We had a bit of an adventure today…..finally out of the hotel in the last few days….thank goodness! We wanted to send some stuff home to save weight on our bike and the hotel staff told us there was a post office on second street….unfortunately there must be some Irish Iranian city planners, because the streets don’t really run in order very well. We eventually found it with help from a local shopkeeper…after walking miles in the heat….but they only send letters not parcels….so we were given further directions…further walking in the heat…and eventually found the right place. It was a mission to fill in the forms, which were in farsi, and it cost us an arm and a leg to send under 3 kg to Australia (1,680,000 IRR or around $80 Australian) but we got it done.

By the time we concluded our business at the post office it was lunch time…yes that’s how long we were walking around searching! Vince spotted a very Western type of place a few doors down so we popped in for lunch.

We then caught a taxi to take us to the National Museum of Iran….but the driver obviously had a problem, as he pulled up outside a local pharmacy, ran in then out again, all without a word. Vince and I just sat looking at the empty driver’s seat as traffic whizzed around us..and laughed. They do things differently here.

We eventually got to the museum and it was very interesting…. it has been running for more than 70 years, containing 300,000 museum objects in an area more than 20,000 square meters. It is the largest museum of History and Archaeology of Iran, and ranks as one of the most prestigious museums of the world with regards to volume, diversity and quality of its contents. It states it’s aims as preserving relics of the past, enhancing better understanding among world peoples and nations, and enhancing public knowledge.

It has lots of things from Persepolis….where we went when we were in Shiraz so we found this as an extra dimension to the exhibits for us. We really liked the statue of a mastiff, from the south east tower of the Apadana of Persepolis and we saw photographs of when it, and a three lion statue, were uncovered and then were able to see the actual items on display…..very exciting and beautiful. It made us feel a little like explorers!

One of the most unusual items we saw was Saltman 1. He was discovered in the Chehrabad salt mines, located on the southern part of the Hamzehlu village, on the west side of the city of Zanjan in Iran.  By 2010 the remains of six men in total had been discovered, most of them accidentally killed by the collapse of galleries they were working in. In the winter of 1993, miners came across a body with long hair, a beard and some artefacts.  These included the remains of a body, a foreleg inside a leather boot, three iron knives, a woollen half trouser, a silver needle, a sling, parts of a leather rope, a grindstone, a walnut, some pottery shards, textile fragments and a few broken bones.  The body had been buried in the middle of a tunnel approximately 45 metres in length. After archeological Carbon 14 dating, of different samples of bones and textiles, the Salt Man 1 was dated to about 1,700 years ago. His hair and DNA determined he was 37 years old and his blood group was B positive. His head had an injury indicating a blow prior to death and he had a gold earring on his left ear indicating high status….it is unknown what he was doing in the saltmines. The head and left leg (in a leather boot) of Salt Man 1 are on display at the National Museum of Iran and it was bit gruesome but interesting at the same time. Vince spent his time clowning around trying to scare me….but I’m made of sterner stuff than that! (haha)

After the museum we went to catch a taxi back to our hotel and whilst waiting a mini-van/small coach crashed into a motorcyclist. We went to help but luckily the man and his pillion were fine….only minor injuries not requiring any treatment….and they just kept saying “thank you Mrs” as I stayed with the rider and Vince lifted up his bike. We’ll given the crazy way the traffic is here I am surprised it is the only accident we have seen so far….but happily no big drama this time!

We will have a quiet evening and start our packing and preparation for Pakistan….tomorrow we are expecting to drop off our passports in the morning and pick them up in the evening with our Indian Visas in them…..maybe only for one month and single entry….but we are still hoping the Embassy may grant our request for 3 months, multiple entry….we live in HOPE!

Quiet day here in Tehranville, waiting for the clock to strike Wednesday morning so we can mosey on down to the Embassy and get our visas.

Received word back from the Pakistan High Commission in Camberra this morning – we need to enter Pak before the 23rd August, and can then spend 30 days there. We’ll get our India visas on the 19th and stay that night here, then on the 20th ride from Tehran to Yazd (640km), on the 21st ride from Yazd to Bam (560km), and then on the 22nd ride the 320km or so from Bam to Mirjaveh (Iranian border town), cross into Pak and then hopefully push on the additional 300km to Dalbandin, for an overnight camp at the police compound there.

I’ve done a bit on the GPS – dropped in the ‘India’ SD card I bought in the UK (1/3 of the price in Australia); plugged in the GPS co-ordinates of accomodation places in Yazd, Bam, Dalbandin, Quetta, Sukkar & Multan; contacted BMW New Delhi (again) to try and arrange a service for when we arrive; etc etc, and did some more reading of an e-book I downloaded the other day – Stephen King & Peter Straub’s “The Talisman” – an oldie but a goodie.

Karen is just waking up from an afternoon nap now – we had a late night last night watching “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” on the laptop – that’s all part of our preparation for India you know (and we thoroughly enjoyed the original “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”). The sequel seemed a little contrived in places, but it was still entertaining.

In this state of suspended animation we’ve been in recently we’ve managed to crunch through the latest season of ‘Big Bang Theory’ AND also ‘Game of Thrones – Season Five’ – though I was peeved with the ABC the other week as in one of their news articles re GoT they published a massive spoiler and hadn’t issued a spoiler alert at the start of the article – bad form ABC !!!

Late in the afternoon we caught a taxi out to the Milad Tower – also known as the Tehran Tower – the sixth tallest tower in the world. Brought online in 2009, this tower is a modern celebration of Iranian design, engineering and artistic skills, and dominates the skyline whe you look north forwards the mountains.

Copy and paste this link for the Milad Tower website – http://www.tehranmiladtower.ir/en/

‘Copy and paste this link for a cool brochure on the Milad Tower – http://www.tehranmiladtower.ir/images/milad.pdf

I bought our 2 x 350,000 IRR tickets to go to the top of a Sky Dome, and we made our way past the food shops in the ground floor area (including ‘Fresh Way’ – a Subway lookalike), up the escalators and along the forecourt to the tower proper, and then up the elevators to the Sky Dome. We had an amazing view over all of Tehran, and had timed our arrival so that we could watch the setting sun.

Everyone was ushered out of the Sky Dome before sunset so we went downstairs a few levels (the Tower has a 12-storey head structure perched near the top of it) and walked around these levels, one of which featured wax works of famous Iranian poets, professors (including Albert Einstien’s favourite student), musicians, soldiers, athletes (a wrestler who first won gold for Iran in Melbourne in 1956), and authors.

Another floor featured the Municipal Museum of Tehran, and which showed off gifts such as plaques and other momentos given to the Mayor of Tehran from other countries.

We watched the sun set over the mountains, and watched the lights of the city start to twinkle below before we left the head structure and caught the elevators down to the concourse, which featured a music show and many small craft stalls set up in the gardens. We enjoyed a crepe each for dinner – Karen had Nutella and banana in hers whilst mine was a cross between a hotdog and a crepe, before grabbing a taxi for the night ride back to our hotel.

Iranians are proud of the Tehran Tower and rightly so – it’s a wonderful place to visit, and lays all of  Tehran beneath your feet.

Situated within the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, since 1955, the Treasury of National Jewels (Iranian Crown Jewels) is held in a very secure vault. It is a collection of the most expensive jewels of the world, collected over centuries of turbulence, and is so unique it cannot be valued. We were not permitted to take photos or bags inside and had to go through several security checks….including one were I was not only pat searched but had my breasts felt up as well by an Iranian woman…..very strange – not sure what she thought I was hiding in there! Once all the checks were behind us we entered the lower level vault.

We saw the actual Takht-e Khurshīd (Sun/Peacock) Throne, that we had only previously seen a replica of in the Golstan Museum/Palace on our last trip to Tehran….it was magnificent and set aside in a separate area behind glass. The original was moved to the Treasury on 6th September 1981. It was made for Fath-Ali Shah Qajar and uses gold and loose stones from the Treasury. The sun at the top is encrusted with precious stones and gave it its name. After his marriage to Tavous Tajodoleh it changed to be called the Peacock Throne due to her being his favourite wife, called Lady Peacock.

Inside the vault we also saw his diamond, emerald and ruby set crown, the Kiani Crown. It is made of red velvet with 1800 small pearls (some only 7 mm in diameter) sewn on.  The crown is 32 cm (12.5 in.) high and 19.5 cm (7.5 in.) wide. Traditionally the Kiani Crown was used for coronation of the Qajar Kings, but in 1925 Reza Khan Pahlavi had the Pahlavi Crown made using selected stones from the Treasury for his coronation on April 25, 1926 AD (although the Kiani Crown was still present). The Pahlavi Crown was also used in the coronation of Mahmmad Reza Pahlavi on October 26, 1967 AD. Made of gold and silver, and decorated with diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and pearls it also features red velvet fabric. On the 4 sides of the crown are battlement designs and sunbursts totally set in diamonds. Inside the front sun design, there is a very large yellow diamond. The Crown hold the following precious stones: 3,380 Diamonds: 1,144 carats,  5 Emeralds: 199 carats, 2 Sapphires: 19 carats and 368 perfectly matching Pearls. Total weight of the crown is 2,080 grams.

Further inside the actual vault, we also saw the original smaller throne with the leopard/tiger (the Nadir Throne I think) that we had also seen a replica of in Golstan. Truly beautiful!

There is no information about the quality and quantity of the treasuries before the Safavid period when the monarchs began recording the history.  The Safavid monarchs, over two centuries (1502 to 1735 AD), started to collect rare and beautiful gems. The gem specialists of the Safavid court brought fine stones to Esfahan (Isfahan), the capital of Iran at that time from the markets of India the Ottoman Empire and European countries like France and Italy. Subsequent rules and conflict saw the treasury was scattered and some of the jewels were stolen. Eventually  some were returned under the ruler Nadir and preserved for Iran. Abdali, one of Nadir’s commanders, looted the treasury. One of the famous jewels that left Iran at this time and never returned was the famous “Kooh-e-Nur” (Mountain of Light) diamond. This diamond passed on to several other hands until it eventually ended up in the East India Company after a British victory (1850 AD) and it was given to Queen Victoria as a gift and it is currently in the late Queen Mother’s Crown in England.

There was no major change in the Treasury until the time of the Qajar dynasty. During the Qajar period, the Treasury was collected and recorded. Some of the stones were mounted on the Kiani Crown, the Nadir Throne, the Globe of jewels, and the Peacock Throne (or the Sun Throne). Two others items that were gradually added to the Treasury, are the turquoises from the local turquoise mines which are precious in Iran, and pearls, originating from the Persian Gulf.

The famous Darya-i-Nur (Sea of light) is the largest pink diamond of the world and takes the first place among the diamonds in the National Treasury of Iran. Nasser-ed-din Shah believed that this diamond was one of the gems decorating the crown of Cyrus (558 to 529 BC), and was very fond of it. He wore it as an armband, aigrette or as a brooch. The weight is approximately 182 carats, and it is a rare pale pink colour. The frame is set with 457 diamonds and 4 rubies. In 1965, during the research by a Canadian team on the National Jewels, it was discovered that this diamond was orginally 242 carats (Diamonda Grande Table) from India, and was cut into two to create the Darya-i-Nur (Sea of Light) mounted in a broach, and the other part became the 60 carat Nur-ol-Eyn (Light of the Eye). The stone is presently mounted as the principal diamond in the wedding Tiara (The Noor-ul-Ain) made for the Iranian Empress Farah Pahlavi’s wedding to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1958. It is a modern design, featuring 324 pink, yellow, and white diamonds set in platinum and weights around 2kg, and is held in the Treasury.

We were very impressed with the Globe of Jewels, made in 1869 AD by order of Nasser-ed-din Shah it is about 66cm in diameter. A group of Iranian craftsmen made the globe using 51,366 loose stones, weighing 3,656 grams, from the Treasury. The net gold used is 34.00 kilograms. The oceans and sears are emeralds and the land is made of rubies.  Southeast Asia, Iran, England and France are specified with diamonds. India is shown in pale rubies. Central and South Africa are shown in sapphires. The equator as well as other geographical lines is in diamonds and rubies. The stand is of gold and studded with gems. Breathtaking….we found Australia!

I picked out a broach and a tiara I liked…..neither of which are the main attractions….but I’m sure they would still miss them ….LOL (Only Joking).

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See here for some photos of the jewels held within the ‘Treasury of National Jewels’ (or search for that term using Google Images):

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=treasury+of+national+jewels+iran&biw=1235&bih=672&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIs7m1-YauxwIVA7QaCh1e3QtX

No visas for India today, so we won’t be crossing into Pakistan with Claire and Emiel on the 17th as we’d hoped.

The one glimmer of hope is that the Embassy did say they would issue visas on the 19th and we will make use of that, and in the meantime we will continue our stalled exploration of Iran for a while then return to Tehran for the visas.

On a brighter note we attended the Iranian Police Office for Foriegn Aliens again this morning at 08:00am – courteous, efficient service and sixty minutes later we walked out with 2.5 week extensions to our visas when we had only asked for two weeks – now that’s the way a country can make international travellers feel welcome.

As an aside, when Karen and I were sitting in the office of the Special Security boss yesterday whilst he sorted out our visa extension request with Milad the young soldier sitting alongside us – I mentioned how much we loved visiting Iran and how friendly and genuine and generous Iranians are, and Mila replied somewhat despondently that “No one loves Iranians” – this seems to be a common sentiment amongst the people we’ve chatted with, and it’s sad as Iranians are truly the friendliest people we’ve met on this trip.

The original plan for today was to visit the Jewellry Musuem of Tehran – renowned as the most stunning collection of gems and jewellry in the world, but we can’t seem to win a trick at the moment – upon checking the museum is closed today, open tomorrow afternoon.

I checked our Iranian visas and ‘aargh!!’ – they expire on the day that the Indian Consular here said he’d issue a road visa if he hasn’t heard back from New Delhi – 19th August, so Karen and I bolted out looking for the Police Office for Foriegn Aliens at nearby Fatemi Junction. It took us a while to track down the office, and when we arrived Milad, a soldier on duty took us under his wing and sheparded us upstairs to the boss of the ‘Special Security’ unit to secure approval for a two-week visa extension here.

Written approval in hand, Milad then took us downstairs to organise the paperwork, but we needed to bolt back to our hotel to get some passport photos required to accompany our extension application, and then Milad directed us to a nearby bank where we needed to pay for the extensions.

At this stage we had about 30 minutes left before the Police Office closed for the day, so Karen stormed the bank and everyone hit the floor (not really but it sounded good for our book!). We eyeballed an English-speaking teller and ponied up the 690,000 IRR (for two people) we needed to deposit. Receipt slips in hand we ran back to the Police Office just up the road, but then got lost inside the orderly scrum taking place in the waiting room and ended up still sitting on our seats as instructed whilst the office closed up. Duh! A young English-speaking couple chatted with the last remaining customer service policeman, and advised us to return tomorrow morning at 08:00am, and to push our way to the front of any queue.

Back at our hotel we’re reaching out to Turkey and other locations we can possibly airfreight the bike from – over India – and safely into Bangkok. For the sake of two US$50 visas we’ve expended weeks in effort, $1,000’s in unbudgeted accommodation costs, and potentially now some substantial airfreight costs.

Some people may well question the merit of persevering so long on this visa folly – a small part of me at least is driven by fond memories of a book I read a few years ago – Max Riesch’s “India: The Shimmering Dream” – the story of the first overland motorcycle journey to India in 1933. I’ll bet that Max didn’t face the visa obstacles that we’re currently facing, but you’ll need to read the book to learn about the challenges that he and his pillion did face 🙂

Copy and paste this link for details on India: The Shimmering Dream – http://www.panther-publishing.co.uk/default.asp?contentID=46

So today’s meeting at the Embassy didn’t produce any visas, but we have the full support of the First Secretary (Consular) and his staff, and we have 48 hours still left on the clock, so we’re still feeling hopeful.

Monday afternoon here, and we’re still visa-less for India. We haven’t given up either hope or effort – I’ll let today’s blog title speak for itself (credit goes to ‘Frankie Goes To Hollywood’).

We’ve got 70 hours left within which we need to score a touch-down – so watch this space okay ⏰

PS: Karen got her stitches out today at a local hospital and they were just brilliant! We have nothing but praise for the medical services she has received in Iran….exceptional!

Yep, that’s right folks – if it’s Sunday morning we’re back at the Indian Embassy in Tehran, ever hopeful that they’ll shift into gear and organise our visas as time is rapidly running out.

We caught a taxi down to the embassy and got there just after 09:10am, and were surprised to find the visa section open as the embassy website advertises open hours of 10:00am – midday.

The waiting room was sparsely populated this morning – a stark contrast to our previous experience, and familiar with the system we queued up at the first window to be logged in, then queued up at the second window, directly behind a young Italian guy applying for his visa. He has previously lived and worked in Finland, China and India in his work associated with student support services, and was hoping to go work in India again.

We chatted with the Italian guy for a while, and a young Iranian lady – the only one I’ve seen here in Iran to have facial piercings – a bold statement in such a conservative society.

We didn’t have to wait too long before we were served – and were then told to wait another 30 minutes as some discussion was required. A while later we were instructed to queue up waiting for admittance to the inner sanctum – the waiting room we’d been in previously, and eventually we were summonsed to see the senior visa officer.

He offered us visas for air travel which we politely declined, and then Karen launched into a passionate description of our travels, and our need for the visas. The visa officer was quite taken with our stories and was impressed when we showed him some photos of our motorbike – fully loaded with gear and 2 x spare tyres, and with Karen wedged in behind me – and he disappeared upstairs to seek approval whilst we waited again in the waiting room, but ten minutes later he stormed into his office and slammed the door shut – the body language did not bode well.

A few minutes later one of his minions came out and told us that approval was still required from New Delhi, and that we should return in two days time. How frustrating – we knew that approval from New Delhi was required a fortnight ago and still no answer has been received.

Back at our hotel we mapped out our next moves – we’ll return to the embassy tomorrow to get an update, and we’ll be ready to escalate our case to New Delhi ourselves if necessary. We also put out an SOS to the Horizons Unlimited New Delhi community – perhaps they have some magic oil we can grease the embassy’s immovable wheels with.

Dinner was enjoyed at the Tehran Chinese Restaurant – the food was good as always and the staff there pleased to see us return, and then it was early to bed, with Sjaak Lucassen again waxing lyrically from the DVD player. We’d hoped for a restful sleep as last night sleep was difficult to come by, unfortunately this evening proved no better. The stress caused by this ongoing wrangle with the embassy never leaves us.

After our 920km ride from Shiraz to Tehran yesterday, today was planned as a down day, allowing us to relax before we go visit the Indian Embassy here in Tehran.

In reality, ‘relaxing’ translated to myself spending all day and most of the evening drafting and redrafting a memo to various embassy diplomats seeking assistance with our visa applications. If we fail in our last-ditch attempt at least we’ll have the knowledge that we tried everything we could think of.

Karen spent the day uploading photo galleries to our blog, a time-consuming activity that was impossible to do in either Esfahan or Shiraz as the internet connections there were too slow. She also patiently reviewed each and every draft I worked on – that’s teamwork for you!

We also finally managed to watch the DVD we bought months ago from Sjaak Lucassen – “Sjaak the World” – “The story of a motorcycle trip that none of us will ever take” – 5 years, 5 months and 1 day travelling the world on his R1. Karen suggested that we have a movie night for the “Perth Motorbike & Sidecar Riders” group when we return to Perth and show the video, and have a small cover charge and then send the proceeds to Sjaak to help him with his plans to ride his R1 to the North Pole. That’s the great thing about Karen – she’s always thinking about how she can help other people 🙂