I've fallen in love....

With another country!!!!

We arrived in Iran on the 14th, I can't believe that I have been here a little over a week already. Today is the first time that I have logged on so I will try to get everything down!

My first few days in Iran were a little rough as I received a good solid bout of "delhi belly". I slept for most of the first few days whilst I felt sick and groggy before my bowls got into their new routine!

The first night in Iran we camped close to Tabriz and were moved on in the middle of the night by the police. Since I felt unwell I had actually gone to bed at 7.30pm and so missed most of the commotion. Apparently they all had machine guns but were apologising that they had to move us on. ( I think we may have been on somebody's land.) I was in a complete daze as I packed up my tent, we then drove for 3 hours before pitching somewhere else. I felt so poorly on the truck, it was the first time I have thought that I would prefer to be at home in my bed rather than on the trip. (The feeling soon passed once I was tucked up in a tent again!)

We have since spent a couple of nights in a small mountain village called Masuleh. This is a very touristy village with lots of visitors coming from the capital Tehran. The village is almost built in to the mountain with house roofs being used a restaurants. ( I will add a picture as it is hard to explain.) We stayed in a room above a ladies house (6 of us), which was actually quite nice. We had a separate kitchen and bathroom so we girls could roam with out our headscarves on. The two nights we spent in Masuleh were really relaxing. It was the first place in Iran that people were really keen to speak with us, one guys offered for us to stay with him at his home. His face was a picture when we said yes please and we'll bring our 30 friends from the truck too!

Next we started to travel towards Esfahan, which is where I am now. On route we camped in the dessert. I was expecting it to be all sandy dunes but I couldn't see a grain of sand in sight it was all rocky!

We arrived in Esfahan on the 20th and I have been completely taken aback by the city. It is absolutely gorgeous it has the 2nd largest town square in the world, with gorgeous surrounding mosques and stunning bridges over the river. The people are even more fantastic! Everyone wants to speak with us and some people even ask "are you with the truck?!". The first night that we were here Martin and I ventured to the square to find some dinner only to be accosted by a young guy and in turn two young girls who were English students at the local university. We were invited to a really old traditional teahouse. It was here that we noticed the real segregation of the sexes. We had to sit in the small 'family part' and only because I am a tourist was I allowed to join the boys for a suck on a hubblybubbly pipe. The girls had to look on. After our tea our new friend showed us to a traditional (but touristy) restaurant on top of the square with views of the mosque. The food was excellent I had a traditional Iranian dish, which consisted of a date that had been rolled in rice and vegetables a bit like a snowball. Martin had a dish called Dizi, which is a bit like a stew. It comes over in a pot which you pour the sauce out and drink as a soup before mashing up the meat and beg and eating it with flat bread. I cannot believe that I was so stuffed from a complete meal including salad and tea that cost less than three pounds (IN A REASTAURANT)! After dinner we went for a walk down to the mosques (which look gorgeous lit up at night) and met a young lady (who for the life of me I can't remember her name but I know it meant flower in Farsi). She was taking an evening stroll with her family and wanted to practice her English. We were more than happy to oblige and ended up having a picnic of tea and watermelon seeds with her entire family (including; parents, cousins, uncle and aunt and grand parents!) until 11.30pm! I went home with a huge smile on my face feeling completely overwhelmed by Iranian hospitality. Even on the way home we were invited to join in a with a game of volleyball!

The next day I spent exploring the square and the 6miles of shopping in the Bazaar! I only spent 10 pounds but brought a ring, a bag and a new headscarf (I thought that my other one made me look like a hamster!). We also took a horse ride around the square, which was good giggle! That evening I went down to the river to visit the bridges. They were not what I expected being very low to the ground but were very striking. We took out a pedalo and ventured as close as we could to get some good pics!

Today I spent doing a city tour visiting some of the other historical bridges, the Armenian Christian church, the shaking minarets (a bloke goes up one of the towers and shakes it, the motion passes through the building and the other one shakes too!) and the cemetery for the Iran/Iraqi war. Quite a bit in 6 hours! Tonight I am going to head back town to the bridges and have dusk tea at the teashop in the bridge.

I guess my next update will be from Pakistan...........I see if I fall in love with Pakistan too!

Lots of love
Nicole xxx