Tehran part 3

As you can see Tehran is surrounded by mountains. Even though its 80 odd degrees in the city you can still ski in the resorts an hour or so away. That's on my list of surreal activities in the future.The cab below is typical of what I'm sure most of you would picture in Iran and to a degree you'd be right.When I got on the Emirates flight in Dubai the departure lounge was all flowing locks and designer dresses. Just before landing, out came the head scarfs and the cover up began. Women all wear head scarfs here. Some push it back daringly far revealing tints and perms and salon colours.
Some wear make up.
Some don't.
Most meticulously manicure their eyebrows and finger nails.
The mode of dress seems to involve a smock like jacket (reminiscent of a lab coat), head scarf and some sort of trouser-like affair which ranges from super skinny jeans to floppy formless trousers.
Shoes range from Converse basketball shoes to closed toed sandals.
The full burkha is rare.
Why have I noticed this stuff?
Well, I think I came to Iran with a preconception of a country of oppressed women.
It's different from the west and Dubai.
There's no cleavage or flesh on display.
I'm sure there's an underlying hardness to it all, but I've been pleasantly surprised by the wit, smiles and assertiveness of the women I've come into contact on a professional level here.
It clearly isn't Saudi Arabia but it's not freedom either. Expecting the worst, I think I've started to be lulled into the "it's not so bad" school of thought.
Couples walk arm in arm down the street and the religious police I've heard so much about aren't in evidence though this little tidbit from today's "Iran News" (one of two English dailies) is worth pondering:
Police to face "badly dressed" Women in Cafes and Offices
Raja NEWS
Moral police will confront women deemed inappropriately dressed not only in streets, but also in private offices, cafes, restaurants and internet cafes, Tehran's police chief said on Thursday, Raja News reported.
'The police will deal strictly with those who do not respect the law' Comander Ahmad Reza Radan said describing the aim of the campaign as increasing security in society.
Vans of moral police have been a common scene in main squares and streets of the capital for about two years, with officers monitoring women passer byes.
'The police will also face West-planted groups such as Satan Worshipers" Radan added...........
I guess I spoke too soon.
More on all this later after I've thought about it over the next couple of days .
The picture below is not what I'd expected to see in Iran:The queues outside of petrol stations stretch down the block day and night.
The second largest oil producer in the world has a shortage of gasoline.

Despite this shortage its only 1400 Rials per liter.

8700 Rials = $1

So that's 16 cents a liter or 80 cents a gallon.

Though Iran exports oil, it imports gasoline. The embargo has left refineries in short supply of spare parts. The present President has also made some silly decisions making the situation worse. I've heard some conflicting stories regarding this but the fact remains people wait in line to fill up their car and roads have another lane choked off further aggravating a terrible traffic problem.

Motor bikes are abundant and helmets are almost unknown. The weaving in and out of traffic is suicidal given the lane straddling and optional traffic lights that cars indulge in. I've been to many cities where drivers are bad.
Tehran is the most terrifying I have ever had the misfortune to endure.
Tomorrow I will be in a car for 2 hours to a city north of here.They're not regulating traffic. Perhaps they're on the look out for an errant headscarf.
The 8 year Iran-Iraq war still has a resounding resonance here. Every night the TV ends with a montage of the martyrs fighting against the "Saddam hordes". Murals of the fallen adorn most apartment buildings. .....Remember this was some time ago. The newspapers here are full of talk of "war-mongers" and "Zionist Aggressors", but the people I've met have been very low key and soft spoken. I may be simple minded and naive but a society still so obviously in trauma from the last war it was in doesn't strike me as itching to start another one. Perhaps we can learn from this and not embark on another ill-considered adventure.
Check back for more as and when.

Love

T

Yesterday In Tehran part2

As I said in yesterday's post I took a wrong turn on the way to the old US embassy and ended up at Tehran University.
We could hear the crowd long before we arrived as there were loudspeakers rigged up all along the blocked off street. The sermon sounded angry and exhortations were answered by roars from the crowd.
I say sounded angry because given I have no understanding of Farsi, any yelling in the language sounds pissed off to me.
That just may be the way they do it here.
Every Friday thousands of people head to the university which served as the center of student unrest leading to the revolution in 1979. Imams preach and the faithful pray. So many turn up that the crowds spill out of the university grounds and into the surrounding streets
There are a lot of pictures of people praying coming up because I took a lot of such pictures. I was fascinated by the sight of men and women praying ( separately) in the street.
If you find them tedious, too bad, its my blog.

As we approached the crowd we came across a protest of sorts, decreeing the recent film produced by a right wing Dutch politician defaming Islam. No TV station in Europe has agreed to broadcast it, so he released it on the web. Though serious the protest had none of the venomous hatred such things seem to project on the evening news. A quiet young guy came over to us and explained what it was all about. He seemed more interested in practising his English and hearing about Canada than anything else.

"What do you think about Iran?"

"It's nice. Is it OK to take pictures of the people praying?"

"Sure, why not? Did you play ice hockey in Canada?"

Blogger doesn't seem to like the connection so I'll sign off now. Stay well and check back later.

Love T

Today in Tehran

Today is Friday and in Tehran its the week's day of worship. Consequently all (almost) was closed and our one appointment for the day bailed on us.
It's early summer weather here, hot, but more temperate than Qatar.
As I'm sure you know, Iran is a dry country.
I don't mean lack of rain, I mean lack of booze.
Nada.
There is a rather vile brand of non alcoholic beer, which if that was your only exposure to demonic fermented stuff, would safely put you off the road to ruin that myself and many of my readers are happily skipping down.
The point of this is I feel rather clear headed.
Given I had nothing to do, I went for a little stroll.
What I thought would be an hour or so ended up being roughly 4.
Given it's their Sunday, the center of Tehran was quiet.
My goal was to visit the old American Embassy then shoot back to the hotel hire a car and go to the mountains north of the city.
I didn't make it back in time but saw some interesting tidbits.
At some point I took a wrong turn and ended up at Tehran University. I'm not going to talk much about it here, but will do so in another post ( I have TONS of pictures and no time to post them).
I did finally make it to the embassy, and as I thought, the murals were there as promised and the vibe was interesting.
I was a little disappointed not to encounter rapid protesters, but I guess even they take a day off now and again.
It was deserted....almost.
Two little "mishaps" involving my camera did happen.
The first took place outside of the Ministry of Petroleum.
For no real reason I took a picture of the sign out front and carried on walking.
Above me, some guy screamed from a window:
"Get Office!!!....No PACTURE!!!!NOOOO"
I walked back along the building and a security guard asked to see what I'd taken.
I showed him.
He shrugged and with a smile (embarrassed) rolling his eyes upwards to the windows, he ask me to delete it.
I did.
He shook my hand and I was on my way.
The second incident happened at the embassy.
After shooting some of the murals, we heard a gasping voice...
"Pleeesse.. puff, puff...no...puff, puff, take...picture"
My colleague Gareth and I turned around to see a sweating out of breath kid of about twenty (soldier).
He asked us to come with him and we walked along the embassy wall ( chatting- "where you from? Canada? COLD!") all the way around to the other side of the compound.
He'd had quite a sprint to catch up with us.
Inside were a half dozen other boy soldiers all smiling.
They gathered around looking at my pictures until they found the one that was "no good".
I'd inadvertently included one of their surveillance cameras in the frame.
I deleted it and we were on our way again.
When we got back to our original point at the front of the embassy, we looked for and spotted the camera.
We gave it a thumbs up and smiled.
The camera responded with sharp up and down and side to side movements.
We burst out laughing.
I'm sure the kids were laughing too.
All smiling security.
That's been my experience so far.
The US embassy has murals on its outside wall.
Have a look:

The first one above depicts the ill fated rescue mission to to free the embassy hostages. The freak winds in the desert all but sealed Jimmy Carter's fate and the world got Ronald Regan.

The other pictures are self explanatory or beyond my understanding so no explanation can come from me.That's it for the embassy.

Here's a little teaser regarding the pictures I took at Tehran University. I'll post them as and when. Stay well

T

Tehran

I've managed to ferret out an Internet connection so will be posting later.
I'm off to the old American embassy now to get a little dose of "Death to America!"
Stay tuned, pictures to follow.
T