Of course, we don’t believe in supernatural beings, faith or such like. But sometimes these ideas are a good shorthand to deal with the weirdness that occurs when a single observer gazes at an overwhelmingly complex and often random world. Why did we stop right there for food? How come Mohammad had to drop of two of his guest at that exact same moment? As much as these moments can neither be influenced actively nor explained with some sort of directed external force, there is a part of ourselves in them nonetheless. By opening up to the world, traveling as we are, and being open to be swept up by what may come, I believe that we “spike the deck” ever so slightly in our favour.

Whatever it may be, we consider ourselves supremely lucky to have ended up here. The Tak-Taku Homestay is an amazing place to the point of being surreally so. We spend the rest of the morning lounging and catching up on the blog a bit more (a reoccurring theme at the moment, it seems). When it was time to tackle the last 100km to Esfahan, we packed our gear once more and got ready. All that was left was to give a huge thank you to Mohammad, his family and the lovely other guests we had the pleasure to meet.

The GPS was set, we had just wiggled our hindquarters into position and turned back onto the main highway, when I noticed something ahead. The road was freshly sealed here, without markings yet. I saw a dust cloud 500m ahead and closed my visor, thinking maybe a digger or some other machine was at work next to the road. When we got there, I was first confused, then realisation dawned. There was a wrecked car, on its roof and facing the wrong way maybe 10m off the road in the dust. Terrible, blood freezing confirmation came when we stopped and saw a little girl, maybe 6 years old, crawling out of the wreck, screaming.

Nina was terrified, especially when we both saw the foot sticking out of the former driver’s side window at an odd angle, unmoving. I was sure someone must have died or at least sustained horrible injuries. I handed Nina the phone and the number of Mohammad and grabbed the first aid kit. By the time I got to the car, miraculously, all four members of the family had crawled out of the wreck on their own. Maybe 1 minute has passed since the crash. More people stopped and came over and I had a look at the four. No obvious broken bones, no bleeding, heck almost no abrasions either! They were all walking, obviously in shock and covered in dust, but pretty much unharmed.

For a minute or two, I could not quite believe their luck – and ours for that matter. They were certainly not buckled up and the Iranian cars are usually at the safety levels of 1985. For all of them to walk within a minute, no one showing signs of injury, is like winning the lottery. Or as a short hand, their guardian angels were doing overtime today.

There were plenty of people here now to help, no one needed first aid and we don’t speak Farsi. To avoid any misunderstandings, especially once the authorities show up, we decided to move on. A moment later we stopped again briefly to call Mohammad anyway and asked him to double check with the ambulance service just in case.

Shaken but relieved we rode the 100km in relative silence, all the way to our next hostel in Esfahan. Mohammad had suggested a place with a great price and even called ahead for us to make a reservation. All worked out smoothly. The room is just what we need, maybe even a bit more, and the bathrooms are clean. Best of all, there is proper safe parking for the motorcycle.

We lay low for a couple of hours. Nina was enjoying the chance to recuperate a bit more and I was just chilling. When sunset drew closer, we thought we might still want to go out to see at least one thing or two.

The Lonely Planet suggests the Tea House of the Abbasi Hotel. Part of a luxury hotel set up in a magnificent old caravansary, this place serves snacks good enough for a dinner for us. The courtyard has been transformed into a beautiful garden, with the seating lightly sprinkled around. It is hugely popular, especially around that time, and it took a moment for us to find a spot. The ash was creamy and filling, the tea excellent. We thoroughly enjoyed the “date night” feel of it.