In an attempt to get on the road quicker we had slept in the car and woke up early. I'm not sure if it was lack of sleep that was making us grumpy or a legitimate reason - probably the latter. We were ready to go as soon as we were awake, breakfast could wait. Watching the other teams unpack their entire car and arse around chatting inbetween making breakfast made us increasingly annoyed. Having seen very little of Iran apart from traffic and darkness, we really wanted to leave early and see things. Sholeh was finally showing the stress building within her, with one team's police troubles and this one slow team causing everyone to arrive too late to see anything. Feeling bad about missing everything she had organised, the Swedish brothers (also getting annoyed with waiting) and us formed a plan. Sholeh had told us about a trarditional concert at a city near the border, so we decided we would do everything possible to get there. We waited for some contact numbers and directions while the others continued re-packing. When the directions were written out, the other team were finally ready (now 11.30) and shouting at us to get in our car because they were ready to leave - we shut the doors and sped off to avoid punching someone. Note: When I re-read this I noticed how bitchy that sounded, so I should point out that the three in the car are great company and we did enjoy convoying together, but f&^% me are they slow to get ready.

 

On the road we made quick progress only stopping for petrol, "lunch" and to reattach our exhaust. The temporary fix in Turkey using cable ties finally broke - It seems plastic melts quite easily, who knew? Well I knew but I didn't have any wire in the car at the time. Luckily the Swedish brothers came prepared and had the exhaust wired up in no-time. We continued flying through the national park on open roads with stunning scenery and arrived in Quchan at 6.30.

 

Since we didn't really have a map of the city, just a list of turns and two contact numbers for people who didn't speak English, we moved slowly through the city by asking directions until we were sat on a random back street. As we tried to find the house of the guides friend, where we supposed to be staying, we were approached by a man who said we could park at his house. Assuming this was Sholeh's friend we agreed and headed around the corner to park. It slowly dawned on us that this man, who introduced himself as Mojtaba, was just a friendly stranger who had invited us into his home to chat. We sat in his family home eating watermelon, meeting his family and talking for half an hour. When we suggested going to see the concert his English speaking friend said he would come too.

 

The concert was traditional music played by a semi-famous local singer and band. We were the only non-Iranians there, so the camera crew spent a lot of time filming us instead of the stage. The music was of the listenable variety and definitely better than driving instead. After the concert had finished we went to the park and had an ice cream while we tried to check with Sholeh whether we could stay anywhere, or whether she had to confirm everything with the police first. The last thing we wanted to do was cause her anymore stress.

Mojtaba showed up as we were finishing our ice creams and told us to get in his car. In Scotland when a stranger tells you to get in their car you run, when it happens in Iran you climb on in. The four of us and Mojtaba went on a lovely night time drive through the streets of Quchan and were shown all the sights in the town before heading out of the city.  I get the feeling its not really a tourist town, so most of the sights were related to himself. Outside of town there is a park with a views of the entire city, so we stopped there before heading back to get some pizza. We went  to meet his parents at their house and then to his friends house. Unfortunately the other two teams and guide showed up to ruin all the house visiting fun, well we did all go to the guides friends house to stay the night.

Day 13 - Iranian Hospitality.

 

Start: Curled up in the car at the roadside

 

Finish:Group sleepover at an Iranian's