Tag Archives: hospitality

Day 283 – Generosity

Camping spot in the morning

Camping spot in the morning

Right, there exists something called weather in most of the world …

We woke up in between showers. The rumble of thunder was still audible somewhere in the valley. When I poked my head out and tentatively started to make breakfast, the drops started falling again. All around were dark clouds, except for one small patch of blue that sparked our hopes. By the time breakfast was ready, the rain was in full swing again, though. So we climbed back into our little bubble and sat it out.

Sun...over here, please. Epic sun beams on the other side of the valley

Sun…over here, please. Epic sun beams on the other side of the valley

By 10 am we had packed everything up again. We had some luck and just got all in during a brief pause in the rain. The tent will have to be dried at some point within the next two days, though.

I must say I enjoyed the change of landscape and weather. For the first time that I can remember, we were both wearing the full Compañero, including the rain proof layer, so the cold and wet did not phase us at all. Besides, we only had 150 km to go to reach Kermanshah, where we would likely stay overnight.

...except for sheep...

…except for sheep…

I am not sure if it is just the lack of a direct route or my setting the GPS to shortest distance, but we took a real back country road for the last 90 km or so. It was nice and quiet, but could have done with a pothole or two less. The quiet road made the contrast all the more stark, coming over the last hill into Kermanshah. From subsistence farmers with donkeys to the three lane boulevards of a ¾ of a million people city within 10 minutes.

We stopped soon after getting into town to set a waypoint for a recommended food place near the city centre. Open street maps are pretty reliable, but most waypoints are only stored in Farsi, which the Garmin does not handle well. So instead of searching, I usually have to set waypoints manually by matching them with the maps in the Lonely Planet. Kermanshah is big, so it took me a while right there on the side of a busy road. A few people stopped, until Hesam came out of his car to check up on us as well.

Into the city

Into the city

A moment later, he got his sister Sara on the case as well, who’s English was even better than his. Instead of fiddling with the GPS, they offered to lead us there with their car. Once again, we are blown away by the kindness and hospitality of the Iranian people. It is a strange thing, on the one hand, we are getting used to these random acts of kindness, on the other hand we have to laugh hard imagining this kind of genuine “Menschenliebe” anywhere else. In Germany, people would probably rather call the police than follow a stranger.

We only went for 20 meters, when Sara and Hesam stopped again and Sara came to talk to us once more. She asked if we were only looking for a simple room. If so, we could come and stay at her family’s home, where her mother and aunt live. She and her brother were also just visiting at the moment. We had not gone with an invitation since Azemeh’s home and with the rain still going on, we were really glad for a dry place, so we kindly accepted and followed them there instead.

We got a very warm welcome by mother Fereshteh and aunt Shahin, got immediately treated to tea and biscuits and when we remembered that we had still not eaten, Hesam went out to organise Felafel sandwiches for everyone. They had a spare room in the cellar which was just perfect for us and while I unloaded our gear, Nina got the chance to take the shower first.

Flo was moderately excited

Flo was moderately excited

After we got everything sorted, plans were made. Sara was only in town till tomorrow and had family matters to attend to this afternoon, which left plenty of time for us to explore the city’s main attraction Taq-e Bostan on our own and sort out some things in town. We got back on the bike and headed for “the mountain”. Taq-e Bostan is a Sassanian era bas relief at the foot of a massive mountain that rises almost vertical and forms the natural northern end of town. We took a little detour up the public park that stretches one third up the slope of the mountain, to watch all the picnickers and weekend frolickers out and about. At the sight, the restaurant next to the entrance was kind enough to let us park our bike under the CCTV and we got in to once again pay the ridiculous 400.000 rial ticket price. This time, I was really a bit annoyed, since there is little to the site but the relief, a spring and a pond – no explanation or much of anything else given. The annoyance lasted only for a moment, though, since the setting was rather nice and the people were continuously lovely. We sat on the grass for a while and took some photos with a group of polymer chemistry students while generally having a good time.

A group of chemistry students swarmed us at the park :)

A group of chemistry students swarmed us at the park 🙂

Back at the bike, we made the day of the young soft ice cream seller’s daughter by letting her hop on Rocinante for an Instagram. Pa was in a good mood as well and outright refused to take our money for the two soft ice cream we had.

Back at the house, we had a good time showing Shahin and another aunt some of our pictures from Oman and Iran and communicating without pretty much any shared language. When Hesam came back later, he asked if we would like to join him catch up with a friend at his restaurant. We tagged along and had a good time with even more tea, tochmeh (roasted sunflower seeds) and cheese flavoured popcorn.

We did explain to Saleh how this sign could be misunderstood ;)

We did explain to Saleh how this sign could be misunderstood 😉

As a bonus we got to observe friend Saleh and his crew try to improve the decoration of the place.

After such a full day, with many great and unexpected moments, we had to retreat to our room pretty soon after coming back to get some good sleep. On top of the long day, I was also coming down with Nina’s plague from last week …

 

 

Day 282 – Choqa Zanbil and the reappearance of weather

Porridge with mutton for breakfast ... hmmm .. going local

Porridge with mutton for breakfast … hmmm .. going local

Breakfast after a very comfy night was the Persian standard with a European twist. We got the usual bread, cheese and tea with the addition of hard boiled eggs but then coffee, orange juice, milk and jam were also available. Carrot jam really isn’t my thing, while sour cherries jam is a good match to the flat bread. I, then, felt obliged to also try the rose jam which was weird but tasty. Enough food talk now.

We left Shushtar to ride to Choqa Zanbil, maybe 30 more kilometres away. Choqa Zanbil is a Unesco heritage site, protecting the 3300 year old ziggurat. From the pictures on the internet, we weren’t really impressed. Being on the site though, our view changed. We’re unsure if it’s the scale of the ziggurat or if it was a combination of the loneliness of the place (we arrived before the tour buses did) with the dramatic, lead-coloured sky announcing a storm. Whatever it was, it was impressive. The whole structure is built of mud-bricks, some of them burnt. It has five levels going up and is being restored at the moment (or rather, for a long time).

3300 years ... wow

3300 years … wow

The first person I ran into, while Flo took the longer way through the outlying buildings, was a restaurateur. His English wasn’t quite that good but he managed to give us some information, guided us for a bit and allowed Flo to get up on the first level of the ziggurat. All that while lightning could be seen in the distance behind the structure (and I didn’t get it in a single picture) and then the thunder boomed overhead.

The information available in English is much better here than in Persepolis, probably because it got some Unesco funding from 1998 onwards. When the first drops started to fall, we tried to hurry back to the bike…unsuccessfully. A German guided tour had just arrived so we talked to them for a bit and shortly entered the ziggurat again with them. At the bike, we answered more questions of locals, took a couple more pictures with them…and rode off into the storm. The wind was incredible. The rain still hadn’t reached its full potential so we decided to play it safe instead of being soaked through to the bone. At the next intersection/check point with a bit of cover, we put on our entire rain gear, this time including pants.

We took the toll road for 38 km - not sure if we were allowed to, but it was fast

We took the toll road for 38 km – not sure if we were allowed to, but it was fast

Choqa Zanbil was the last point in the low lands of Iran for us so we headed towards the mountains again for which I was grateful. Yes, it was stormy today but yesterday it had been just too hot for me to cope well. So we looked towards Kermanshah as a next destination which we wouldn’t reach today. Lunch was had at a real (real) truck stop where I had rice with yogurt and a salad because all they sold was kebab. It was a slightly weird experience to stop at a real truck stop, I must say.

Parts of the afternoon went by in cruise mode before we stopped to pick up ingredients for dinner. To mix up our usual bread-heavy camping grub, Flo wanted to boil potatoes which could be mixed with the remaining eggplant-tomato-dish from a can. The roadside vendor where we stopped refused to take any money for a handful of potatoes and tomatoes and instead insisted on giving us a watermelon for free as well. No amount of shaking our heads could dissuade him (where should we put a WATERMELON on the bike?) so in the end, we went for the smallest one he had. It got stored in the bag that usually holds our waterproof gear which we were wearing now.

Loaded to the brim like this, we headed into the mountains proper. Already tired, we let one or two promising spots slip before stopping on a meadow with trees that seems to be a popular picnic/camping spot. There was no one else around though so we put up our tent and had a quiet but delicious dinner. By the time we were ready for bed, the now familiar rumbling of thunder was back. The night’s rest was interrupted when the lightning storm started as the strikes could be seen very well even from inside our tent. Luckily, it didn’t cross right over us so we went back to sleep not long after. Earplugs are your best friend in such cases.

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 259 – Hospitality

Slowly, the valley and plains appear out of the darkness

Slowly, the valley and plains appear out of the darkness

We got up really early today – 5.40 am – to see the sun rise over Wadi Ghul. It was uncomfortably cold outside, but the colours playing across the vast sky made up for it. At least for a while. Once the mornings glow had played out and the sun was up, it would take another 45 minutes for it to reach “our horizon”, the steep mountain across the valley. We decided that the time would be much better spend warming up and catching up on sleep hiding in the tent.

Ready to leave our little spot in the sky now

Ready to leave our little spot in the sky now

Once the sun was fully up and the tent warmed by the morning rays, we were ready to get out and start our day. We knew it would be the last packing up for a couple of days, so we took our time. Even so, the bike was packed and the road beneath us at about 9 am.

There was plenty of time in the day and our goal was only 300 km away in Sohar with no point being there before 5 pm. Based on that and the great condition of the gravel roads up here, I was able to convince Nina to explore a bit further. The highest point of Jebel Shams is another 1000m up. An Air Force radar station was build on top, so the map showed a road going all the way up. Naturally, I wanted to see how far we can go. I think the highest we had taken Rocinante so far was around 2400m.

Had to capture the epic-ness one more time

Had to capture the epic-ness one more time

It turned out that this would have to stand for a while longer since there was a gate and guard house with a sign telling us that entry is prohibited. As we were about to turn around, an Air Force guard came out and after a moment invited us over. I am always up for coffee and we had nothing to do, so we accepted. Nasser and his aid Adi were amazing hosts. We got Omani dates and coffee until we thought we could take no more. Then they brought out the chai tea. We spent an hour with them, talking about out trip, their families and the world in general. What an amazingly warm experience.

When we were too full to eat any more dates or have any more tea, we received a “small” bag of dates for the road, about the size of a head. Glowing, we got ready and back onto the bike to leave Jebel Shams. Thank you Nasser and thank you Adi for such an amazing experience.

The beehive tombs are up on a ridge next to a dry wadi

The beehive tombs are up on a ridge next to a dry wadi

There was one more box to tick before  it was all about getting “home” again to Lina. Oman is famous for its many archaeological sites – the last one on our list was one of the groups of beehive tombs on the way. These towers were build more than 3000 years ago as burial mounds, but not much else is known about them. When we reached the site some time after lunch, we were surprised on how low key this was compared to so many other destinations in Oman. No big sign or infrastructure around. Just this amazing site at the other side of a wadi. Luckily, we had a point of interest in the GPS.

Wadi, gardens, a mosque and the mountain range give great context to the beehives

Wadi, gardens, a mosque and the mountain range give great context to the beehives

To get to the tombs, we had to cross a horticulture and gardens and then the dried up riverbed of the wadi itself on foot. It was actually pretty cool to get a good close up view of such an integral part of everyday Omani life. There were about a dozen towers in varying states of conservation, but for the most part it was pretty clear how this must have looked like. We wandered around a bit, took a heap more photos and walked back to the bike. There, we got talking to a farmer on his way back from his field. He told us that he emigrated 20 years ago from Islamabad and invited us for tea. With a heavy heart (we had 200 km to go) we declined as politely as we could and got back on the road. What a welcoming country!

The road between Ibri and Sohar leads through the mountains once more

The road between Ibri and Sohar leads through the mountains once more

The ride back was beautiful once more – even though we almost got lost at a road closure on the way. Oman is the country where our GPS data is probably most outdated – mainly because of the incredible speed with which new roads are being build or expanded. This road from Ibri to Sohar will soon be dualised and in prime condition. For now, it was still a beautiful highway through the mountains and then down a wadi towards the northern coastal plain.

The day ended in a little surprise. Last week, we checked with our friends whether they would be around during the weekend, to hang out one more time before we had to move on. We knew that we would arrive earlier in the week, though, and had sent texts to confirm today’s arrival. As it turned out, our texts got lost in limbo and Lina and Michael were quite surprised to have us right at their doorstep tonight. Soon the surprise had worn off, though. We got a nice dinner and the room prepared for us. It is so nice to be welcomed, even if one shows up “unannounced”.