Sunrise equals breakfast time 🙂

All of the reports on Horizons Unlimited are full of descriptions about the shipping to Bandar Abbas and they all had their story to tell about the Iranian bureaucracy. Flo was dreading it and we had scheduled for a whole day in the port just trying to get Rocinante out of customs. If possible, we would hire a fixer to help with the paper work.

For now, when the lights came on on board of the ferry, there wasn’t even land in sight. Half an hour later, breakfast was served at which point I went back to reading…nothing would happen for a while. Land came in sight, we docked and yet still, we were sitting around on deck waiting for anything to happen.

Close to the port now

Finally, Jan and Flo rode the bikes out of the ferry to the immigration terminal. There, the only English-speaking officer of the port welcomed us and helped us through the dealings to get the passports stamped. It involved a bit of paperwork already, including giving a rough itinerary and a section about your thoughts on Iran. Maybe half an hour later, we had our passports back and could start with the process of the temporary import of the bikes. Well, almost. Flo had left the carnet with the bike and while it was just outside the glass wall, we were locked into the building. It took an officer to unlock a door for him to quickly grab the carnet.

With our passports in hand, we left the immigration building and were immediately brought in contact with a fixer who spoke nearly no English. Not wanting to negotiate a price AFTER he had rendered his services, we negotiated now and got an amazingly great offer of US$15 per vehicle. That was even cheap enough for Jan so we went through the process together.

First picture after all the paperwork was done

Or rather through the waiting time. While our fixer knew almost no English, he definitely knew the process of importing bikes well. Thus he walked around, made copies of the carnets and passports, collected stamps in multitudes and got us through. Mostly, it involved him walking to the next building, us sitting down in the waiting area and then moving on to the next building once he said so. In the meantime, the paperwork in his hands took on epic proportions (about three trees had to die for it, would be my guess) and it became clear that we would have had no chance getting through it ourselves. Plus, the customs office would close at 3 pm before which we really wanted to be done.

At 2 pm, everything was done. We were good to go…once we had paid. Our fixer had two other people working for him as well at this point. One of them showed us the break-down of the costs: US$70 for fees, copies and legal things that they had paid for us already and then another US$70 for their services. Well, we had negotiated a price of US$15. Once we wrote it down to make absolutely clear what we meant, horror dawned on our fixer’s face. He clearly thought we had agreed on US$50 per vehicle. Also, the others didn’t seem too happy about the pre-arranged price. In the end, Flo paid US$70 for the legal stuff and US$30 for their services while Jan stuck to the original price. In the end, he paid US$19 for their services.

Jan talking to the locals in search of a currency exchange

DONE! Good to go! I should have mentioned earlier that it was incredibly hot, most likely 40 degrees. Now, back in all our motorcycle gear, we were cooked. Jan only had dirhams with him so we had paid his fees in US dollars in the port. Thus, we were looking for a bank now so he could exchange his money. Everything was closed though. Once Jan started to ask locals for help, they all said that it’s siesta and things would open up again later on. However, one of them led us to a currency exchange which was also closed but opened up just for us.

Having sorted the money, Flo and I now looked for a hotel. The same helpful local recommended a budget hotel for us which we checked out. It was slightly pricey for our budget but close to what the Lonely Planet described what the lowest price around. While we checked into Ghods Hotel, Jan used the wifi to check up on his couch surfing for the night. So we parted. Flo and I had a little nap in our room, sitting out the heat and waiting for the shops to open again.

So much choice! This is just one of two counters

At 6pm, we went out. The extremely helpful staff of the hotel sent us to “City Center” to buy a local SIM card. We got 5GB for a month now and it worked without an issue. From there, we just grabbed a bite to eat before I saw a confectionery shop which I HAD to check out. In the end, I left with a box filled with four different types of sweets…all of which I had to try immediately in the hotel room. 🙂