My bus left Yazd by 9pm. I figured to arrive in Tehran at around 6 to 7. Since my Internet time in Iran was not particularly high, I had at the time I boarded the bus, no place to stay in Tehran. After a couple of SMS to friends in Tehran, I had solved this problem. My bus arrived, however, not at the time I estimated in Tehran, but at 4.15 am. Since it was warm enough and I could not reach my host, I sat on the lawn at Azadi Square, and began to plan for my next countries Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
At around nine o’clock I could get a holt on my host Naeem. A few minutes later I arrived at his apartment and met his twin brother Fahim. After a few hours sleep and a good lunch, I decided to buy a ticket for the night train to Mashhad for the next day. Before I left for the ticket purchase, a call came on the phone of the family. A client of Naeem and Fahim's father (lawyer) was on the other end. It turns out that he had lived for 50 years in Germany and moved back to Iran for the past 18 months, at least temporarily. Since I had the feeling that he was happy to speak German on the phone, I accepted an invitation to dinner for Fahim and me.
After I had bought the ticket, we caught up with the clients of Fahim's father and went off to dinner. Doctor Pahlavan studied medicine in Heidelberg and had a practice over decades in Emsbueren. We talked well and because his daughter lives in Muenster, I could even incorporate a bit of local patriotism.
The next morning I went to pick up my visa for Turkmenistan at the embassy. This took approximately five hours of my lifetime, but ultimately it was done and I had another visa in my passport.
In the evening I went by train for the first time in Iran. The trains are good, they are old cars of the Deutsche Bahn. However, the process to reach the platform is more complicated than in other countries. First you have to get the train ticket acknowledged by tourist police (in the station) and then go to a boarding gate similar to the ones at an airport (many other people want to do exactly the selfsame, so use your elbows).
At around nine o’clock I could get a holt on my host Naeem. A few minutes later I arrived at his apartment and met his twin brother Fahim. After a few hours sleep and a good lunch, I decided to buy a ticket for the night train to Mashhad for the next day. Before I left for the ticket purchase, a call came on the phone of the family. A client of Naeem and Fahim's father (lawyer) was on the other end. It turns out that he had lived for 50 years in Germany and moved back to Iran for the past 18 months, at least temporarily. Since I had the feeling that he was happy to speak German on the phone, I accepted an invitation to dinner for Fahim and me.
After I had bought the ticket, we caught up with the clients of Fahim's father and went off to dinner. Doctor Pahlavan studied medicine in Heidelberg and had a practice over decades in Emsbueren. We talked well and because his daughter lives in Muenster, I could even incorporate a bit of local patriotism.
The next morning I went to pick up my visa for Turkmenistan at the embassy. This took approximately five hours of my lifetime, but ultimately it was done and I had another visa in my passport.
In the evening I went by train for the first time in Iran. The trains are good, they are old cars of the Deutsche Bahn. However, the process to reach the platform is more complicated than in other countries. First you have to get the train ticket acknowledged by tourist police (in the station) and then go to a boarding gate similar to the ones at an airport (many other people want to do exactly the selfsame, so use your elbows).
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