Saying goodbye to one of the world's friendliest countries

Today is my last day in Iran after travelling for more then 7 weeks of which spending almost 4 weeks in Persia.

Well I will continue from where I left of in my previous post. Last thursday my dad and I got a busride to Busher at the Persian Gulf. We left our big bagage at the hotel in Shiraz which included 2 carpets we bought the day before and some souvenirs of Persepolis.

Busher is not really a place tourists would visit and it is mainly known for the build of one of the nuclearreactors and as a harbour for takeing the boat to Dubai or Oman.

As I looked up the weather forecast for busher it only showed a cold 42 degrees celsius but later we found out this must have been measured in the shade. As the bus measured a temperature outside of .... 56 degrees celsius !!! for my american readers that is 133 degrees fahrenheit. Which is just sick-ass hot!! Walking on the street in the heat of the day is really not recomendable as the humidity is also very high but fun to experience it for a change.

The water in the Persian Gulf is really cristal blue and as we saw, people do have to swim with their clothes on. The next day my dad went for a swim in the morning and I regreted that I forgot my swimshorts in the hostel as if there are no cops around men could swim in their shorts.

We flew back saturday morning from Shiraz to Tehran with an old Russian plane makeing it to the capital in 1,5 hours.

As we still had the whole day to see some museums we missed before, the National museum being the most important as it was recomended to see it after visiting Persepolis. Also we had a guided tour in Farsi through the Ebrat museum which was a former prison in the time of the Shah Reza (a dictator some 30 years ago). This I can describe as being the Madame Tussauds/museum of wax statues of Iran as many wax prisoners are being shown in the most horrible torture positions.

Our last Gheylan we shared in a nice theahouse in a park where we sat down 2 weeks ago doing the same. I really enjoyed travelling with my dad, and it is good to experience the things with someone you known so you can talk about it when you're back home. Rough plans are being sketched for next year when my parents can come and visit me in .......

The Azadi tower, Tehran's Arc the Triomph was our last attraction we saw with an amazing light show and fireworks as one of the Imams its birthday was celebrated. A nice ending of our trip together.

On sunday he flew very early to Frankfurt and I made my way to Hamedan in the West of Iran with an Iranian friend I met before.

Hamedan is known for a huge cave, a big iranian tourist attraction but as my money was running low and my friend Amir didn't bring any money, we visited some attractions in the city while staying at his family.

My last day in Tehran I will spend looking for souvenirs and gifts and maybe a Tombak an Iranian drum instrument. Tomorrow I have an early flight to Dubai and then Frankfurt where I will spend a night at a classmate his place as I will arrive in the nighttime.

On friday I will hitchhike back to Holland as this was my way of travelling I started with so I like to finish with it as well.

I will miss hospitable Iran and its amazing food, of which I haven't told you about, an indication.. every 3 or 4 days I bought half a kilo of pistachios and once in a while baklava, pashmak (a sort of cottoncandy/suikerspin), nougat, cookies, kebab etc etc.

But I will definetly enjoy the first alcohol containing beer in Europe I will drink as that is what they do not have in Iran. And I am looking forward to see my friends and family again.

See you all soon.

Joost