onsdag 17 april 2013

Desert landscape


I spent four days in Tehran and had a great time and met a lot of nice people. I moved into Bagher’s apartment after the first night at Hassan’s place. And on Friday me, Bagher’s wife Solmaz and her siblings Nazanin and Amir went to a big park in the hills overlooking the huge city of Tehran. And getting somewhere in the city takes time since there is a lot of traffic and people are driving like crazy. I never think I could be able to drive in this City. But Amir got us there and back again alive and at night we had a great dinner at Solmaz’s parent’s apartment who lived just across the street. Her mom made amazing food and as it is everywhere in Iran, people always want you to eat more and more and more. So I think I have gained some weight during my first two weeks here in Iran. And I have gotten used to the meal times now when often I have eaten lunch at 5-6 and dinner can be as late as midnight.
My last day in Tehran most of my friends were at work, but Amir wasn’t, so me, he and his friend decided to go for a swim. We drove for a while out of the city to a swimming pool only to find out that it was women’s day to use the pool, so we turned back and found another place that was open for men. We had fun even if none of them spoke much English. At night we had another great meal at Solmaz mother’s house and I said goodbye to all of them.
The next morning Bagher got on his motorcycle and showed me the way out of the city. He followed me for 30 km and showed me the right way to continue towards Mashhad. But even if I had cycled 30 km I wasn’t out of Tehran and the traffic continued to be heavy. But eventually is eased off and I could start to breath fresh air again. After cycling about 100 km a car stopped by the road and some people got out to say hello and to give me chocolate. We talked for a little while and they invited me to stay at their house in Garmsar. It was 30 km away so it would be a long day on the bike for my first day after a few days rest in Tehran. But the weather was good and to begin with I went through a nice valley that was leaning slightly downhill. After leaving Tehran the landscape had changed and everything was very dry as I was entering the desert. When I arrived in Garmsar a called Ali and was told to go to Aradan. I didn’t know where it was so a asked some people for help. And two young guys on a motorcycle showed me which turned out to be more than 10 km from Garmsar. After a while I met up with Ali and he showed me the way to his wife’s parent’s house in Aradan. I tried to explain that I had eaten lunch but they got out some food for me anyway and said Iranians favorite word, eat more! But after cycling for almost 150 km during the day there was no problem eating more. After a little rest me, Ali, his wife Maryam and her brother Danial drove around Aradan to have a look at the sights.

First we stopped and had a look at a parade for the memory of Fatheme witch was very interesting to see. They were hitting big drums hard and people were tapping their hand against their harts to the beat. And men dressed in black walking in the parade where hitting them self in the back with small whips.
After that we stopped by a house in the town where the president of Iran, Achmedinijad had grown up. And they had sighs at the entrance of the town with pictures of the president. Before heading back to the house we visited a very old settlement where houses were carved out of the rock. It was beautiful to see as the sun was going down.
At night some more of their family arrived for dinner since it was holiday in Iran. We had a delicious dinner and played some card games before going to bed. The next day’s cycling wasn’t very exciting. The fact that I was in a desert area become more obvious and there was no villages for a long time on my way towards Semnan. About 30 km from Semnan the dark clouds that I had seen over the mountains started closing in and it started raining a lot. The wind also picked up and for a while hail was hitting hard on my thighs, feeling like someone where poking me with needles. But as I closed in on Semnan it stopped and when I arrived in the city the sun was shining again. I met up with Gazhal from couchsurfing and we went to her very nice apartment where she lived with her husband and their six year old daughter. She was very knowledgeable about the historical places around Semnan and we had a look around the old mosque and the bazar.
After leaving Semnan I knew a had a big hill to get over in the morning. So far in Iran the landscape had been very flat compared to the big hills in Turkey so it had been a while since the last climb. And this one was about 30 km uphill and one of those that didn’t seem to end. After every turn there were more uphill, so it was a relief reaching the top. But at the other side I was greeted by a cold headwind, so instead of gliding town the hill which I had been looking forward to the whole morning I had to keep on pedaling. I reached the city of Damghan in the afternoon and had decided to get a room for the night. The only hotel I found looked really expensive so I asked some people for a cheaper alternative. They came me directions to a place further down the road. When I didn’t find it I asked another guy in a car who didn’t speak any English, so he waved down another car with a very nice man who wanted to help but he also didn’t speak English. But in the third car who stopped was a English teacher and a friend of Manafi in the second car. Manafi had been in Sweden and said that the people there had been so nice to him that he now wanted to help me. I followed him to a house where he had a very nice apartment where he let me stay for the night. And he also went out and came back with a huge bag of fruit, cookies and chocolate suited for maybe two families.
In the evening me, Manafi and the English teacher Hamid went out and had a big delicious dinner at a very nice restaurant. Their plates where normal sized while mine was loaded with meat. I had a great night’s sleep and in the morning Manafi loaded my bag full of bread, fruit, cookies and chocolate. So much that I had problem closing the bag.

I only had a 60 km ride today to Shahrood where I’m staying with a couchsurfer. And tomorrow I’m heading into the desert towards Mashhad where I think I’ll arrive in five days.

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