Got to the Tehran west bus terminal around 5.40am,

the bus arrived earlier than scheduled. Waited for daylight

and then walked to the Tehran metro station.

Morning rush hour

Got off at Mellat station and found Hotel Mashhad at Amir Kabir street. The dorm was full so took a single room. (100,000 Iranian ~ USD10).

Went to the Turkmenistan embassy straight away since that’s the number one concern for me. Took the metro to the North and got off the last station at Golhak. Then took a taxi to the embassy (40,000 Iranian). Unfortunately the embassy was closed and it has been closed for a week and will only open tomorrow.

Took a shared taxi to Tigrish and stopped by the Malaysian embassy at Valenjak street to register.
Noticed that my camera was acting weird and was taking in too much sun light. I should have gotten a new camera earlier but kept procrastinating in order to find the right one. But now I have to. Went to Pai Tak, a mall that sells electronics and got an Olympus. The camera cost USD250. Since Iran was under sanctioned, credit cards and ATM cards don’t work here. This is an unexpected cash outflow and to survive in the next few countries, I would have to watch my budget carefully, else I would be stuck here without money.

Met a Chinese guy on the street, he was sent here to sell heavy machineries by a Chinese company. Caterpillar is one their competitors. Chinese companies are trying to establish themselves in the middle east in more complex products.

Golestan Palace

Walked around the bazaar.

Night View of some buildings

There weren’t a lot of food place in Tehran. It’s hard to find even one restaurant. Since I am low on cash, I just ate ice cream and some cookies for today.

Tehran is a very conservative Islamic country. There are separate section on the bus and metro for woman. Every woman has to wear the hijab at all times. This is unlike Turkey where woman wasn’t allowed to wear the head scarf in public university.

Got back to the hotel, met some interesting people and we went for shishah.

4 Responses to “Tehran, Iran”

1. kurt says:

   November 16, 2009 at 3:01 am

   coming to china soon?
   plan a hong kong trip man

2. journey26 says:

   November 18, 2009 at 7:53 pm

   yes, very soon. Can I crash at ur place again?

3. Min says:

   November 30, 2009 at 4:55 am

   no, you cannot, kurt is married man and he is energetic at night…

4. journey26 says:

   November 30, 2009 at 4:08 pm

   I don’t think it makes a difference if he is married or not.