Yesterday

Long day. Broken truck. Damghan city walking tour. Fresh pistachios. Lunch by a desert oasis. A taste of head scarves in the heat. Al's birthday. Spongbob Squarepants undies as a gift. Left Asima and Juan behind. Don't know when we'll see them again.

First full day in Iran, the day before yesterday.

We had pizza for dinner last night, the pizza place was a little overwhelmed by the order of nine pizzas, but they were delicious when they arrived an hour and a half later. Thoroughly seasoned with hunger.

We stayed the night in a hotel that was being renovated. Between us we had the elements of a five star hotel. One room had towels, two rooms had air con, three rooms had sheets and three hot water.

We stopped at a shrine that looked like a cross between a mosque and an RSL club on the outside, on the inside... photos will follow.

We found a place to eat lunch where we wouldn't get into Ramadan trouble and it was a glory of soft Persian fetta, ripe tomatoes and Iranian flat bread. Followed by sweet watermelon and sweeter peaches, deep gold with a red heart.

I should stop talking about food. My stomach is restless and I'm drooling a bit remembeing lunch. It is after 8pm and we are quite a way from our destination. Asima spent most of the afternoon overheating. Then we stopped and it turned out, after much investigation, there was something wrong with the gasket. The boys were fixing it when a helpful man in a tractor pulled up, pulled out  big knife and did some magic to the engine.

And all the while it was super chilly. The clouds poured down over the mountains, we had a bit of rain, I have a jumper on over my tunic and hijab.

And Iran continues to be impossibly romantic with towns that look like illustrations from a history book when you get to the page on the Tigris and Euphrates. As we drove towards the soft pink setting sun, the clouds between the mountains looked like beaten egg whites and the towns looked like scatterings of fairy dust.

Crossing the Tukmen / Iran border two days ago

I put on the hijab in Turkmenistan and immediately felt hot and stabbity. I was cross about everything. The border gaurds were officious and threatening. They whistled at us when we did something wrong and random army guys checked our passports oer and again after they had been officially cleared. I looked over the border at the pale grey uniforms of the Iranian guards and felt irritable.

We walked across the border and, I swear, the temperature dropped ten degrees, making the head scarves comfortable. We met our guide who is enthusiastic and called Mustafa. We were cleared in record time and were allowed to sit on the seats in the waiting area while they thoroughly and efficiently processed us. Asima, the truck was also cleared in record time and there was a a whole lot of jolly going around. Especially as there are so few of us that everyone gets a seat on their own.

The mountains were vast and pale gold and grey and beautiful. They had some sort of conifer thing going on and a purple flowered bush low to the ground.

We just passed through our first town and the women were billowng black sails in the wind and the men were staring at us in astonishment. There were hundreds of little shops selling all manner of things and it was exotic and romantic and I love that in overlanding like this your first chance at a country is not the airport and a big city. I feel like we are in A Room With A View or a 19th century travel memoir.

And now it is pissing down with rain. I am harbouring in my heart the delicious hope that Iran will have unseasonably cold weather over he next two weeks.

First full day in Iran, part one (Shirvan to Damghan)

 

What we had to wear to go into the shrine.

The next four are of inside the shrine.

The lovely lady who gave us the bed sheets to wear.

Scenery (pre-desert).

A cautionary tale.

Driving through Iran from the Turkmenistan border 23rd August

more pictures of me and the progression of the mumu

Dude on a horse in Ashgabat and his six sons and he was important or something.

A giant mosque.

The mumu I bought.

The mumu I didn't buy. (there was only one other and it was the only one long enough for Jess)

Bliss (100% cok)

Berk.

Brunswick.

Muph (muff)

Chocolate.

Altering the mumu.

Eating icecream on the last night of freedom for 15 days.

We got our visas just now and we will be leaving in a few minutes to do battle with the Iranian border. Not looking forward to the heat/head scarf combo.

Dawn at the camp near the gas crater

Two photos of dawn and camp and stuff.

More camels - I think these were at the stinky sulphur crater.

Andreas demonstrating gymnastics on the front of Asima.

My feet (sorry mum). I spent an hour in the bath, soaking and scrubbing, then fifteen minutes in the shower, soaking and scrubbing, and still the towel came away more brown than white. 

4.35 seconds left of the internet.

Because everybody loves a flaming gas crater.

The first two shots are sunrise over the first bush camp in Turkmenistan.

A shot of me. It is about five minutes after I woke up. I tried to smile, but my lips were so dry this was the best I could manage.

The price of diesel in Turkmenistan. It is 2.84 manat to the dollar at the moment.

Then we have that night camped near the Darwassa Gas crater. That is Jess on a hill.

Me on a hill (see, many photos of me, mum). In this one I have had more water and am able to smile.

Darwassa Gas crater. Most people thought it looked like the gates to hell... maybe I have been reading the Aeneid too much, but it reminded me more of Terminator. But then, lots of things remind me of Terminator. The final one is of me standing by the crater. I nearly didn't go, because just before the car came back to get us (we were the third and final shift) I got back on Asima to set up my bed and kicked the front grate that had been taken off earlier to stop Asima overheating. There were bad swears, then silence, then some crying and I nearly didn't go. Fortunately I got the sensible just in time. My feet were filthy and there was blood everywhere and I feared infection and toenails falling off. Thanks to alternating manuka honey and pawpaw ointment, though, everything is healing well.

Arriving in Turkmenistan

Titiz and Barf, toilet cleaners.

More Barf.

The next two photos are part of the market near the fresh produce section. They were very useful when we go lost in another part of the market trying to get back to the produce section. I showed them to some women and they got us back there.

Large potatoes.

Camels.

Sunset.

Checking the dirt. This dirt checking was slightly unsatisfactory because it was far from the truck in poor light. The dirt was good, though.

Khiva part 2?3? I don't remember

Mum complained that she can't remember what I look like, so there will be some photos of me coming.

The first one is of me and one of the carpet making ladies. I showed them my drop spindle and knitting and we talked about silk and wool (with no common language but fibre) and they gave me an illicit gift - that is towards the bottom of the post.

Five more pictures of Khiva. 

A photo of the illicit gift - I have been given instructions on knitting it in to a scarf (same as knitting with silk hankies, if you know about those) and will do so as soon as it gets cool enough that I am not spending my whole time swimming in a sweat bath.

The final one is of the little girl who came up to us at dinner. She wanted to use my laptop, but I taught her to play Angry Birds on the iPod instead. She was mute, which meant we communicated exceptionally well with sign language and facial expressions.