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I've never seen so many cranes in one place - it's a real crane forest over there. The latest tallest building, The Palm islands, The World Islands, etc... everything is on sale, to be completed in few years from now. If I was into construction, finding a job would have been a breeze - but I'm not... All that development made me wander about three questions: who are they expecting to move over there, how many of them, and why?
The highlight, the sightseeing highlight (;) of
Having three waiters asking you if 'everything is fine' after every serving - that's: manyServings X 3 = annoying - was the only thing that wasn't up to the standard of the world's only '7 star' hotel. Food was really nice, and the view from the 26th floor was even better (e.g. impressive Palm Jumeirah)... The interior of the hotel doesn't really agree with 'my style' – mainly it seems ‘too busy’. Whereas, I really like the sail inspired exterior.
On my 2nd day in Dubai, I went for a walk-around
Iran - The pretty contradictions
There was lots of talk about visa before my trip. At the end, it was only Emirates Airlines who gave us some trouble... everything else, visa related, was smooth.
This is another country is a place that I really would have liked to travel more.... It's a similar impressions that I had after the India trip... There are just lots of interesting/surprising/insightful things...
The place itself reminds me of both things India and things Europe... guess geographical location of the country would point out at that one. For example, in the capital, Tehran, the crowds and the traffic, and more so the way navigating through traffic - w/o much reference to the rules - is very similarly to what you would find in India. Though majority of cars in that traffic are made by one of the three famous French brands (Renault, Peugeot and Citroen). Moreover, a considerable parentage of those cars are quite newer models. French car makers have their factories in the country, making the cars, relatively speaking, 'more affordable'.
I am not big fan of going to museums during travels - manly due to the time constraints. Though, on this occasion I ended up there. National museum in Tehran is not all that big, but what it lacks on quantity it definitely makes up for it in quality. Impressive amount of things date well into the B.C.s years... some going back all the way to 40-50K B.C. Number of artifacts look as though I have seen them on some TV show.
Persians are pretty people... some ladies are just 'wow'... It was interesting to see your usual trendy hottie (make-up, dyed hair, manicure ...) and then, for the finish, there's a colorful scarf on the top of a head... How high on a head the scarf is, how little hair does it cover, and how colorful it is, - apparently - is a telling sign on how religious she is. People enjoying the luxuries of 'western life style' (think party) is not uncommon, though they only do it in the safety of their own/friends homes.
Esfahan trip was an adventure. We came back to Teheran without the car and without the camera. The car's engine gasket blew 4h into the journey, 50km before arriving to Esfahan. (I was not happy to have guessed the problem straight away, but my 1989 Nissan Bluebird showed the exact same symptoms a while back).
The taxi driver who picked us up after the car got towed away was not the most 'ethical' guy out there. But let's be nice and blame part of the unknown and over-priced taxi fair on the misunderstanding.
And then to top it all off, I dropped the camera during the (different) cab ride to the bus station at the end of the day. - ALL THE PHOTOS, LOST :(
None the less, Esfahan is the place to visit. The city, at the time, was the biggest in the world, and it was a political and cultural center of Iran. The amount of lavishly extravagant (Lonely Planet's vocabulary to describe it) architecture build in the name of the religion and rulers is definitely worth witnessing. E.g. Imam Mosque.
The day-trip to Caspian Sea was - luckily - straight forward. Also, Roza brought her camera along. The weather wasn't the best, and as I didn't have the 'speedos' I did not try to 'read the paper while floating' - the sea has a high salt density.
Driving from place to place, was by and through the 'naked' mountains. On the way south from Tehran the mountains are further apart so it seems as though you travel along side them. In the northern area, you travel trough the mountain gorge to get to the sea.
After all that driving related talk, credit is due to Roza's driver for all the extra driving he did during my stay. Also, the dinner and pistachios - did you know Iran was famous for pistachios? - I thought they come form Italy :)
My flight back in Spora landed at 7:30am. I was in the apartment at 8:45, and in the classroom at 9:15 - what a teacher!:?
What a holiday!
Thanks Roza...!
Ps: wish I had the next travel in sight, but for the 1st time in a while looks as though I'll have to 'lock' my passport.
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