It is the last day in Tehran.
Another invitation from the member of my in-law's family. This time, it was the oldest brother of my father in-law. He does not speak English that much, but his wife and her daughters and grand daughters are very fluent. They have finished degree in some English spoken countries, such as USA, UK or Australia.
They live in blocks of flat near old Tehran International Airport. About 7 years ago, a new international airport was built, so their flat became very quiet (in terms of noise).
The new international airport is a bit too modern for me. I liked the previous international airport as the design is more traditional with Middle-Eastern taste. I shall write about this airport a bit later.
The menu here!
Again! I ate till my tummy almost explode!!!
There were a lot of attractive food shops in there, but we tried not to look at...
One sing I noticed was, there were not a lot of nuts (ajil) shops.
Because of the currency problem, it is not easy to export anything from Iran. Nuts are not exception. Untill the problem occurred the best nuts were bought by Western countries expensively. However, they needs to be sold to Iranian people, as they cannot sell to Western people. So, Nut's sellers started to sell only expensive grade I nuts on the market.
Do Iranian people can afford such expensive nuts?
Of course, Not.
So, people started stop buying nuts all together. It was a quiet resistant of Iranian people towards the government.
It was noticeable if you visit some one's house.
Customarily, there are always small bowls of nuts, dried and fresh fruits prepared for guests.
This time, the bowls of nuts was swapped by pumpkin or watermelon seeds. (They are roasted in shells and eaten like sunflower seeds eaten by Spanish people.)
No pistachios! No almonds!! No cashew nuts!!!
We thanked to the big auntie for all the welcoming. We promised to come over soon again and left.
*************************
What can help us excising was getting back home and packing all the languages.
Next day, we have to take a coach to Isfahan. Instead of giving away presents from UK, we received a lot of presents.. mainly children's toys. It was like puzzles. Kids watches us very closely as they don't want to leave any of their toys behind.
But they are so BULKY!!!
3 suits cases for 4 of us...+ a backpack for children's toy and a big jute bag to take some food for the journey.
I was glad, but had a bit of mixed feeling of carrying the big jute bag.
In the morning, mother and sister in law were getting on tidying up foods in the fridge.
The flat needs to be free from fresh food as no one will be there for at least 4 months.
After making sandwiches for 8 people, my bag became half full.
Then, mum asked me with a big smile...
"Oh, you have a big bag! Can you put these fruits in your bag? ....and these snacks...and a large bag of crisps...and...."
Yes, my bag was large enough to accommodate all the food needs to be consumed on the way, but...
It's soooooooooooo Heavy!
********************
We called two taxis to coach station in the middle of Tehran.
I knew already, but I will never used to the driving manner in Iran. I have to mention this.
Unbelievable Iranian driving skills!!!
I am sure, you would be very quiet and crouching dashboard at the passenger seat of a car...specially taxi!
Anything is fine. You can change the lane anytime. Even you can drive on top of two lanes.
If you are waiting at the roundabout, you will notice 4 cars in line waiting to get into the roundabout...although the road has only 3 lanes.
In Iran, cars drive on right side, so you have to give away to cars from left...However, you sometimes have to deal with a bike coming from right!!! Apparently, bicycles are not vehicles, so they don't need to obey the traffic rules. Really???
However, amazingly, I have never come across to a scene of accidents.
Mostly, drivers use brake a lot (I always worry about the consumption of brake pads). Drivers use horns a lot. They rev a lot, too.
However, it seems to be very peaceful. Nobody is getting angry or harassing other drivers. They seem to think...
"he drives in that way, so why not I drive in that way, too."
So, every body's rule is every body's rule.
Oh, another thing I cannot miss to mention. You will see amazing number of passengers in a car.
For example, small cars, such as Peugeot 209, are very popular.
The small car can accommodate 9 people (including a driver and 4 children).Of course, all the passengers have to ware seat belts by law. I don't imagine how the belt arrangement goes...
Well, I have seen a driver driving a car on a highway with a baby on his arm. It made me really worried, though...
************************
So you can see the reason of calling 2 taxis this time. it was not because of the number of passenger. It was because of the number of suits cases. We had 6 suits cases and 3 large bags in total. I ended up by sitting next to very dusty suits cases and 2 bags.
Although we did not know where to get off in the coach station, the kind taxi driver drove around till he found the coach we get in. What a nice guy!!!
***********************
After driving out Tehran, you could see no ending horizon. The speed limit is 110km/h. It might be the same 6 hours journey between Tokyo-Osaka, but the distance to Isfahan is much longer (as speed limit in Japan is 80 km/h).
On the map, you only moved two prefectures away. You can guess how large Iranian land is.
This is the view from the coach almost all the time.
Now, you might think why we use coach rather than air plain. Although it's very tiring journey for 80 years old in-laws and two young children.
In fact, we used to fly from Tehran to Isfahan years ago.
But, we found out a bit of worrying fact about using air plain recently.
This is also because of the currency matter.
Air line company cannot import new air plains nor parts for nearly 5 years. 5 years... it is quite long for the aviation world.)
Anyway, we can take very luxurious and comfortable journey with a bit less amount of money. We get a large reclining seats with cold drinks and snacks. It's the first class treats!
In the middle of the journey around 2 o'clock, there are people park their cars on the side of high ways and open up picnic. Eating lunch, having tea and taking a nap. They never give up their lifestyle anytime in any circumstance. How impressive!!!
As the journey getting close to the end, rocky mountains appeared. My head started hart so much. When my headache got to the peak, we arrived at Isfahan coach station.
To be continued...
Another invitation from the member of my in-law's family. This time, it was the oldest brother of my father in-law. He does not speak English that much, but his wife and her daughters and grand daughters are very fluent. They have finished degree in some English spoken countries, such as USA, UK or Australia.
They live in blocks of flat near old Tehran International Airport. About 7 years ago, a new international airport was built, so their flat became very quiet (in terms of noise).
The new international airport is a bit too modern for me. I liked the previous international airport as the design is more traditional with Middle-Eastern taste. I shall write about this airport a bit later.
The menu here!
- Split pea stew
- Baked rainbow trout in herb
- Gorme sabji (Herb stew with kidney beans and meat)
- Fresh Salad
- Saffron rice
- Baghari Polo (rice cooked with dill and broadbeans)
- Steamed courgettes
- Vanilla and melon ice cream
- Jelly (blueberry, strawberry and orange)
- Chocolate gâteaux
Again! I ate till my tummy almost explode!!!
To use up some of the calories, we all went for a walk near by shopping centre.
There were a lot of attractive food shops in there, but we tried not to look at...
One sing I noticed was, there were not a lot of nuts (ajil) shops.
Because of the currency problem, it is not easy to export anything from Iran. Nuts are not exception. Untill the problem occurred the best nuts were bought by Western countries expensively. However, they needs to be sold to Iranian people, as they cannot sell to Western people. So, Nut's sellers started to sell only expensive grade I nuts on the market.
Do Iranian people can afford such expensive nuts?
Of course, Not.
So, people started stop buying nuts all together. It was a quiet resistant of Iranian people towards the government.
It was noticeable if you visit some one's house.
Customarily, there are always small bowls of nuts, dried and fresh fruits prepared for guests.
This time, the bowls of nuts was swapped by pumpkin or watermelon seeds. (They are roasted in shells and eaten like sunflower seeds eaten by Spanish people.)
No pistachios! No almonds!! No cashew nuts!!!
We thanked to the big auntie for all the welcoming. We promised to come over soon again and left.
*************************
What can help us excising was getting back home and packing all the languages.
Next day, we have to take a coach to Isfahan. Instead of giving away presents from UK, we received a lot of presents.. mainly children's toys. It was like puzzles. Kids watches us very closely as they don't want to leave any of their toys behind.
But they are so BULKY!!!
3 suits cases for 4 of us...+ a backpack for children's toy and a big jute bag to take some food for the journey.
I was glad, but had a bit of mixed feeling of carrying the big jute bag.
In the morning, mother and sister in law were getting on tidying up foods in the fridge.
The flat needs to be free from fresh food as no one will be there for at least 4 months.
After making sandwiches for 8 people, my bag became half full.
Then, mum asked me with a big smile...
"Oh, you have a big bag! Can you put these fruits in your bag? ....and these snacks...and a large bag of crisps...and...."
Yes, my bag was large enough to accommodate all the food needs to be consumed on the way, but...
It's soooooooooooo Heavy!
********************
We called two taxis to coach station in the middle of Tehran.
I knew already, but I will never used to the driving manner in Iran. I have to mention this.
Unbelievable Iranian driving skills!!!
I am sure, you would be very quiet and crouching dashboard at the passenger seat of a car...specially taxi!
Anything is fine. You can change the lane anytime. Even you can drive on top of two lanes.
If you are waiting at the roundabout, you will notice 4 cars in line waiting to get into the roundabout...although the road has only 3 lanes.
In Iran, cars drive on right side, so you have to give away to cars from left...However, you sometimes have to deal with a bike coming from right!!! Apparently, bicycles are not vehicles, so they don't need to obey the traffic rules. Really???
However, amazingly, I have never come across to a scene of accidents.
Mostly, drivers use brake a lot (I always worry about the consumption of brake pads). Drivers use horns a lot. They rev a lot, too.
However, it seems to be very peaceful. Nobody is getting angry or harassing other drivers. They seem to think...
"he drives in that way, so why not I drive in that way, too."
So, every body's rule is every body's rule.
Oh, another thing I cannot miss to mention. You will see amazing number of passengers in a car.
For example, small cars, such as Peugeot 209, are very popular.
The small car can accommodate 9 people (including a driver and 4 children).Of course, all the passengers have to ware seat belts by law. I don't imagine how the belt arrangement goes...
Well, I have seen a driver driving a car on a highway with a baby on his arm. It made me really worried, though...
************************
So you can see the reason of calling 2 taxis this time. it was not because of the number of passenger. It was because of the number of suits cases. We had 6 suits cases and 3 large bags in total. I ended up by sitting next to very dusty suits cases and 2 bags.
Although we did not know where to get off in the coach station, the kind taxi driver drove around till he found the coach we get in. What a nice guy!!!
***********************
After driving out Tehran, you could see no ending horizon. The speed limit is 110km/h. It might be the same 6 hours journey between Tokyo-Osaka, but the distance to Isfahan is much longer (as speed limit in Japan is 80 km/h).
On the map, you only moved two prefectures away. You can guess how large Iranian land is.
This is the view from the coach almost all the time.
Now, you might think why we use coach rather than air plain. Although it's very tiring journey for 80 years old in-laws and two young children.
In fact, we used to fly from Tehran to Isfahan years ago.
But, we found out a bit of worrying fact about using air plain recently.
This is also because of the currency matter.
Air line company cannot import new air plains nor parts for nearly 5 years. 5 years... it is quite long for the aviation world.)
Anyway, we can take very luxurious and comfortable journey with a bit less amount of money. We get a large reclining seats with cold drinks and snacks. It's the first class treats!
In the middle of the journey around 2 o'clock, there are people park their cars on the side of high ways and open up picnic. Eating lunch, having tea and taking a nap. They never give up their lifestyle anytime in any circumstance. How impressive!!!
As the journey getting close to the end, rocky mountains appeared. My head started hart so much. When my headache got to the peak, we arrived at Isfahan coach station.
To be continued...
