Ian and Denise are on the road again

 What a relief for everyone and can you believe this. After two days recuperating from the nasty hot air balloon crash landing Ian and Denise are back on the road with the convoy. Today we drove 470  kms from Urgup to Bolu, just 270 kms from Istanbul  which is no mean feat when Ian had a general anaesthetic only two days ago.

Ian is absolutely determined to complete the China MG factory to England MG factory drive. He is focussed and won’t let anything get in the way of his goal. He has the unwavering support from Denise, his wife. They are both full of beans when I asked them to make a comment I could post on the blog this was their response.

Denise says” I am still giving instructions’

Ian says “I am still taking no notice”

You work that out!

Ian and Densie tell us that after Ian was discharged from the hospital he was taken to the Police Station. He and Denise were plied with cups of tea and quite a circus ensued. The head of police and about eight armed officers were extremely attentive to Ian and Denise and interacted with the chief hot air balloon pilot and the staff who were involved in the landing. Lots of handshakes and socializing.

The purpose for the visit to the Police Station was so that the police could take a statement from Ian and complete Statutory Declaration in relation to the hot air balloon landing. Ian was questioned about  the way he had been treated by the hot air balloon company and the hospital.

This procedure took over one half hours and Ian says he felt under duress and that although everyone was extremely friendly and courteous, it was a snow job. He was even invited to one the police officers homes to meet the family.

Basically the company, the police and Ian have a document in Turkish which Ian believes indicates his satisfaction with the way the situation was managed. Ian and Denise are pleased to be back on the road and amazed by the way things were handled in this case. They are pretty philosophical about the event and thankful that they can continue with the drive of a lifetime.

NB: The hot air balloon company waivered the cost of Ian’s ticket for the flight but not Denise’s!

Across the Bosphorous and into Istanbul

Mr Jeremy Fisher examines the frescoes in the ancient rock church

Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny are back at it again and have found bunny Utopia in Cappadocia, Turkey. You know how bunnies live underground in burrows, well imagine their surprise when they discovered not burrows but tunnels and tunnels of underground cities which were built by the Byzantine Christians in the fifth and sixth centuries in order to escape the Persian and Arabic armies who were intent on destroying their religion.

Peter and Benjamin were so excited. These underground cities offered  bunnies safety from ferrets a foxes and all those other nasty   predators. No one could catch a rabbit here as there were so many nooks and crannies. Imagine the space in the rooms of these tunnelled cities and the way you could decorate each room. And the storage, you could stock pile carrots, lettuce, spinach and even pumpkin and it would stay fresh in such a controlled atmosphere. It never got hotter than 16 degrees no matter how hot or cold  it was outside.

The rabbits listened attentively to the guide Arhmed who explained that there are thirty seven underground cities which have been opened so far. These ancient people were so clever, the bunnies agreed, as all you can see from the fields and mounds outside are air shafts which ensured that the inhabitants had fresh air. A pretty nifty way to conceal things.

Peter and Benjamin Bunny had such a fun time scooting through the tunnels. Once underground, the first space they entered was the old stable where the animals would reside when the weather was extremely hot or an attack was imminent.

The tunnel lead past a mortuary, a large communal kitchen with the biggest pestle for grinding spices and seeds and even an arrangement on one rock formation for  making wine.

Each city is connected by a tunnel of many miles and the bunnies were intrigued to know that thousands of years ago fifty millimetre holes between the rock  rooms served as an intercom which gave people warning if there was a likely attack. The people could escape out through the other side of the mountain just like rabbits do when those silly ferrets try to invade their burrows.  

Sadly the bunnies didn’t have time to explore the thirty seven cities as their little legs were exhausted from climbing up and down those steps in the underground tunnels. Luckily they were able to hop back into the backpack for a rest.

Mr Jeremy Fisher spent a lot of  time looking at the frescoes in the ancient  churches located in the rocky outcrops. He was fascinated with all the small openings in the walls and rock formations. He heard Arhmed talking about  the oddest fact of the day really, that pigeons were encouraged to nest and rest in these openings in the rock wall dwellings and then their droppings were collected and used for fertilizer. Maybe that explained the healthy veggie patches that Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny noticed all around the Cappadocia region.

After consultation with Mr Jeremy Fisher they agreed they all needed to do a bit more research about the Hittites who first developed these tunnel cities and used them 4,000 years ago to store wine. They must have loved their wine to build an underground city for its storage. They wondered was it white or red wine and were those grapes fertilized with pigeon droppings?

PR and BB on the grinding stonein the underground city

Cappadocia Hot Air Ballooning

A beautiful ride for the team of twelve, in a hot air balloon yesterday morning almost turned into a total disaster.  After a fabulous ride looking down at this fairy tale region with rock dwellings and mushroom shaped turrets in the rock formation it was time to land. We were the only balloon in the air and the pilot made several attempts to land. First, in a wheat field and then a couple of other spots. We saw the ground crew below driving fanatically to each potential landing spot.

Finally” take your landing positions” and down we all went. The balloon hit the ground with a terrible thud knocking us all about, then up again and down again. It landed on its side, no upright landing. Silence.

 The ground crew pulled or helped most of us from the basked. It was surreal.

We looked around and there was Ian B lying on the ground, unable to move. He was ashen, as was Denise his wife sitting on the ground next to him. We covered them with our jumpers because clearly they were both in shock. Ian knew that his hip was out and dislocated. He could not move and was in great pain. The crew moved Ian on to a mattress and Ian and Denise were rushed to hospital with the support crew managing the situation.

The rest of the team were devastated. Our aches and pains paled into utter insignificance.

An hour later Dave, Kerith, Ken and I headed to the hospital to see if there was anything we could do. Ian and Denise were in emergency and Ian had been told that he would need a general anaesthetic so the doctors could attempt to manipulate his hip back into position. There was a 95% chance they could achieve this. Denise was wearing a neck brace and her neck had been X-rayed. She was OK and thankfully they both had a bit of colour in their faces. Ian was in good spirits and making the best of the situation. The cardiologist had checked Ian out. The air ballooning staff were there translating and managing the situation.

We returned to the group. You can imagine the discussion and debrief that ensued. We were all so lucky. We were confident that Ian and Densie were in good hands. The hospital was good.

The six of us who were in the baskets on the down side that hit the ground: Dan, me Ken. Dave, Simon, and Ian M all received pretty hard head  knocks on landing. It was like being hit twice on the back of the head with a bit of four by two. Ken said he looked at me after landing and thought I was stunned. I looked at Dan and he was more than speechless.

The group that were in the baskets above our basket seemed not to have sustained head knocks but were thrown about more randomly. Kerith has a severely jarred ankle and Mary has a sore knee. Reg has sore ribs and back. Everyone probably has a few aches and pains.

Ian and Denise returned to the hotel at five o’clock and spent the evening resting. They will rest today and then work out what they intend to do. Fortunately we are in a lovely boutique hotel with great staff and gorgeous gardens and we don’t have far, by our standards to get to Istanbul where we have more down time to allow for Ian’s recovery.

The air ballooning staff told that was their worse landing ever as the wind factor was 65 kms an hour at ground landing point. There is some debate in the group about this measure means but that’s what was said.

How did it happen you might ask? Well we were to take a sunrise ride and we were  ready to go at 5:15 am. When we did leave at 6:15 am  our first view on arriving at the area where all the hot air balloons went up from was there were over sixty balloons in the air. It was a magic sight. However as we alighted our hot air balloon all the other balloons had landed and once up we were the only balloon  in the air. No one thought anything of this because the ride was so beautiful. Clearly the balloon company thought they could manage one more ride.  

This hot air balloon ride was my fourth and previously the landings have been up right little bumps, nothing to worry about.

Life is ironic because we have been so careful on the roads and suddenly we are in Turkey which is incredibly developed and familiar with all the signs of civilization that we know so well……the golden arches and the Shell servos to name a few. There are tourist and tourist buses  everywhere and suddenly when we do what tourist do this happens. I reckon we are safer as adventure travellers if you get my drift.

The team spent a happy evening doing what tourists do here. Photographing the sunset, attending a display of dervish dancing and then dinner and a show which saw Reg up dancing with the belly dancers.

Our balloon:Cappadocia

So far driving in Turkey has been spectacular with generally very good roads through  steep, rugged mountain ranges, some of which are  snow capped and vistas of fields and road sides  of  gorgeous wild flowers.

 The cars after an overhaul, on a lay day, at Sarp, near Hopa, are performing well and over the last couple of days we have completed some pretty long  hauls through sun and rain. Usually we do a side trip to look at some significant attraction so that makes for a long days driving.

We all have picture after picture of these dear little, forty year old, cars surrounded by big trucks, lorries and other larger than MG size vehicles driving through valleys, steep ravines and gorges.

We are in the Cappadocia Region complete with lots of cars, tourists and shops that cater for their every whim. We have no local guide, unlike China and Turkmenistan where it was mandated that those driving must have government approved guides. Thankfully we had an approved guide for Kyrgyzstan. We understand that Australians do not need an approved guide in Iran but Americans do. Anyway from China through to Turkey we have had approved guides whose key role has been lead car.

Now Blue Car has taken the position of lead car, as Simon and Ian M seems to enjoy co-driving and navigating using maps, the Tom Tom and if all of the above fails, “ask a local” methodology. Yellow Car has taken the position of sweep car. So far we have been very successful at maintaining the convoy. Interesting because most people we spoke with  before leaving for the trip  said driving in a convoy would be almost impossible. 

Yesterday  morning the roads were wet, slippery and  mountainous. A number of drivers reported poor road grip. While taking a sharp bend Blue Car did a 360 degree spin out and fortunately regained momentum with no damage to person or car. We stopped and Simon and Ian M got out smiling. Thank goodness for those red ribbons on the cars.

One  driver experiencing early morning driving fatigue told the tale of tipping bottles of cold water over himself to stay alert. So even though we are on much better roads and driving conditions, compared to   The Stans have improved, there is still a need for extreme caution.

Hats off to all the drivers. The convoy makes excellent use of the CBs  to keep everyone informed of direction and changes in road conditions. Where possible each car drives with headlights on as this attracts the local  cars attention and makes it easy for each passenger in the convoy to ensure that the MG travelling behind them is in sight.

Dave, Reg, Ian B and Ken are basically doing all the driving. They all have passengers who are prepared to drive but for a variety of reasons it is the “one driver” approach.

As a passenger in Red Car, I would be happy to drive. I was hoping to drive in each country but it transpires that I only drive for about 50 kms because Ken is exceedingly nervous and uneasy when I am at the wheel. His view is that the driving conditions change without warning and that the car is harder to drive than my automatic at home.

 When I have taken the wheel I find it a case  of extreme concentration because of the unfamiliarity of the route and the fact that you are driving in a convoy means that your  speed is predetermined.

It has been fortunate that Dave ensured that there were lay days in the itinerary in order to give the drivers some down time and to provide time for sightseeing and car maintenance. Quite unlike the Peking to Paris which I understand is completed in about thirty nine days we have been travelling for over two months. So far the two blocks of travel, China and the Stans have been very different. It will be interesting to see how the European leg unfolds.

To my dearest friends who have travelled with me for 14,000 kilometres along the Silk Road and into Turkey,

As you three know, anything I have written on this blog is my personal opinion and certainly not the view of the group. However it is now becoming increasingly obvious that people, specifically, some males in the group are checking out this blog and guess what, they reckon that Jeremy, Peter and Benjamin are superfluous and should be removed. They are scheming. They want car details, a bit of travelogue and more car details (boring) and you guys don’t know the difference between a carburettor and a piston.  So watch out!

It is obvious that these guys are not in touch with “the child within” and they are plotting your removal. A bit tricky really, as you are the voice to communicate with Avalon and all those people who love a bit of silliness and fantasy. The depth of their feeling is interesting. It is the stuff for a psychotherapist.

These guys have laid down the gauntlet. I’ll endeavour to cover your back and keep you safe. It is a real challenge to keep blogging through the eyes of a frog and two bunnies.  Just remember consider all facts, be alert but not alarmed and keep blogging. Our challenge is to soften them up!

Susie

Monday June 14^th and should be at the MCG like any self respecting person.  Instead we are in Sarp, a small seaside town on the Black Sea three kilometres from the Georgian border.  Interesting to see the news reports of violence in Osh,in Krygastan where we were some 10 days ago. A million Uzbkes live in this town and we are told the former president is supporting a civil war.  An absolute tourist paradise but in a down ward spiral given trouble between the Krygs and Uzbeks.  The loss of 100 lives is very sad given a place which I count as one of my highlights on this trip.  

Today is a rest day and most of the morning was used by the team working on the six cars.  First was a trip to the local auto electrician to resolve the charging problem on our car. We had no common language between us but after they rubbed in Australia’s loss in the world cup soccer it was down to internet conversions of English words to Turkish to convey my problem.

 Big problems always have simple solutions and yet again this proved to be the case.  Above 2500 revs the fan belt was slipping on the alternator and therefore not enough charge was occurring.  I came back to the hotel and met Peter who was about to replace his water pump given his heating and charging problem and yes his fan belt may have been causing similar problems.  Anyway the two cars with problems (Yellow car and Red car) over the past few days may be resolved with a bit more tension on the belts.  Yellow car also required panel beating to the bonnet as it blew up in Peter and Kerith’s face late yesterday on the way down the hill into Hopa.

Ian’s B’s  car required the major work as it needed a wash.  Reg, Simon and Ian, Dave and Dan all spent time under the bonnet doing catch up work and tomorrow we have a 500 kilometre drive to Samsun, still on the Black Sea.  Rain is forecast.

Yesterday’s drive through the Georgian mountain range from Erzerum  to Hopa was one of the highlights of the trip.  The topography was very rugged and we followed many mountain streams at various stages even stopping to dabble in the water on one occasion.  I should have had the elevation screen on the GPS displayed as I am sure we were at 3000 plus metres.  The drive was the drive of a lifetime for some.

The drive up the mountain range caused all of us to have rises in our temp gauges – some more than others but the trip was well worth it.  The price of fuel at $2.70 a litre tells us that we are now getting closer to Europe and well away from Iran where  fuel sells at 40 cents a litre.

Mr Jeremy Fisher, Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny stood looking out from the balcony of Hotel Isfahan at Dogubayazit, Turkey at the famed Mt Ararat.  Awesome, they all agreed but no sign of the outline of old Noah’s Ark. But with the year round snow on this 5,000 metre peak maybe bits and pieces from the Ark could still be frozen in time down there. Food for thought and maybe the basis of a good story.

Mr Fisher, the intellect, was deep in thought. Why, in all those abridged Bible Stories for Children is there no mention of those cute Aussies: the koala, the kangaroo and the wombat on the Ark, was his big question.

After a chat, the friends  decided the they would remedy this biblical omission and  write a tale for Avalon, titled; How the koala, wombat and kangaroo lived  on the Ark for forty days and forty nights  and then made it down under.

Their initial  and rambling discussion, as discussions often are, centred on the fact that there are lots of gum trees in Turkey and Iran so maybe koalas fed on those delicious eucalyptus shoots in this part of the world in olden times before the flood. They also talked about the origin of the rainbow and how that was linked to flood story. They wondered if the koala, kangaroo and wombat surfed all the way down under because they knew Aussies were pretty keen on surfing.

Then they  talked at length about whether or not to create the story as a myth or a fable, you know what type of story would little Avalon enjoy most.

Mr Jeremy Fisher led the discussion as they brainstormed some ideas first. Once they had their focus and general outline for the story they were away, all contributing bright ideas. There was a bit of heated debate indicative of their involvement in the task. Good stuff, Jeremy thought, the team is working and they were in full writing workshop momentum.

Together they planned the story using the Four Square planning process: determining the main idea and topic sentence and the then the supporting detail for each paragraph so the writing would be rich in content and interest. They were right into this now. They even brainstormed some really powerful adjectives, transition and connecting words so that the paragraphs would flow.

Mr Jeremy Fisher agreed to go away and write up the first draft and then bring it back to his writing buddies for input and revision.  He would do the final edit because he is very pedantic about grammar, punctuation and all those technical things that editors do.

Peter Rabbit headed off with the camera to take some photos for visuals to support the story and Benjamin Bunny started to draw some of the elements of the story that Jeremy was writing about. Together they would publish this story for Avalon. They just wondered how they could present the story as a big book which is what little readers love but then they remembered that Beatrix Potter’s stories were all presented as tiny, little books and so many generations of children had gleaned so much pleasure from them.

Can you see the outline of the Ark? asks Mr Jeremy Fisher

We moved out of customs and vehicle clearance on the Iran side of the border  very quickly. The rapidity of the process may have been helped by our guide as he knew the ropes as previously worked in the unit.

Once through to the Turkey side things were going smoothly until two cars were chosen for thorough inspection and X-rays. Our car and Ian B’s car were randomly selected for intensive scrutiny. The reason for this is that this border is the major access point for drugs from Afghanistan to be smuggled into Europe.

At the first inspection point the two cases and the back pack were removed from our car and  X-rayed. Ian B followed the same process with his cases.

We then  drove our cars to the second  inspection point where everything had to be removed from the cars and placed on the ground. This included two cases, back packs and two big plastic storage tubs, all spare parts, electrics including all the items placed under the back boot cover.

Next we drove the cars into an X-ray tunnel for x-ray.  Once this was completed the car was given a thorough internal inspection which included examining the seats and roof and touching all surfaces in the interior and generally looking for concealed areas.  This was done twice to our car but not to   Ian’s car. Then the luggage and contents of the car were repacked.

The whole exercise took over an hour. The three officers were in T shirts and jeans but carried guns in their belts. They were very serious but good natured. Interestingly they didn’t x-ray the contents of the two big, black tubs which store most of our not so frequently used possessions like books and souvenirs.

 Prior to the x-ray process Denise and  Sue had walked down to see what was happening and I handed Sue the metal safe. She walked away with  it and sat with Denise back the main immigration area waiting for the cars to be cleared.

With the process complete the customs officers took photos of each other posing with the car. Once cleared  we drove back to the others at the immigration point and when our carnets and passports were returned we headed into Turkey. We drove out through high wire  fences and a couple of watch towers.  The drive from the border post to the hotel was flanked by snow capped, Mt Ararat at 5000 metres above sea level  with the sun setting on it.

All though the trip, I have been exhilarated about   what we have seen from the little red vehicle. The magnificence of the “off the normal tourist route” in China; the pristine scenery of the glacial Lake Samilu, the pass from Horgas, China into Kazakhstan with rugged and rough unmade roads but the most utterly amazing bridge constructions and soon to be completed roads I have ever seen; the alpine magic of Kyrgyzstan; the blue mosques with domes and minarets on the Silk Road in the towns in Uzbekistan and the madness of the gold god in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.  And everywhere the friendliness of the people.  

But in Iran there have been some real contrasts. Iran, a country of 75 million people is endowed with enormous natural reserves and natural beauty but presents some  challenges  for the traveller.  It is a country of contradictions in terms of ideas and history. It is difficult to get a full picture  in a short stay of seven days, but  you really get some strong and lasting impressions.

Would you believe that we didn’t see any other Western tourists in the time we were in Iran.

The people are delightful and yet the system is sometimes  confronting. We are told that generally the system,  does not want tourists in this country. They do not need the revenue  yet the poeple are so open and generous to visitors. The traffic police  were efficient , the roads were good  and we felt safe.

We have only travelled through the Northern Iranian coast, hugging the Caspian Sea. We are informed this is the most prosperous part of Iran and the most liberal. We did not go to Tehran but visited Tabriz, a city of two million people and Iran’s fourth largest city. The discrepancy between urban and country people seems poles apart.

One challenge for the traveller is whether to comply or defy the dress code. The only people we talked with were liberal and their view was that we should dress as we would in our country and carry or wear a scarf when outside in a public place.

 When we parked at Namak Abrood Tourist village (a bit like Arthur’s Seat to be exact) Ken and Reg, both wearing shorts were told by the parking attendants with our guide interpreting, that their dress was inappropriate. They had to change into three quarter or long pants. Later at the same location, while having a morning tea break, Mary wearing a massive sun visor was told her head covering was inappropriate. She had to wear a scarf under the sun visor because some of her hair was visible.  For the sake of our guide and the group, people have always complied when asked.

Interesting that although we have complied with the dress code  a number of us question this and  the liberal Iranians  we talked with said they  want Westerners  to present as they would in their  own country.

Many Iranians speak of the  infringements of human rights in this country and they believe   the  West has failed to support people here probably for economic reasons. The demonstrations planned for this weekend will be interesting to say the least.

Some of the young women look fabulous in their non black version of hejab. Smart head scarves frame their round beautiful, olive skinned faces with their big, brown eyes and broad smiles. They wear jeans, high heels and firm fitting, knee length coats which are nipped in at the waist, a large shoulder bag and over sized sunglasses   which gives a casual, urban chic look. In the Champs Elysees area of Tabriz many women were quite heavily made up and wore bright scarves showing lots of dyed hair with scarves casually looped around the lower head, just in case.  Even meeting the demands of hejab you can look very glamorous they seem to be saying.

At Babol, Ken sat and watched groups hiring large boats for an hour on the Caspian Sea. He was shocked when he saw the boat proprietor purposefully hand out three life jackets to three men in a group while the women, in black hejab, drew the short straw. No life jackets for them.

At the time of the last election one million women signed a petition to register their dissatisfaction with the current system and  today Iran  has more women than men in higher education.

In the hotels and eating venues portraits of the religious leaders   look down at you. They are everywhere. As you drive through the towns they stare at you from large billboards. And there are billboards of military personnel, the fallen heroes now martyrs reminding all and sundry of their ultimate sacrifice for their country in the eight year Iran/Iraq war with two million casualities. Maybe this is the same as our country towns with their memorials and memorial avenues for the fallen in world war one and two and in the days of my childhood, the portrait of the Queen prominently located in all public buildings and schools. We understand that the young, militia volunteers who make up the million strong Baseej are rewarded for their efforts in ensuring adherence to the strict moral and social codes in all aspects of daily life.

Most of the smaller towns we have driven through like Bojnurd were flying black flags to commemorate the death of the Grand Ayatollah Khomeini. Only in one town did we see green flags flying near a mosque I might add, representing the Reform Movement. The visual images are really powerful and in the hotels and restaurants the televisions blare, often with some religious person motivating a large audience.

But the people are welcoming. The people are so proud of their Perisan past and place in history but concerned about where things are heading.  Everywhere you go most people want to make eye contact and smile. The young folk want to talk and practice their very good English. “Welcome to Iran” is common refrain. They tell us of the hardship in Iran which is partly, an outcome of the sanctions against their country; high levels of unemployment, boredom, drug abuse, personal restrictions, inflation and shortages.  One guy said “my country is tired”. The ban on alcohol consumption is interesting and we noted one guy with his concealed  hip flask of vodka at the dinner table. Funny we could all see what he was doing.

The fact that we drive along with the iPod playing  is also a possible  infringement here. No expression of affection in public is acceptable and when our convoy stopped out in the country, we all hopped out of the cars and  Ken gave me and extended hug as you do when you have been married forever. The driver came up to me and said you know that is this something that has not been permitted  in Iran for thirty years and it is so nice to see but so sad for our country that we are so restricted.

Our  impression when we crossed the border on the first day, was the number of people enjoying the holiday weekend, out and about camping on the side of the rivers and in the countryside. It seems OK to pitch a tent and camp anywhere. We have seen small tents pitched on pavements in car parks and on the median strips in Tabriz. A walk into Babol at night we saw lots of groups sitting on carpets, Persian of course, on the pavement with tea and nibbles just socialising.

We have witnessed the custom of ta’arof in practice where people demonstrate their generosity and sensitivity. Basically it seems when you ask a price the answer is” it is nothing”. The interaction may go through three stages before an agreed amount is settled on. Mary was purchasing material and when Reg came to pay for it the shop keeper said take it. Reg worked through the system and for the princely sum of $2.50 Mary has a metre of material. I went to buy a bottle of water at the hotel and handed  the receptionist one dollar US and  when she didn’t have the change I indicated she should not worry but  she remonstrated and  insisted  I keep the dollar and the water. Unheard of!

Half the country of Iran is mountainous and again we saw snow capped peaks. Once across the border from Turkmenistan the terrain was rugged and the style of mud brick housing changed and the urban landscape looked like something from biblical times. Square or rectangular mud brick buildings with flat roofs and high walls was the norm.

 When we hit what would be considered the tourist area along the Caspian Sea with the Alborz Mountains running parallel with the inland sea, towards Rasht, we saw three and five storey concrete buildings everywhere. They were drab, unpainted and uninspiring, such a contrast to the colour and movement of the architecture of some  parts of  the Stans. In Tabriz there were a lot of buildings which were still under construction and it looked as though this was an extended process which was taking years to complete. Maybe the sanctions mean some of the construction materials are not available.

 The surprise in Iran is the diversity of  the land, from desert to the cotton fields and rice paddies running parallel with the Caspian Sea. Lush, tropical terrain in some parts and wind swept, barren ranges in other areas.

Petrol in Iran is 40 centres a litre and gas next to nothing we are told.  Many cars run on gas and the queues at gas stations sometimes stretch for a 100 metres.  Forty percent of cars are Hillman Hunters (called Paykans) in various stages of decay.  Petrol stations are hard to find as the profit margin in selling petrol is low.  It seems an irony that you have to drive around one of the oil rich countries of the world trying to find petrol.  Still $15 to fill your car softens the blow.

A final contradiction was noted when our last tourist stop   just near the Turkish border, was a visit  to a church. I couldn’t fathom how it was that a  Christian church had continuously    functioned.  The church was the Qara Church, black church because it was constructed from black granite. History apparently records that this was the place where Tateous, a minor disciple established a church which  has  operated for thousands of years. Our guide told us it was primarily the Armenians who worshipped here. When we entered this simple cathedral, the priest was singing a mass and preparing a communion for about eight middle age men. The acoustics in this church were wonderful and the simplicity of the place very moving.

I am pleased to be free of the head scarf and to have briefly visited this country where the people make you so welcome and appear so passionate about their country.  One can feel nothing but admiration for the Iranians who continue to question   the system and  with the support of the five million Iranians who live abroad  work towards  creating  a more open country. 

Smiling faces: girls who helped their father at the bakery

Just camp in the car park

More smiling faces

Ken and urbanites