We had a late start to the day…..Vince slept in until midday….things have finally caught up with him from our long days riding….and he also discovered he has an upset tummy …..that will teach him for making fun of me having to use the squat toilet yesterday….now it was his turn. These words came back to bite me about an hour later when I started with the same tummy issues.
We did go out to get some lunch …but had to quickly return to our hotel for Vince and that’s when it hit me too. So we spent the rest of the day in our hotel room….in close proximity to our new best friend…the squat toilet!
Whilst we were out for our afternoon walk we met Habib and his friends who kindly gave us advice on where we should go in Iran and even listed some places on some basic maps taken from the front of one of their diaries. Habib was awesome – he spent half an hour at least explaining to Vince the route we should take whilst travelling within Iran, describing in detail some of the sights we could enjoy – like the Ali Said Cave. The maps he gave Vince are in Farsi, so he had Vince annotate the maps with information so we would know what we were looking at. Habib is a seasoned traveller, having been to Europe, Russia and the USA, and he was very keen to ensure that our travels in Iran are as enjoyable as possible. He touched briefly on some aspects of daily life within Iran, providing a small insight into life here.
A little further along the road a cleric came up to Vince and introduced himself, welcoming us to Iran. The cleric explained that he had taught himself English and after a brief chat he said farewell and continued on his way.
Friday is the weekend in Iran so most shops were closed….this made getting dinner difficult in the evening and we ended up with a makeshift arrangement from the local market. Whilst we were out I spotted a couple of scarfs I liked and we couldn’t decide on which one to buy…but at only 100,000 IRR (A$5) each Vince said to get both….so I now have a black and a white scarf to interchange with. I am attempting to try to be less conspicuous as everyone stares at us…and some unkind people even laugh….so we shall see if a less colourful headscarf helps.
