Home > Notebook > Iran Intro

Iran is like Turkey. Modern, civilised, clean and dirty at the same time. All the signs are in Farsi however (same script as Arabic). Sidewalks are not that high but there is a moat filled with dirty water or rubbish around them. Long time ago they were used for distribution of drinkable water.

It is cheaper here than in Turkey but more expensive than in Thailand. Iranian kebap is way less tasty than the turkish one. All you get is meat grilled without any spices and with no sauce, just with bread that reminds cardboard. The most exciting part of the dish is grilled tomato which you have to salt to taste yourself.

So far, I have been only to Maku. It is not far from border with Turkey. It is typical provincial small town and because it is hemmed in the canyon it is very long. There are two shopping streets in Maku. Full of shoes and clothes that cannot be worn on street in Iran.

During the day I saw only very few women walking around. That changed in the evening when the streets were full of them. Browsing the stores, shopping. And even here, at the end of Iran, quite a lot of women wear they headscarves on the verge of flying away showing considerable amount of hair. Often dyed. Nearly all wear some makeup. And while half of the women walk around in chador (black tent), you can see few wearing tight jeans, figure hugging manteaux (shortened to mid-thight) and sandals with no socks.

UPDATE: Whereas on the bus the seating order is in continues flux so that strange men do not sit next to strange women, at the bus terminal anything goes.