Articles from this Category
20 September 2005
Leaving Mashhad It was a short and interrupted night sleep. I woke at 0515 and showered. Prayers at the mosque were on and it was busy. I settled my bill with the hotel and was pleasantly surprised that it was less than expected, partially because I didn’t take breakfast today. I got to the airport […]
19 September 2005
Above: Imam Reza’s shrine takes up quite an expansive area, as you can see from the two photos stitched up above. I felt shattered today and slept till 0800. I decided to have the day off. I couldn’t handle another day of long bus trips especially if the sights were only so so. I took […]
18 September 2005
With a little bit of Malaysian time in my system, I woke up early at 0630 and was downstairs for a delicious breakfast at 0730. Crunchy cucumber, ripe red tomatoes, thick yoghurt, cheeses, bread, eggs, omelette and boring cornflakes. My plan today was to do a daytrip to Torbat-e Jam. I took a taxi to […]
17 September 2005
Above: View of Imam Reza Shrine by night, from my new hotel room at Razavieh Hotel. About Mashhad The holy city of Mashhad is home to 6 million people, saffron and the Coca Cola factory. Yes, Coca Cola Iran trade embargo notwithstanding. It is in the far east of the country, near the Turkmenistan and Afghanistan border. […]
16 September 2005
Introducing Tehran Tehran isn’t my favourite city because it isn’t the nicest city either with. It’s a concrete jungle with characterless blocks, traffic clogged with old and new Hillman Hunters (called Paykan) and sometimes stifling smog from these old technology vehicles. It has 14 million residents and 12 ski-fields, which is great for people who […]
15 September 2005
Above: Old phone in my room at the Naderi Hotel in Tehran. Leaving Singapore I woke around 0130 and dozed till 0500. My aunt insisted that I have some breakfast so I had a peanut butter sandwich before taxiing to the airport around 0540. The check-in desk for my 0745 flight to Doha was deserted. […]
18 May 2003
Above: Abbasi Hotel courtyard. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons. Shaking Minarets Kim didn’t sleep well due to the traffic noise. We changed room after breakfast to a quieter one. Kim also had a cold, so wasn’t particularly happy. We took a taxi to Chehel Sotoun, a pavilion with forty columns set within a park, but it […]
17 May 2003
Around the Square Kim’s mum, Fiona, rang and woke us up. She had got the time wrong by an hour and rang too early as a result. We decided to look for alternative hotel. We didn’t have to go far, in fact, just across the road to Persia Hotel. We got a room with a […]
16 May 2003
We had breakfast with Daniel and took it easy this morning. We’re flying from Shiraz to Esfahan in the evening and are just absorbing the experience of being in Kerman, having done the must-sees of the area. About 1100 we went for a walk to find the Church of St Simon the Zealot but we […]
15 May 2003
The hotel buffet breakfast was similar to those we’ve had so far on this trip, plus crispy dried cake-bread and biscuits. Last night, we had organised with the hotel receptionist Hussein for a driver to take us to Persepolis. He said he knew a good driver which he had known for 34 years that had […]