Uzbekistan I, Burkhara

From the border of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, I took a taxi to Burkhara. I was informed of my arrival at the bazaar of Burkhara with the word "Burkhara!" and an appropriate gesture. At that time I had much bigger problems. The question that I asked myself was, if my head would explode or if I would melt as a whole first. I decided to reduce my future vodka consumption and got into a taxi using the simple statement "Hotel" to explain my destination. After a short ride and a small price negotiation, I found myself in a modern hotel room with a soft bed, air conditioning and satellite television. My chances of survival were increased substantially.
In the following days I enjoyed a successful mix of the atmosphere of historic Burkhara combined with an air-conditioned hotel room and satellite television.
Burkhara corresponds roughly to what I had imagined a major city on the Silk Road would look like. With this backdrop, of course, a certain amount of international tourism goes hand in hand. Everything was somewhat easier because I could communicate with people again.
At the end of this post a little side note on Uzbekistan. The largest bill in this country is SUM 1000, equivalent to about 0.45 dollars. The consequence is that one has huge wad of cash in the pockets.

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan is not interested in tourists. A tourist visa is only available with a tour and a state Travel Guide. That's why I visited this country with a five-day transit visas that allowed me to stay along the main thoroughfares between the border crossings mentioned in my visa. In those five days I was in the cities of Ashgabat, Mary and Turkmenabat.
The capital of Turkmenistan Ashgabat is located a few kilometers from the border with Iran. In this city, the late President Niyasov was born. During his reign he had replaced communism with a sprawling personality cult. He allowed himself to be worshiped as Turkmenbashi.
Ashgabat is formed by two goals. First to sent a modern image of Turkmenistan to the world and to praise Niyasov. I could explain in detail why I felt Asgabat is oppressive and boring, and not as intended by the builders modern and impressive. But I'm trying to restrict myself to a few sentences. Most buildings in the center of Ashgabat are not older than 30 years. Instead of a bold, diverse architecture, they are characterized by an incredible uniformity. Everything is white or marble combined with gold. The only distractions are golden statues of Niyasov. The oppressive impression was produced on the one hand by the incredible number of Ministries. I felt every second building is a ministry, some with adventurous purpose (e.g. the Ministry of fairness). Secondly, the uneasy impression through public land and buildings were struck, whose purpose is to impress people but not to serve them. I had tried to find a public toilet while having stomach issues (Hygiene in food preparation or water) in several parks and had to ultimately use one in a government building.
The impression of a misanthropic, especially tourist-hostile environment in Turkmenistan has shown itself to me in two other situations. Firstly, in the hotel rates, there is an over-priced for foreigners and a modest rate for locals. Attempts to renegotiate failed because the prices are specified by a Ministry in Ashgabat. The second situation was my attempt to leave Ashgabat by train. After an elaborate search for the ticket counter, I found it in an outbuilding of the station, but then it was closed for an hour. When it was re-opened they told me that the next available ticket was for the last evening of my visa. So I left Ashgabat with a shared taxi, whose driver had an insane driving style.
In Mary not much happened. Just the same monotony of overpriced hotels, golden statues of Niyasov and schaschliks.
Until my last evening in Turkmenistan, I found little positive in this country. The only thing that gave me joy was the sight of Sand deserts and camels on the roadside during the taxi rides. I had already closed the chapter Turkmenistan internally and just wanted to find a hotel for a maximum of $ 30. But this was extremely difficult. After the fourth hotel demanded a price far beyond my limit, my taxi driver offered to take me to a private place to stay. Once there, the taxi driver demanded $ 30 for the stay. But the owner insisted that I was her guest.
I was extensively supplied with food and tea. As I didn’t speak much Russian, a young woman was brought from the neighborhood. She spoke German very well, due to an au pair job she had done in Germany and Austria.
In the evening, water and electricity supply stopped to work. Electricity, gas and water are free but not necessarily reliably in Turkmenistan. Dinner was served in candlelight and without air condition. But the bigger problem was that I could no longer avoid drinking vodka.
On the morning of the next day I fought myself out of bed and cursed the person who invented vodka. A hangover at 36 degrees Celsius is really cruel. Nevertheless I managed to reach the border.

Iran VII, Mashhad

After a 12 hour train ride I arrived in Mashhad. The most important thing for me during my last stop in Iran, was to get the Kyrgyz visa. Therefore the first thing I did in Mashhad, was to get me in a taxi to the Kyrgyz Embassy.
I am generally skeptical, if taxi drivers speak English, and in this case it was entirely justified. The attempt to rip me off was so funny me that I should publish it here. Rather than demand the price indicated on the meter, the taxi driver wanted the Fivefold (for each place in the taxi, including his), plus a supplement for my luggage. After I having a good laugh, I could get my Kyrgyz visa within two hours.
In Mashhad, I stayed with Reza. Reza have not had much time, but knew how to make me feel at home away from home.
The next day I went with Roja, a friend of Reza, her cousin from Australia, her brother Taymaz and a friend of her brother to Neishabur. In Neishabur the grave of one of the most important Persian philosophers is situated. Unfortunately I could not find a connection to this place, because of my not existing knowledge about this part of the Persian culture. The subsequent evening, however, was very interesting, but unfortunately too short, because I wanted to leave for Turkmenistan on the next morning.
I was a little sleepy but otherwise it was quite easy to cross the border into Turkmenistan, the North Korea of Central Asia.

landscape close to Neishabur

Iran VI, Tehran II

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).

Iran V, Shiraz and Yazd

Shiraz
Shiraz is known in Iran for the laziness of its inhabitants, however it is known internationally because of the many historical sites in the city and in close proximity to it (including Persepolis). My visit to Shiraz went over two nights but no more than one and a half days (long bus rides).
In my short time I've seen some historical sites but also the new Shiraz. Nightlife in Shiraz means to drive in a car down a well-known street and trying to impress the women to an extent that they want to climb in. Shiraz is, as already described, rich in historical sites and I visited mosques, gardens, palaces, shrines, etc. However, I dared to visit Shiraz and not to go to Persepolis. While the reaction of an Iranian girlfriend has been very negative, I see it more as a reason to come back in the coming years.

Yazd
After another long bus ride from most southern place of my travel, so far, Shiraz, I arrived in Yazd. The place has not only one, as I think was very ingenious name, it is also in a surreal landscape from a Central European point of view. Yazd is situated in a desert. When I asked when it had rained the last time, I got two months ago as a response. Moreover, it would not rain again until three or four months. The seasons are therefore different from those in Germany. Instead of spring, summer, autumn and winter there are winter, summer and the sand storm season. I was glad that I was in there in sand storm season (35 + degrees Celsius) and not in summer (40 + degrees Celsius).
Navid and his wife were excellent hosts to me and a recently retired couple from New Zealand. The couple had a rich repertoire of stories from almost 50 years of traveling.
In the evening we (all the above-mentioned persons) went into town to eat. After eating Navid managed to move his car through the narrow old streets, to show us a beautifully restored old house. The distinctive feature of many old houses in Yazd is the existence of a wind tower. Wind towers use the thermals and typical winds in Yazd to create a pleasant breeze and a good temperature in one room of the house. They don’t need external power supply.
On the next day Nooshin, a friend of Masoud (my host in Tehran), was willing to show me the city. Since I had only limited interest in long walks at 38 degrees Celsius, I've seen most sights of Yazd only from a safe distance. The Tower of Silence, an old tower on which the corpses were laid out traditionally, was the only tourist spot of Yazd, which I saw on that day. After that we drove to the nearby town of Taft. En route we stopped in a small town where I have a visited a Zoroastrian (traditional Persian religion) the temple. The City of Taft is known for its gardens. We spent some time in the garden of the father of Mohammad, a friend of Nooshin. The garden was a pure orchard; in a few minutes I was able to fill my vitamin depots for the coming 20 years. After a brief discussion among the locals, the proposal for the afternoon to go to a nearby village was appreciated by me. A little later we drove through a spectacular landscape in the direction of the village, whose name I have unfortunately forgotten. In the weekend home of Mohammad's parents, we spent the afternoon. Later that evening we went back to Yazd. I had not seen, the outstanding tourist attractions, but spent a good time with nice people. In the night I took a bus to Tehran.

Iran IV, Kashan and Esfahan

Kashan
On the way back from the three-day trip to the north, I did not get out in Tehran, but moved on further to the south to the city of Kashan.
After a few hours of sleep Alireza put me in a taxi heading to Fin Garden. A green spot in the yellow-brown landscape of Kashan.
Around noon Alireza's roommate Salman and a friend of his showed me the city. Salman's friend studied for seven months in Vienna and spoke some German. I couldn't claim to do the same, on my first try to speak German I failed miserably. After a while I got used to speak German again. I spent the evening with my host Reza, Lukas, an Austrian that I had already met in Tehran and Mohammad, Lukas' hosts.
At the end of the day I had no more Iranian Rial and unfortunately in Iran international credit cards are useless. So I went to change money in a bank on the next morning.

Esfahan
The first time I heard something about Esfahan during this trip, had been more than 1.5 months earlier in Venice. A number of old carpets from Esfahan symbolized the importance of my journey as a trade route path from a historical perspective.
My visit to Esfahan was mainly influenced by friends and a little by the grand historical background of the city. I arrived in Esfahan on the afternoon and received a warm welcome from my CouchSurfing host Mohammad. Mohammad is like so many Iranians extremely hospitable and helpful. He has an entire floor of his house dedicated to the CouchSurfing project and tries to have dinner together with his wife and guests.
The first day was relatively boring. I've done a number of organizational matters and contacted Amin, a friend of mine from the trip to north Iran.
On the morning of the second day Mohammad offered to show me some parts of the city. I accepted the offer and saw most important monuments of the city before it got too hot.
When the the midday heat started, I met Amin and said goodbye to Mohammad. Amin showed me two more bridges, which were quite useless because of the lack of river at that time. Then our group successively increased. First Azar, a friend (northern Iran trip) and her sister, then a friend of Amin joined us. Unfortunately, we were five minutes too late to visit the Armenian church, but in time for great cake. Then we took a funicular railway to the mountains in the immediate vicinity of Esfahan. This cable car is, interestingly, the hotspot of the local dating scene. Later we sat together until two clock.
The next day I wanted to go to Shiraz at around lunchtime. Before I did this, Azar and her sister showed me the Armenian Church. My last hours in Esfahan were crowned by a delicious meal from Azar's mother.

Iran III, Northtrip (Masal, Mosule)

At midnight I was waiting at Tehran's Azadi Square, some strangers would pick me up there for a trip with many uncertainties. I had only two cell phone numbers and knew it would be a 3-day trip to the north of Iran.
The minibus arrived delayed slightly from Kashan and there were problems to meet at the huge Azadi Square. After we overcame that problems, I was introduced to my fellow passengers around one in the morning. Shortly after the well-stuffed minivan had set in motion a CD with Iranian dance music was played. The bass sound of music was supported by clapping and so began a bus tour, which I will not soon forget. The minibus was an island of pure joy for the next few hours and thus was a counterpart to the restrictive public life in Iran. Scarfs were set aside and wild dancing started. After a while I could put my typical German skeptisism against the wild, not alcohol-induced party aside and was part of the celebrating crowd.
When we arrived in Masal, the mood was down somewhat after about 10 hours (for many 13 hours) bus ride and several shopping stops, and no more than an hour of sleep. But when the bus slowly went up from the valley in the direction of our quarters, on the mountainside, you could see smiles on the faces getting bigger with every meter height we climped. The densely forested slopes and vast alpine meadows provide a stark contrast to the barren landscape of central and southern Iran. For many of my fellow travelers, this has been a new and exciting landscape. Even I could not escape the fascination for the ubiquitous green.
On the evening kebabs were grilled and eaten together. Until well into the night we talked, sang and played games.
The next day we went hiking. In bright sunshine, I went with shorts and a T-shirt. On the second climb I was in the first group, however not for long, since the majority of our group passed us on the back of a pickup. Now it was up to us to find a ride, we managed to do it in a short time. But we went past the rest of our group without seeing them. After about an hour trying to contact the others, we left our refuge and turned around. The weather had changed to dense clouds, which brought cold and wet weather. A ten minutes drive later we met the rest of our group. The picnic was scheduled to take place then. While others prepared a picnic or relaxed, I relied on my instincts. In a rush of testesteron I started a fire against the cold.
On this evening, some of our group met me a group of men in their 50s and 60s. They assured me that not only young people reject their government. The atmosphere was nice, probably due to the fact that the eight men almost drank two bottles of Smirnoff vodka. The remains were generously given to us.
On the third day we went back to Tehran and Kashan. But not without first visiting a few places. In addition to places famous for their biscuits and olives, we went to the village of Masule. It is situated on a steep mountainslope. The roofs of low-lying houses are the court for the next higher houses. In addition, there was the iriee silence of a beautiful car-free resort. After lunch in Masule, another bus ride party was started. This was the end of these magnificent three days.
I started out with a little information on a journey into the unknown, and turned back three days later with many great adventures and new friends.

Busride

Mosule