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Iranian
Event by Ken Gambier It all started a long time ago when we first read that there would be an eclipse of the sun visible in Britain. "We must see it," we said. But as the time drew nearer and we heard the dire predictions of cloudy skies, clogged roads and shortage of accommodation. We decided to go abroad and combine the spectacular event with a holiday in a county where sunshine was much more likely. We considered Romania, Turkey and Iran and looked at what was on offer in these countries. An Explore tour to Iran won the day. They do not normally run the tour in July or August as the weather is considered to be too hot, but decided that the eclipse was too good to miss. 30 people booked for the tour within a few days of its being advertised, and in fact two tours were run in parallel. It was certainly hot. I looked at the CNN page on the internet just before we flew to Tehran; and the four-day forecast was for around 40C. What is more, my wife and all the women on the tour had to wear a Muslim manteau to disguise their shapes, and a scarf to cover their hair. My wife found the manteau not as hot as she feared. as it was loose and kept the sun off while letting air circulate. The scarf, however, was very hot and she could not wait to take it off in the hotel room and (as often as possible) in the tour bus when not in a populated area. The dress had the advantage of blending the ladies into the general scene and not drawing attention to the fact they were foreigners. The disadvantage was that if I turned my back for a few seconds I could not find my wife in the crowd! She carried a National Trust bag to help with this problem. The 30 people on the tour were a mixed bunch ranging from early 20s to a man of 81. Many were single travellers and all were experienced. After all, Iran in August is not likely to be one's first choice for travelling abroad. All were very keen to observe the eclipse and some had elaborate photographic equipment to record the event. For some reason best known to Explore - it was probably cheaper - we flew to Tehran via Dubai, which took about four hours longer than a direct flight. The next day we flew to Shiraz to start the tour proper. The coach we travelled in was normally used to carry German guest-workers between Tehran, Istanbul and Munich. It was underpowered and struggled up hills with its 34 passengers (including tour leader and three Iranians and their luggage, which increased after each visit to a bazaar. It was equipped with air conditioning but this had its work cut out coping with 40C in the afternoons. There were police posts every 100km or so on the road, where the driver would have to get out to show his papers. On one occasion, having been approved at several earlier police posts. He was told he had too many headlamps and was instructed to remove some. In Shiraz we looked round the old town then went to visit Persepotis. This must have been a truly splendid palace before it was overrun then destroyed in the 3rd century BC by Alexander the Great (or not-so-great as somebody commented) Magnificent reliefs on the walls of staircases to the central hall were protected by sand for millennia until excavated this century. They give a wonderful insight into life in the 5th century BC. Tall columns still standing are evidence of the lofty rooms in which King Darius I held court during his reign. Next we drove through the mountains towards Kerman, but stopped on the way to observe the eclipse. We halted just off the main road at a spot calculated to be in the centre line of totality. We had special CE-marked viewing glasses but used them sparingly following the warnings issued by the Government in the days before the eclipse. I had a piece of card with a pinhole and followed the progress of the eclipse with this. The moment of totality was an enthralling experience. It was much lighter than I had been led to believe, though the planets and some brighter stars could be seen. The light from the corona fell on the horizon in every direction. Cameras clicked and flashed everywhere and I took about ten seconds video of the moon covering the sun at 25-times magnification. We had only 1 minute 40 seconds of totality as it was quite late in the afternoon, but at least we had guaranteed clear skies. We stayed the night in Kerman then travelled the next day to Bam. This is a wonderful old city built entirely of mud bricks. The fortress tower rises above the town which was built around it for the protection of the people. The wall surrounding the town is still complete and in good condition after 800 years. Some of the old buildings have been destroyed by farmers breaking them down for fertiliser. the straw in the adobe material being valuable for this purpose. The next day we drove to Yazd, which according to UNESCO is one of the oldest towns in the world. Many of the buildings have wind towers, shaped like wide chimneys; which catch every breeze and direct it down to the rooms below. Most of the houses have two knockers on the front door, one for men and the other for women visitors so that the residents know the gender of the person at the door. The shapes of the knockers are representative of the respective sexual organs. Next day was a long drive to Isfahan, which is fascinating for its old bridges across the river and for its imam Square (reckoned to be second largest in the world after Tiananmen), where Shahs used to watch polo being played. The (ex) Shah's palace, his private mosque and the Friday mosque are all in the square. Each town has a Friday mosque, so called because it is in the oldest part of the town, usually close to the bazaar, and is visited by a majority of the people on their holy day. The square was also a safe haven from cars and one could walk in relative safety looking out only for horse-drawn carriages giving rides to tourists, and ubiquitous motor scooters whose riders assumed they could go anywhere pedestrians could, and could take precedence. On the subject of traffic, car drivers were an absolute menace and gave pedestrians no quarter. There were pedestrian crossings but drivers paid no heed to them and would sound the horn if one dared to walk across the road. While cars would stop at traffic lights, the pedestrian had to watch out for scooters and bicycles which would still expect to take precedence. They often went against the flow of traffic, so one always had to look in both directions several times before daring to cross the road. Scooters and bikes were also ridden at speed on the pavements and through crowded bazaars. After two full days in Isfahan we drove back to Tehran, stopping at the holy city of Qom on the way. There are many places of worship in Qom but all are closed to non-Muslims. We had to be content to take our pictures from outside. There are some splendid mosques in Iran especially at Isfahan. We were generally allowed to take photographs and video wherever we went. Just outside Tehran we stopped at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini, a huge hangar-like construction attached to a mosque. His body is housed in a room with windows protected by grilles. An enormous amount of paper money has accumulated inside the room, donated by the faithful. As some wit commented, with the rate of inflation in Iran, the money must be losing thousands a day in real terms. The rate of inflation really was alarming. At Tehran airport on arrival I exchanged $US at just under 8000 rials (yes, I mean 8000!) On leaving twelve days later I got an exchange rate of 9000 rials. This might not all have been inflation because the first was a Government moneychanger and the second was a bookshop; but some of the rise was undoubtedly inflation based. This made things incredibly inexpensive, and we could have a good meal in a first-class restaurant for £2.50 each. Unfortunately no alcohol is allowed so we had to consume soft drinks with the meal. An excellent full-colour illustrated book on Iran cost 90,000 rials, around £7, about a quarter of the cost in UK. The people
were extremely friendly and would often stop us in the street to practise
their English. We spent over an hour walking with and talking to a young
man who at first hoped to sell us a carpet, but after we had made it quite
clear we were not going to buy, he asked innumerable questions about life
in Britain and told us all about life in Iran. He said he and many other
young people would like to leave Iran, and he hopes to travel abroad when
the opportunity arises. He mentioned the student uprising of July 1999
but we said we could not comment. We exchanged addresses and have already
written to him since returning home. First published in VISA issue 35 (winter 1999) |