Iran
Travel Report
Arriving in Tehran
Expedition to Mt Damavand
Train to Kerman and on to Bam
Bandar-e Abbas & Hormoz
Shiraz & Persepolis
Yazd
Esfahan
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Travel Notes
Tehran
Shiraz
Tehran 2
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Alborz Mountains
Bam & Hormoz Island
Shiraz & Persepolis
Yazd
Esfahan
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Map of Iran
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Travel notes from Tehran
Hi Everyone
My flight from Istanbul finally touched down at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran at 01.30. I braced myself for the questioning at immigration and customs but passed through without having to answer a single question. I found the taxi kiosk and paid a fare for downtown, US$3.50. Within half an hour of arriving I was on my way into the city finally arriving at the Guesthouse Mashad in the city centre, just east of Emam Khomeini square, much to my drivers annoyance (no commission for him from a cheap hotel like this). It was 02.30 and the manager was just going to bed. A single room for the night set me back US$3.50.
Tehran can only be described as a mad, crazy city. It is grim, ugly, noisy and polluted; the traffic has to be seen to be believed. I've been to many cities in many countries around the world but nothing quite compares to the sheer madness of this place. At first I couldn't think of a positive thing to say about the place. After a while it did dawn on me that despite the chaos the city did function in it's own peculiar way. I think only the Iranians could manage this. Anywhere else in the world and this city would just grind to a standstill. Leaving the hotel you are hit by a wall of noise as five lanes of traffic thunder past the front door. No one takes much notice of any road rules and only obey traffic lights if a policeman is present. Motorbikes seem to be completely exempt to any laws. They drive along the wrong side of the road, up one-way streets the wrong way (at night as well with no head-lights) and along pavements. To get around the city by foot is a challenge not for the faint hearted as to get anywhere you have to cross the roads. The only way to do it is to have faith in Allah and step into the road and weave through the passing traffic as it swerves around you, while keeping an eye out for any vehicles coming up the wrong side of the road (taxis reversing are a common hazard). Once you make it to the pavement on the other side, check for motorbikes, and then you are safe until the next crossing.
On my first day I took a taxi (reversing along one-way streets and through red traffic lights) to the Mountaineering Federation of Iran to find information on guides for climbing Mt Damavand, the highest mountain in the Middle East at 5671m. The people at the federation were very helpful and put me in contact with a guide who I arranged to meet at their offices in a couple of days to travel to the mountain, about 60km north-east of Tehran. It was lunchtime and the secretary of the Federation took the two Singaporean guys, who had dropped in, and me out for lunch. I was quickly learning that the Iranian people are very hospitable.
I had a day to spend in Tehran before leaving for Damavand and decided to grapple with the public transport system and head across to the far north of the city and the foot of the Alborz Mountains. Mt Tochal, 3962m towers over the city and I decided that this would be an ideal way of acclimatising to the altitude and warming up those leg muscles. There is a cable car, which runs two-thirds of the way up the mountain; today it was not working so I climbed up as far as the top station and didn't reach the summit. The climb took just over three hours from approx 1800m to 3000m. I now felt fit and ready to tackle Damavand. The journey 8km back to the guesthouse in the rush hour took two hours; an average speed of walking pace!
My guide, Hamid was an experienced climber and had reached the summit of Everest during the Islamic Republics expedition in 1998. It took most of the day to escape the chaos of Tehran and travel through the mountains by share taxi to the foot of the mountain. We stopped in Reyneh for a late lunch. I am finding the food in Iran is rather basic and bland. Hamid's lunch was no exception as he proceeded to cut up a couple of kidneys, a liver and a heart to make kebabs in the back of a friend's restaurant. I have never been so happy to see a raw onion, which was all that was served with the grilled offal. By mid afternoon we reached the settlement of Gusfand Sara at 2950m along a dirt track winding up the side of the mountain. All that's here is a mosque and a few peasants herding goats and living in the most basic of stone shelters.
After spending the night sleeping in a local boy's dilapidated tent, we packed our gear and began the climb up the mountain. Damavand towered above us, a classic cone shaped volcano. After the heat of the summer the mountain was barren just dust and rocks and the dried stems of poppies. The weather looked good and the summit was clear, although the wind had began to pick up. It took three hours to reach the shelter at 4150m. I didn't feel any effects of the altitude, except for a shortness of breath when I tried to walk and talk at the same time. It was cold up here, especially with the wind chill. During the afternoon five other climbers arrived, all Iranians. I didn't sleep well that night with the cold, the wind howling across the mountain and Hamid snoring all night beside me.
Daybreak brought bad news; the first storm of the winter had hit the mountain, the summit now cloaked in heavy cloud, the wind blowing at almost storm force at the shelter and the temperature had dropped dramatically since yesterday. The conditions at the shelter were bad and it was another 1500m to the summit. It was decided to abandon the climb due to the bad weather. Damavand is a serious mountain and people die trying to reach the summit every year. Feeling disappointed we climbed back down to the mosque; at least I had been beaten by the weather rather than the altitude, injury or lack of fitness. It took the rest of the day to get back to Tehran.
I still wanted to reach a summit of a mountain and on Friday returned to Mt Tochal with a South African lad I had met at the guesthouse. The cable car was working and we bought a ticket to the top station, which I had climbed to a few days earlier. From there it took just over two hours to reach the summit at 3962m, getting caught in a snow shower on the way.
The weather is deteriorating day by day. Started to rain in Tehran today. The city is beginning to grow on me in a rather strange way; I think it's the challenge of trying to get anything done that holds my interest. I'm heading southeast on Sunday night by train to Kerman towards the Pakistan border. I have no idea how long the journey will take.
Regards
Geoff.
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