Arrived yesterday in Istanbul on the first part of my journey, where Ebi met me at the airport. Since pork is unavailable in Iran, he asked if I could buy a sandwich and bring it with me. We sat down for drinks in the cafe and I presented him with his gift. It had been many months since his last encounter with said meat, and he took the packet gently gazing at it like a long lost love. He took a big bite and was in heaven. It was very funny. We also bumped into a couple of English guys who were on our flight to Tehran. They are travelling around in Iran, starting in Yazd. They said that they had heard there were good beaches there, but Yazd in the middle of the desert, so there's plenty of sun and sand, but I'm not sure they'll find any sea!

We finally arrived in Tehran at about 4 am Iran time. Ebi's father, brother Davood and sister Sara met us at the airport. Ebi lives in Abadan, which is in the deep south and it is about 11 hours drive from Tehran. We stopped off at different cities along the way to break the long journey. We reached the city of Qom by about 7am. It is a very religious city and home to the Hazrate Masoumeh, the tomb of the sister of Imam Reza, the 8th messenger of the prophet Mohammad, which we decided to visit. The tomb is very grand with domes made of gold, which glowed in the early morning sunlight and thousands of pieces of mirrored glass decorate the outside and the celings and walls inside.

Very tired, we eventually reached Abadan about 8 pm. The rest of Ebi's family were all eagerly waiting to greet us at their home. After chatting to them and some dinner, I went to bed exhausted.