While Mike and Hamid were flying to the South of Iran, someone had to stay in Tehran and wait for the car to be repaired. As I had a lot of work to do it felt an opportune moment to volunteer to stay. We elected to send our guide, Hamid with Mike to Shiraz as he was a citizen of America and so needed the guide more than I did.
Traffic chaos in Tehran
Day one passed uneventfully. On day two I received a phone call from the tour agency asking where I was.
"At the barbers getting a haircut"
"You must go back to the hotel immediately. You have no guide and the police are very angry"
"What are you talking about?"
"Mike went to extend his visa. The police want to know why you are in Tehran with no guide."
An hour later I was back in the hotel and another guide, Pejman arrived. We went to collect the car which cost us 16 million Riyals (yes 16 million!). The mechanics in the garage had changed the viscous coupling, put new seals in the master cylinder and bled the brakes.
The team of mechanics that fixed our car
The Palace of Golestan, which Alex explored
The following day at 11am I received a phone call on the hotel phone.
"Alex good morning. This is Pejman. I am downstairs in reception. We need to go the Police"
"Why?"
"They want to talk to you. I don't know why, but they want to talk to you"
Following the phone call of the previous day I had a slightly grim sense of foreboding - I had visions of angry policemen shouting at me for not having a guide. We jumped in the car and drove to building in the middle of town. After the obligatory metal detector and search I was greeted on the 5th floor by two police officers, one male and one female. They had big smiles on their faces and greeted me very warmly.
"How are you? How is your stay in Tehran? Are you enjoying yourself? How are the English Police? What is your opinion of the Iranian Police? What food have you tried here in Iran?"
Having answered their questions and slightly confused by now I asked why I was there. It turned out that our Tour Agency had informed the MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) of our trip but not the police. They were therefore very surprised when our hotel registered us and Mike walked into the police station in Shiraz. They wanted to see who I was and to give me a police registration code. They were very concerned as to the fact that I had seen so little of Iran and offered to extend my visa. I explained that I was leaving the next day for Turkmenistan and so was unable to stay.
The lady then disappeared and came back after a couple of minutes with a plate of food. She said she'd noticed me smelling the air and had realised that I had smelt lunch and wanted me to try their food. It was a mixture of potatoes, egg, tomato and fresh herbs. Very delicious too! We parted very warmly, with my ears full of their entreaties to come back and visit Iran again. They also added that if God forbid, I had any problems with getting into Turkmenistan, that despite my visa finishing that day I should call them and they would happily extend it immediately for me, even if I had already exited the country. So much for their being angry!
The main bazaar in Tehran.
From there Pejman and I went back to the hotel, got our bags and drove for 8.5 hours to Mashhad, passing through equal measures of dusty desert and beautiful hills and scenery. A special mention must go to the Mountains of Mars (Merrikhi)near Chabahar. They were very beautiful and looked like the scene of a science fiction film.
Driving through beautiful scenery on the way to the Turkmen border