Detour to Esfahan

Since we had some time to kill we jumped back on the bikes and headed south for Esfahan.  Waiting for the Uzbek visas in Tehran would have been very boring and eaten up a good chunk of our limited Rials. 

En route we fought against some strong winds and even in the night when we were camping, the wind was so strong it toppled our bikes over.  I got real annoyed with the wind.

As we were closing in on a town called Natanz an old Toyota truck stopped in the distance and a person got out and ran across the road.  Then I notice it is an army guy and he flags us down.  We go over and he asks to see our passports.  I ask to see some ID but he just says ‘police’.  I then see a gun in the back of the truck so that was ID enough for me.  I start to worry as his partner starts jotting our details down and films us.  Then they ask us to open all our bags and want to see all our camera devices.  We comply and they start looking through everything.  They make a few calls to base and then end up waiting for a return call.  As they wait the one guy asks me if I like the USA and Israel.  I keep it short and say they are good, obviously not really wanting to open up.  He then says they are terrorists and they kill children.  As he says this he takes his gun out and pretends to shoot children.  I say I wasn’t aware they did that.  Finally after asking about our religion he gets a call back from the base.  They then temporarily  confiscate all our electronics and say they will look at them in further detail with their computer back at the base and will give everything back to us at this police station located about 15km down the road in Hanjan.  I really didn’t like giving them all our stuff but we didn’t have much choice but to obey their orders.  We were very thankful they didn’t thoroughly check our bags as they missed getting our computers.  Had they found those I think things would have taken a very long time.  Anyway, we cycle to Hanjan and notice we are passing through an army base.  We hear guns and artillery going off as we pass.  There was also ‘no picture’ signs up.  At Hanjan we wait about 20 minutes and they return with all our stuff.  The guy gives everything back to us and also for the trouble gives us a juice box each.  That was very nice of him.  I have been held back by the USA border control more times than I would like and they have never given me a juice box so that was a nice gesture.  I must say, if we were Americans I think we would have been really screwed here.

We continue onward to Natanz and notice there are more ‘no picture’ signs.  Days later we discover that the army base we passed was actually Natanz Nuclear Facility, also recognized as Iran’s central facility for enrichment!  So the route we took to Esfahan probably wasn’t the best one with all these sensitive areas we passed.    

We made it to Esfahan eventually and spent a couple of days there before returning to Tehran by bus.  We are now back on the bikes and making our way towards Mashhad where we will hopefully pick up the Turkmenistan transit visas.  We only have until October 7^th before our Iranian visas expire so time is of the essence!  We can’t afford many more delays.

The holy shrine of Qom.  This was on the last day of Ramadan and plenty of worshippers were out and about around the mosque doing their thing.  Both Trevor and I are kind of glad Ramadan is now over because before we were always paranoid to eat and drink in public.  We tried to get out of sight as best we could but it wasn’t always possible.  Though we did see some locals eat and drink too when it was on, but certainly not a lot.

I had always been on the lookout for pomegranates ever since we entered Iran.  Apparently this delicious fruit originated in Iran way back when.  Or at least I think it did.  They cost about 50 cents each which is quite cheap.  But the one shown here had white seeds inside and it didn’t taste as good as the red seeded ones I was used to.  I tried another one and it too had white seeds.  Maybe that is how they do them here, I don’t know. 

 

Trevor taking it all in at Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Esfahan, the jewel of ancient Persia and quoted as one of the finest cities in the Islamic world. 

Trevor was told by a former colleague of his to try ‘paludeh’ and here he is doing just that.  I had one as well… not bad but nothing spectacular.  Not a huge fan of the rice flour but I did like the rose syrup that it was smothered in. 

Outside the Imam Mosque.  Quite nice.

The exterior of the Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque.  Impressive.  

The interior of the Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque.  Also quite impressive.

On our second day in Esfahan we chilled for a long time in this particular park.  There, we were approached by many people asking about us and our trip.  A few of them offered for us to go back to their place to rest up and eat before we catch the overnight bus.  We politely declined yet again.  A gardener gave us some chai and another nice guy insisted on getting us something so he returned with two ice cream bars.  Another group of guys spoke with us, took pictures and recorded our conversations.  One of the guys asked if we had nose jobs and we said no.  I was confused but apparently nose jobs are a big thing in Iran. 

After some hard bargaining in Esfahan to get the bikes aboard the bus we made it back to Tehran.  We needed to be back in time to pick up the Uzbek visas so cycling back wasn’t an option.  Besides we both don’t like covering ground we had already cycled.  It was a 5 hour bus ride so we got back to Tehran in the middle of the night.  We cruised through the empty streets in the dark and eventually stationed ourselves near our hotel at Imam Khomeini square.  Trevor is catching some shut eye here.  Or at least trying to.

I return to the hotel with dinner after playing real life Frogger outside.  To cross a street in Tehran you have to just get in there and go.  Vehicles won’t stop so you have to keep on walking much like how it is done in Vietnam.

Finally!  The Uzbek visas are in our hands!  Getting these has been very frustrating to say the least.  First, as I alluded to in my previous post, to get to the Uzbek consulate is a bit of a trek.  Roundtrip consisted of a 10km walk and 1 hour sitting on the metro.   Also to beat the lines we got up extra early and thus missed our free breakfast at the hotel.  I never like passing up free food.  Anyway, when we submitted our documents and application the lady told us to return on August 26^th.  So we did just that.  We presented her our passports and she then asks us what dates we want and all seems fine and dandy.  It looks as if we will be off again in no time.  Then all of a sudden she returns and abruptly says with a serious look on her face the visas won’t be ready today as it is the weekend in Uzbekistan.  I am confounded.  Why tell us about a week and a half ago to return on the Sunday if you knew that the visas couldn’t be issued.  I would think one would know the working days of their home country?!?  So basically the whole thing was strange and confusing.  Of course I couldn’t really argue since I didn’t want to risk our chances of getting the visas.  The next day rolls around and again we skip breakfast and make our way to the consulate.  We are seen first but the lady tells us to wait an hour and the visas will be ready.  An hour and 20 minutes later she calls us up shaking her head.  I thought we had been rejected.  She then says they are not ready again as they have to be approved by the Ministry in Uzbekistan and to return tomorrow where they will be positively ready.  I remained calm but once we left the premises I flipped out.  Trevor and I were very annoyed.  Seemed like they were toying with us and our time wasn’t precious.  I really hate it when people just waste my time.  Not like I have an infinite amount of time.  You only get so much time on this Earth and I personally don’t like spending it walking 10km roundtrip and sitting on the metro for an hour only to be asked to do the same again the next day.  Not much we could do yet again but oblige to come back the next day.  So we returned the following morning not knowing what to think.  Will we get them, will we be rejected or will we be asked to return again.  All in all, the whole thing was getting ridiculous in my opinion.  Again, we are there first and the lady asks for our passports and reconfirms the dates we want.  Things were looking up.  About 15 minutes later this guy sitting in the office asks us for $210USD.  Success!  We were approved.  I didn’t want to argue but I thought paying the $105USD each for urgent processing was a bit unfair considering that price is for 1 week processing and we pretty much had to wait 1 and a half weeks.  I think we should have got a discount.  But I didn’t argue it and just paid the money.  In hindsight, I think it would have been best to have come prepared with an LOI instead of the Letter of Recommendation we had because it seems all applications need to go through Tashkent.  Plus we spoke with and heard of other travellers getting their Uzbek visas on the spot with an LOI.  If only I had a clearer understanding of the process beforehand.  Argh.