hours to get them apart, sand, talc and reassemble however I have some confidence that this may solve our ongoing problem with the tubes failing.

A much bigger problem has arisen over the last week in that it is clear we do not have enough tread on the tyres to make Calcutta, in fact I think anywhere south of central China will be a problem. I have therefore instigated the help of Chris Simons and my crew at Ecoflow to come up with a way of getting 4 Tyres to Bishkek in Khyrgystan. We are going to try couriering them there either to the Hyatt hotel GM or the British Embassy. However, successive rallies have shown that consignments usually get lost in customs and rarely does the driver take delivery before he is forced to move on.

However we have to give it a go before executing the fall back plan which is to get one of my mates to fly to Beijing and then Kashgar with 4 more tyres as hold baggage. We should know in about a week if UPS is going to work for us or not. More on this developing saga later.

After the tyre place it is on to a car wash with the help of a 12ish year old Iranian boy riding shotgun. The carwash people are brilliant, not only do they clean the car inside and out vigorously, but the also insist I take tea with them, in fact several, and a Hookie full of orange tobacco, (complete with a hideous health warning on the packet showing what my lungs are likely to look like !) judging by my light head could be wacky backy ! Finally I decline an invitation for lunch with them and after all this they refuse point balnk to be paid fopr the wash which has taken two hours. Just another example of the amazing generosity of these people.

I meet a very well spoken girl (definately a Fruit Bat) who has a BA in English Literature and asks me what my religion is before going on to ask what I thought about Muslims. Ever the diplomat I assured her I loved Muslims and Iran. When she asked why Britain hates Iran I tried to explain that it was more our government hating their government than anything else. Most Britains know nothing of iran or it's people and would be amazed at what a lovely bunch you are. (Cubbon you would have been proud of me !)

Then I met a lady who had been persecuted for the demonstartions last year and she plus husband are being allowed to leave Iran for the USA presumably to get them out of the Mullahs hair. It must be very difficult to be a woman here, you have to see it to believe it.

So, Iran has been fantastic as in 2005 thanks to the generosity and friendliness of the people. We leave tomorrow for Turkmenistan and beyond, once again with fond memories and deep seated concern for the future of the people here.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad