Iran.

City gate of Behbahan

And so, we did it. We travelled Iran and it we loved it.

The whole country is bristling in historic sites and what a history.

I can’t and won’t try and cover that part of this incredible country in my meagre 1200+ words other than posting pictures of some of our highlights.

This blog is about the people and their struggle, their everyday struggle.

For us, we had our visas; we had our guide waiting. We needed the guide as the Iranian government won’t let us Brits travel without one. Just in case, we are spy’s, I guess?

I was worried how we would be perceived by the locals and were we indeed safe? I was assured we were safe and as long as we towed the party line: -

The advice was, don’t point our cameras at the Police or Military or Government buildings or any civil unrest that may occur and don’t disrespect the Koran and you will be okay.

And so, we went to Iran.

The pink Mosque - Shiraz The sun shines through the windows in the morning, creating some stunning images.

Getting into Iran over the land border from Turkey was easy. We had our visas; we had our guide waiting.

I have to write this bit as well. As a Danish national, Charlotte could have travelled alone without a guide but because of me, the Brit, a guide was mandatory.

Anyway, our guide gave us a great insight into Iran (I prefer Persia don’t you), not only to its unbelievable historic past as part of the Silk route but also, the current situation as it was playing out before our very own eyes.

The majority Iranians are desperate to show the world they are really nice people and want no part in the dictatorship government.

And so, my story starts.

Camel rides are common place and popular with families.

At this stage I will explain I have not mentioned names of the guide or the company supplying the guide, just in case of any reprecussions against them.

The Iranian language is Farsi by the way and not Arabic as I thought.

The Iranians are thought on as a strict Muslim society.

Women should wear loose fitting clothes as not to show their curves.

Women MUST wear head scarves to hide their hair. This is Mandatory and punishable by imprisonment or public flogging for anyone not doing this. (Yes, you did read that correctly).

The Government party line is, all women will wear head scarves to hide their hair.

All men should follow the Muslim faith and attend Mosque, read the Koran etc.

External view of the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, Esphan

Internal view of the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, Esphan

Our guide a 30+ guy, married with a son. Happy guy just wanting to please and do a good job.

I will call our guide Fred for ease of further reference.

Fred was happy to share that he was amongst around 80% of Iranians that had turned their back on their Muslim faith and had stopped attending Mosque and really didn’t identify as Muslims mainly driven because of the dictatorship government and as a silent protest..

The government, however, claim 98% of Iranians are practacing Muslim and 95% of those are Shia and 5% Sunni. Shia being the more devout as I understand.

One of the first jobs on arrival into Iran was to buy SIM cards. It was a real process involving copying Passports, giving our fathers names and finally an old-fashioned thumb print using an ink pad and paper.

When done, I reluctantly told the guy behind the counter that my internet was not working. He frowned and asked what I was looking at and rather embarrassingly I said FaceBook (at least I didn’t say porn).

He explained FB, Instagram, TikTok and What’s app are all outlawed and not available in Iran and so if I wanted to see those sites, here was a good free VPN to use, it’s the one everyone uses he said?

Bingo, it was like turning on a light. Amazing and why bother with the ban if its so easy to get around the Government block?

The Rainbow mountains

Fred told us that Iran brews alcohol, legally for non-Muslims and you can buy it at selected stores if you are not a Muslim.

Iranian Vodka. 50% proof.

Fred bought some for us (me). Fred is registered as a Muslim, although not practicing?

Whilst we visited the various religious and historic sites, Fred stuck to me like glue and wouldn’t let me out of his sites.Eventually, Fred, suggested it may be better for me to say I was Danish rather than English when speaking to the locals and as every other person whom we passed would stop us and asked where we were from before adding “Welcome to Iran”

Chai is sold everywhere and usually very sweet.

Bread being baked and it was placed on stones to allow air to circulate whilst baking. Asbestos fingers needed to remove the stones after baking.

The bread was scrummy when warm and often didnt make it back to the truck.

And so what is the truth?

Whilst walking the streets and passing the shops people came out to give us fruit and nuts, Chai was thrust at us at every turn. These people are desperate to show they are kind and misunderstood and mis reported in the western press I would suggest.

The Iranian women were a real mixture. Many older women wore the Abaya and some even had pillar box eyes. Many of the younger women had skinny jeans, full makeup and the head scarf was pushed back to the middle of their hair in defiance. In Tehran, we saw some women walking the streets with no head scarf at all. This was really a strong message and I was nervous knowing what their fate could be for such a defiant act.

"I told you Rodeny" - The devaluation of the Iranian currencey meant the notes had virtually no value and this pile was worth virtually nothing.

We saw women is Shisha bars smoking the Shisha pipes. Surely that was taboo in a country that suppresses women’s rights?

Whilst taking a Taxi in Tehran, Charlottes head scarf slipped around her shoulders and the driver asked Charlotte to put it back on her head. He explained he didn’t care but the Morality police had fined him earlier that week for another lady in his Taxi having had the same issue with her headscarf slipping. They are on the streets and undercover he explained. You don’t know who they are.

Women happy to be photgraphed smoking the Shisha pipe.

Charlotte has an Iranian friend living in London. His mother lives in Tehran. We had arranged to meet her whilst there. The lady we were due to meet is 86 years old. We had told our guide before we arrived in Iran we wanted to go and see her. The day we were due to meet, we were told the Ministry for Foreign affairs had to approve the meeting and they refused and so we couldn’t go and see her? 93 years old! The explanation was, the Ministry didn’t know this lady and they couldn’t risk what we might take to her or, what she might tell us and so they couldn’t allow us to go?

A woman preparing street food. The pancacke is smothered in a sweet substance and folded and cut.

Street markets never disappoint

Getting around from city to city was hard work and the distances were huge. Driving took us many hours a day.

Getting fuel was a lottery. Iran has the cheapest fuel in the world with Diesel costing around 8p a litre.

The issue for us came as tourists, we couldn’t buy fuel legally They allocate Diesel to lorry drivers at the rate of 100lts per every 8 hours to stop the stockpiling and reselling to neighbouring countries.

We had to ask lorry drivers at fuel stations and they would usually help out for a little cash.

Royal palace - Tehran 

Many countries we travel have road blocks and police checks at regular intervals. Its quite normal for us and quite reasuring in a way. This wasn’t the case in Iran. We got stopped twice by the police to check passports, driving licence, insurance and Visa's and we rarely encountered any military. It was almost scary they weren’t around.

The one time we were approached by plain clothes police, they came to the truck and checked our visas and passports and they explained we had done nothing wrong but, should anyone run their vehicle into our truck, or should anyone try and rob us (highly unlikely), they, the Police, would be held to account by their superiors and the BBC and CNN would create another hate campaign against Iran saying the Iranians are abusing the British again.

That is their take on it?

Food in Restaurants is often served on these beds and food is eaten using your hands.

There seemed to be a hidden demon amongst the locals but the morallity police are real and need to be feared if not towing the party line. Everyone seemed scared and we think the lack of police presence made that fear worse. Less is more kind of thing?

With a population of around 89,000,000. This is a really complex and divided nation.

82% of Iran’s exports are Oil and Gas that they sell to Russia, China and India.

To get around the sanctions the west imposes on Iran, they buy their western goods via other Middle east and Asian countries. So, we think we are doing the right thing imposing these sanctions but it’s a sham.

Iran is around 7 times the size of the UK and although predominately thought on as a Muslim country, most cities have a Jewish Synagogue and a church.

After two weeks, we left exhausted from the travelling and totally, totally confused about what this country actually stands for.

It is one of the most interesting places we have ever visited.

And it will always be Persia to me.

Thank you for reading this and the next one will be a bit quicker being published.

Please, look closely at this Billboard. You dont need to speak Fassi.

The Azadi tower, Tehran.

Does my Bum look big in this?

Street food is everywere and delicous.

Grand Bizzare - Tabriz. The biggest Bizzare in the world. This is merely a snap shot.

Iranian food was delicous and often a communal affair.

A street vendor selling Betroot. It was very filling.

A bunch of school kids interested in us because we are western and the teacher not so interested.

We parked for the night and in the morning, these guys were selling their wares outside our door.

These lorries date back 50+ years and are used for everything. They are so reliable, the same model is still manufactured and updated but they are basically as they were.

Traditional food as it is served in most road side restaurants.

The modern side of Tehran. A street food market that wouldnt be out of place in London.

We are off....... To an uninspired start.

After the virtual rebuild of the truck, we took delivery and spent a couple of days in a pub car park in Doncaster, showcasing the truck and our onward journey. We met with old friends and new ones as well.

It was lovely to see so many people and thank you to everyone who came to see us.

Soon it was time to head for the Ferry (Hull- Rotterdam).

We set off in the afternoon; it was damp and grey with just my daughter, Lisa and her family waving a flag to say goodbye.

I wanted to say words like Awesome and Epic, but it wasn’t.

We played David Bowie, Heroes album. We always do you see, but even that didn’t inspire us.

A random shot of a guy selling balloons in Warsaw - To cheer things up a bit

The most exciting part was when I got out of bed on the Ferry and forgot I was on the top bunk – Bang! Luckily, I got away with a bruised knee.

Our first stop was to meet our dear friends Frank and Suzanne in Northern France at their holiday home and that was wonderful but we needed more.

Next up was to Denmark to see Charlotte’s family and friends.

Denmark is so clean and so clinical almost, but not inspirational. Not Africa to be honest.

We continued driving in Europe, which was fraught with rules and regulations.

We had to be aware of weight restrictions, height restrictions, speed restrictions—so much red tape. So dull.

We reached Poland and Warsaw and the pace appeared to pick up some.

Warsaw was stunning with so much history and a beautifully restored old City centre.

Warsaw's beautifully renovated city centre.

The Neon Sign Museum.

We visited the Neon sign museum which was quirky and located in an Arty district of Warsaw with swanky restaurants and Art galleries. It was like being back in London.

The people dressed well and the place had a feeling of affluence. Such a contrast to its not-so-distant history.

To bring ourselves down to realism we went to the Polish Jew Museum. Don’t we forget the persecution and hardship the Jews went through? It was quite disturbing. I could fill the blog with this but if you get a chance, go and visit.

Then through Slovakia, before we passed through Hungary and that reminded us again of the Jews as many Auschwitz victims came from Hungary.

Such a contrast to today’s affairs?

Hungary to Romania and a plethora of Horse-drawn trailers used by the locals to transport their goods.

Many horse-drawn vehicles are still used throughout Eastern Europe.

Once again, we saw poverty like we don’t know in the more developed world, but everyone was happy and had a smile.

The men worked the fields with old tractors or horse-drawn implements. This was Autumn and the harsh winter was just around the corner. Life must be tough for these people.

There were signs of the modern world penetrating this existence though,  as there was a Fast food, Pizza joint in every small village of varying looking quality.

In contrast, some Roma people have built many ostentatious homes.

The Roma originate from the Punjab region of India. (A good quiz question)?

We didn’t take photographs as we are quite conspicuous in our truck!

Bucharest is the jewel obviously, a beautiful city with so much history and theatrical buildings.

One of the Theatrical buildings in Bucharest. This one just happened to be a pub.

We met a friend of ours, Rishy from Sri Lanka working in Bucharest.

I asked how she had managed to get a job in Europe.

Rishy explained Romania are taking in lots of people from many countries to fill the skill shortage caused by the exodus of Romanians now living in Western Europe as they are allowed free movement in the EU leaving a skills shortage in Romania.

By working the day job and then a cleaning job in the evenings and Saturdays, Rishy could afford the €300 a month for the rent on her 2-bedroom flat in the suburbs of Bucharest. Enough to support her and her son.

By working the two jobs, she cleared around €1000 a month.

She also told us that after 5 years she can apply for residency and sit a test in Romanian or, wait for 7 years and be granted residency automatically and then have free movement in Europe.

From Bucharest, we moved quickly on to Bulgaria a similar story as Romania with the poor being very poor but signs of Mega wealth to boot.

The highlight for us was a visit to the Buzludzha building, built by the Communist Party in 1981 to celebrate the party and act as a shrine, conference centre and general reminder of how great the movement was. Unfortunately, the communist party was overthrown in 1989 (so not so great after all then).

And the building was closed.

The sheer scale and size of the place, perched high on a hilltop, miles from anything was quite something to see.

In its heyday, this place was adorned in every finery you could wish for as a celebration of the communist party.

Unfortunately, after its closure, it was completely looted by the very same Communists it was built for and is now locked up and can only be viewed from the outside adding to the eerie feeling of the place.

We got there late afternoon and watched as a steady stream of visitors came, took the all-important selfies and even a couple of the building itself.

As it got dark, we had the place to ourselves and it was quite unnerving spending the night up close and personal with this imposing structure towering above us.

In the wink of an eye, we were in Turkey and stopped in Istanbul for a small repair to the truck.

Next up, OMG. The trip picked up a pace.

Cappadocia, Turkey. The pictures tell the story but it needs to be seen (best out of season is my advice).

The obligatory photo with the Truck

The town is an ant nest of tourists, being offered every service they may or may not need. All for a cost of course, but the sights are natural and stunning and I mean, stunning.

Unfortunately, all the areas of beauty are being overrun by 4x4 vehicles, Quad bikes and Horse riding trips that look more like Blackpool Donkey rides.

All these activities erode the soft stone monuments the area is famous for.

We got up to watch the Balloons launch at sunrise for several days. We counted over 100 hot air balloons in the sky at any one time. You could feel the Ozone layer disintegrating as we watched.

I can’t deny it was extremely photogenic.

I just wished it could have happened around noon to save the 06.00hrs alarm call.

That all said, you can still find walking trails not open to the tourist busses and so relatively untouched. A real treat.

Our final real stop in Turkey was in Gaziatap. A town in the south near the Syrian border and famed for its Mosaic museum.

All things Pistachio for sale in the local markets.

The colours were amazing.

Because of the location of the town near the Syrian border, it has become a haven for Syrians escaping persecution and the town has absorbed around 500,000 Syrians putting immense strains on the infrastructure and swelling its population by around 30%.

The town is also the Turkish capital of Baklava and has over 200 cafes and shops selling everything Pistachio-based.

The numerous Tea shops served and great stop-offs to sample the local speciality.

At this stage, we had left Europe and Joined Asia. Yes, geographically we had, but also the change in culture and the street markets said it all.

Now we are preparing for the next leg of our journey and it IS, going to be Awesome and it will be Epic. Of that, I can promise you.

Street hawkers starting to appear.

Local markets are always a favourite.

A local tailor doing his thing.

Crafting copper and other materials on every street corner.

Lots of Gold shops strewn around town.

These are everywhere in Turkey. They are effective too, in my opinion.

Stick with us as we move forward. You won’t be disappointed.

Excitement and fear are running through our veins in equal proportions.

Thank you for reading my blog.

We are ready to go!

Finally, our truck will be returned to us on Wednesday the 28th of August, completely overhauled and with many upgrades. We will pack it up and get ready for our next adventure to the Middle East, Central Asia The Far East and then Australia and New Zealand, South, Central and North America over the coming years.

But every journey has to start somewhere and ours will start in a Pub car park (it could be worse) where we will pack everything away, test all the new features and to this end we are asking if you would like to come and say hello?

We will be parked at the car park of The Scarborough Arms pub, Sunderland Street, Tickhill, Doncaster DN11 9QJ.

We will be in the car park from lunchtime on Friday the 30th of August until lunchtime 1st of September and we are expecting to have a bit of a party if you can make it.

We hope to see you there.

David and Charlotte.