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Day 293 – The end is neigh

The meadow was full of poppies and yellow flowers

The meadow was full of poppies and yellow flowers

We did good yesterday, in terms of distance. That meant that we only had two hours to go to Tabriz, giving us ample time to upload 6! blog entries and do a bit of sight-seeing as well. The first guesthouse we aimed at was jackpot, right away.

I came into Darya guesthouse only to stumble over two German overlanders in the process of checking out. They had only good things to say – the price was right and the parking safe. Meanwhile Nina got into a little chat with another young couple staying at the guesthouse. We booked in without much hesitation, unloaded the bike and got it parked safe and sound in a chicken coop in a backyard around the corner.

Cream-filled puff pastry! Success!

Cream-filled puff pastry! Success!

There were a couple of hours of light chilling and blogging, including a good afternoon nap. At about 4 pm we made our way to town to do a bit of sightseeing still. The main draw for us was the UNESCO world heritage bazaar, which also had the money changer that we needed. Once again, the bazaar was a really cool experience and with far less motorcycle dodging than Esfahan’s. Shame on me though, I forgot to re-stock our date supply.

After that, we felt like some more relaxing and went to look for a recommended tea house in another shopping street. It turned out to be hard to pin down, but as always in Iran there were helpful locals all around who could lead us around the corner to the back-alley entrance. The tea house was super cool – a brick vault with a fountain in the middle. Judging by the people around, this was just our crowd. Heaps of “slipping” hijabs …

Cozy seats around the fountain and real daybeds further up

Cozy seats around the fountain and real daybeds further up

Tea and baklava were good, but by now we needed something more substantial to fill the hole in our stomachs. So off we went in search for another recommended restaurant, but this time in vain. We passed the spot three time, but not even the friendly locals were able to find it for us. We did, however, find two more stragglers in search of food. Giona and Uliana, the young couple from earlier at the hotel, were looking for the same place. Spontaneously, we decided to join up and try our luck together at the next place.

Sadly, this one was closed as well. People told us earlier that today is an Islamic holiday in Iran. That might explain it. Uliana knew that the kebab shop next to our hotel would do vegetarian kebabs, so we defaulted to that place. What was lacking in the taste department was more than compensated by the good company. Uliana and Giona are overlanding in a 4×4 campervan from Europe to Mongolia and back. It was also refreshing to chat with more “global citizens” with a more complicated idea of home. There were at least seven languages spoken between us, with English and German as the lingua franca of choice.

Tabriz had some very particular shapes for their cookies...filled with lemon jam...yum

Tabriz had some very particular shapes for their cookies…filled with lemon jam…yum

After dinner, we had to pay one more visit to one of the many sweet shops in town to restock Nina’s supply before retreating to bed for one more blog post …

 

… not yet. I keep on forgetting to write about a big looming cloud that is constantly at least on my mind. We continue to travel and do things as we have done them and so write blog posts that are probably similar to Australia or Asia. But every day now, my thought wander to Germany. Where money was our big worry in South East Asia, re-integration is it for Iran. We have not lived in Germany for years. A lot has changed since then, mostly for us and our outlook on and expectation of life. Every second interaction with Europeans is a dreadful reminder of the reasons we left in the first place.

So I keep on worrying, scheming and planning. What route to take from Istanbul? What about health insurance, warrant of fitness for the bike. Will I find a job? When to start applying? How to do a German style CV … on and on it keeps on encroaching on my everyday thoughts. Tabriz was the last city in Iran, from tomorrow on we will head for the border. In two days, we will be in Turkey, the last country we will travel in for this trip.

Then, Europe. A crazy sprint through Eastern Europe and then the culture shock of being back. Stopping. Resting. Building a life once again. In a place I am not sure I want to live in again. The end is neigh …

Day 278 – Seeing Esfahan on foot

Our blog needed some love and attention; it’s not that we are tired of writing but a combination of bad internet connections, long and full days and thus not enough time to write the appropriately long entries had led to the biggest backlog we had so far. Thus, the whole morning was spent on posting blog entries to catch up. Even if we have pre-written the entries, uploading photos and then commenting every single one takes time.

We left the hostel for lunch, mostly because Flo was hangry. As always, vegetarian choices were severely limited so I was stuck with soup, salad and dessert. The dessert Khoresht mast was a new thing I tried and it did not convince me. Looking it up on the net also revealed that while it is a dessert, it is not vegetarian…

Two mosques, one enormous gate bazaar entrance. This square has it all.

Two mosques, one enormous gate bazaar entrance. This square has it all.

Afterwards, we strolled down one of the bigger streets until we found Naqsh-e Jahan Imam Square which is the center of Esfahan, really. The name means “pattern of the world”. The square is a rectangle and it is enclosed by the low buildings that house part of the bazaar with the main entrance of the bazaar to one (short) side and the entrance to the Masjed-e Shah (Royal Mosque) on the exact opposite. A second mosque, Masjed-e Sheikh Lotfollah, has its entrance at the middle of one of the long sides. From its dimensions, the square is impressive but unfortunately, there is a construction site right on the square and the dome of Masjed-e Shah is also clad in a scaffold; this takes away from the impression quite a bit. Continue reading

Day 276 – An unexpected pick-up

Gosh, what a lovely spot. I do look tired though

Gosh, what a lovely spot. I do look tired though

Check out time for our lovely hotel was 12 (noon) and we intended to use every second of that time to relax, enjoy the garden and update the blog while we have wifi. Breakfast was served late from 9 am onwards and we just kept our spot to lounge on one of the platform. After blogging for an hour we had an extra tea or coffee (which was still available from breakfast) and dug into the box with sweets once more.

But even the most chilled out morning in a while comes to an end so we packed and waved good-bye to Yazd which we really enjoyed despite it being rather hard on our budget. It is 316km from Yazd to Esfahan, something that is easily do-able in an afternoon ride. However, we had decided to wild camp tonight to save money so there was absolutely no time pressure on us. Unfortunately, the road led straight through a desert where the sun burnt down. It wasn’t inviting to dally.

I was exhausted already: In the heat and on the bike is not a good place to be ill

I was exhausted already: In the heat and on the bike is not a good place to be ill

Around 2 pm, we stopped at an old roadside caravansary which had some spots in the shade and was probably used as a stop for truckers. A quick snack lunch and an extended break later, we were back on the road. I still didn’t feel well and was really happy with the break. I guess I’m coming down with a bad case of cold or something; my head feels kind of funny from all the slime that is building up inside of it. You are welcome for this description. =P

Once we hit the mountain range behind which Esfahan lies, it got cooler and more comfortable on the bike. Soon, we were starting to look out for a camp spot. Spare time can always be used for the blog and a bit of a lie down cannot be bad for a sick me either. We passed the first “maybe” spot when I suddenly realized that we hadn’t bought anything for dinner yet…and no extra water as well. So the looking for a camping spot stopped and instead, we looked for a shop now to replenish our tank bags.

Such a lovely, welcoming place

Such a lovely, welcoming place

The first place we found was an actual village or small town called Toudeshk. So we turned off the highway and stopped at the first shop we saw…it was closed. Just when we got going again, a taxi pulled up to us, the driver looked out and asked if we were looking for a guest house. Since we weren’t, he pointed out the next open shop to us but then continued to ask if we would come to his guest house…maybe just for a tea. We had the time so why not? Buying bread, cheese and vegetables was done quickly and then we followed Mohammad to his guest house. Turns out that it is Tak-Taku Homestay which is recommended in the Lonely Planet and is a lovely, lovely place. Like a little oasis.

Completely vegetarian: Ash and an eggplant dish

Completely vegetarian: Ash and an eggplant dish

We sat down with Mohammad and parts of his family to eat water melon and drink tea, joined by other guests after a while. It was lovely. Unfortunately, we really really didn’t want to spend money on a guest house but Mohammad insisted on showing us an option. So we had a look. Understanding that we are on a tight budget, he offered us to sleep in the fire room which only has three of the platforms in it and no beds. This would allow us to stay for very cheap. We said yes as all we really need to sleep is a roof and no bugs. Thus, we had a lovely late afternoon at the guest house, an amazing chat with the fellow guests and a great home-cooked vegetarian dinner.

Meeting Leon from the Netherlands, Tilman from Germany and Jose and Jorge from Portugal meant we had very well-travelled company who were also interested in politics, much to Flo’s pleasure. With dinner after dark, I was getting tired rapidly so I opted for an earlier night than Flo.

Day 260 – Boy Zone

Our first day in Sohar was mostly spent using the power and wifi here. Even though we wrote a lot of the blog entries on the road, we now had to upload them. Commenting about 40 to 50 pictures for each entry took us a while so in the end, we managed four blog posts. Which isn’t bad but still not up to date.

When Lina and Michael returned from school, Flo was invited to Jorge’s place where Michael was headed to jam with Jorge and Todd on their guitars. Flo wanted to check the tank and the tank sensor of the bike and Jorge has tools and space so he offered it. Note: Lina and I were not invited…it was explicitly a boy thing. =P

Day 228 – Good-byes

He is checking out our guesthouse ...

He is checking out our guesthouse …

Our last day in Chiang Mai had come. At this point, I wasn’t keen on debating with Flo anymore if he could ride the bike or not. On Monday, the doctor had told him that his recovery will take another week. Leaving Chiang Mai on Saturday seems close enough so he got his wish.

This made today our last day in this city. Walking towards Angel’s Secret to repeat our amazing brunch experience from a couple of day’s ago, we spotted Chantal’s bike all packed up and ready to leave. So we waited around for a chance to say good-bye to her before she rides off towards Myanmar as well.

Chantal's chook chaser, fully loaded in its current setup.

Chantal’s chook chaser, fully loaded in its current setup.

In the end, we spoke for quite a while (she was waiting on another person to show up for an interview) about where we had been and where we will go, sponsorship and meeting up again in Europe. Hugs, waves and a “we’ll stay in touch” later, we were the only ones left in Chiang Mai.

Angel’s Secret was really nice again. Food can just be so yummy. *grin* We decided that food really is the best way of spending our last day here as Chiang Mai is full of good food.

Thus, after an afternoon spent writing for the blog and getting the GPS track for Laos ready, we celebrated with more food in the evening. New Delhi, the Indian restaurant we had been to before, was visited again. Their food is delicious. I actually took a photo of the sign this time…somehow I got the feeling that they have to battle against a bad reputation of Indian food. The sign basically states that almost everything is home-made and you are welcome to complain if the food is not up to your standards. But the food is sooooooo good.

Day 149 – Market Day

Awesome two-finger-typing technique =P

Awesome two-finger-typing technique =P

Since we had so much activity yesterday, we took it slowly today. After breakfast, I spent some time blogging. This is also the only picture we took today.

In the afternoon, we took the scooters to a local market. The market takes place every Wednesday and Saturday with the Wednesday market being the smaller one. I was very excited for donuts which I wanted to buy for New Year’s tomorrow but the stall was not there. Probably one of the things you can only get on Saturdays. 🙁

Flo, Silvia and Klaus then proceeded to have Pad Thai with shrimps while I had some deep fried sesame potato balls.