We spent the longest time in Iran than any other country on this trip. Partly due to winter and the amazing hospitality of the people. We've learned so much about the country, so it has been a valuable learning experience over these four months.
Iran
A quick glimpse into the country:
Population: 81 millions
Language: Farsi/Persian
Currency: Rial (80,000 = $1 NZ)
Region: Middle East
Provinces: 31 (16 visited)
Religion: Islam (Shia)
Random Fact: Farsi is the accent from the Fars province
Important Pointers
People & Culture (PC)
The Persian people are very hospitable. So much warmth in their culture that you can become friends instantly
The economic situation is not favourable at the moment, but still they offer help in any way they can, either through sharing food, finding a place to camp or withdrawing cash
The taarof culture took a bit of getting used to. It can be good and annoying at times. For example, when you go to pay for stuff, they don't accept the money first and you have to insist to pay
People are generally happy to see tourists, shouting all the English they know: "hello mister/ I love you¹/ welcome to Iran"
Iran is full of history and heritage. Buildings date back thousands of years, some still in use and some left as is
Dogs, stray or not, are considered dirty and are very neglected in this part of the world. They are so badly treated that whenever they come around us looking for food, their head is held low and they are super quiet
There's also a lot of room for improvement on women's rights. For tourists the most noticeable restriction is wearing the hijab - even under the hot summer temperatures
Persepolis: a proud history of the Persian people
Infrastructure, Safety and Politics (ISP)
Roads and tunnels are in great condition, our bikes suffered very little cycling here (except the usual punctures of course)
Generally everyone is honest and genuine, but we had several safety concerns after hearing many bad stories from fellow cyclists (thief, sexual harassment, money scams, etc), and experiencing some ourselves
Nothing negative about politic and religion can be said publicly. We prefer not to as well because we like to return to Iran
Internet is heavily blocked, so we've developed a habit of activating the VPN before doing anything. We ended up using 6+ different apps to work around the blocking
Driving is crazy. We probably saw an accident at least once every week! We're thankful most of the road we rode on had a decent shoulder to use
Getting the visa was an expensive mission. The process took us more than a week and by far the most expensive for our New Zealand passport
Sad to admit this but the police were useless when we needed help the most. Given two instance of thief occurred during our time there (one was of our friend Alireza who lost his bike), they offered nothing to help get our belongings back
We love tunnels
Landscape & Nature (LAN)
Mostly desert landscape, very dry and very little wildlife. In the wild we only saw eagles and boars
Pollution is very bad: in the air, waterway and on land
The greenest (and mountainous) regions were Ahwaz, Kurdistan and Mazandaran. They get a lot of rain so the land looked as green as New Zealand
It was hard to enjoy the natural scenery because everywhere that was accessible to people would be littered with rubbish If you are a fan of the desert, then Iran is the place
Value for Money (VM)
The devalued rial made everything in Iran "on sale". We could have traveled like kings if our money hadn't been stolen
Visa extension were an absolute bargain - under $5 for another 30 days. Max of 2 extensions though (except for our situation where we got a third extension)
The most basic food was bread which costs about 10-20¢, it was our staple for most meals. They also had a lot of different types of bread
Mushroom is very cheap, about $1-2 a kilo, whereas back home they're about $7. If you cook for yourself it can save you a lot
We took the bus once, with our bikes and all, for a 6 hours ride for $8 each. The bus even had VIP seating! Enjoying a ride inside while watching the rain!
Camping & Outdoor Living (COL)
It was easy to camp. Mosques, Red Crescent centers, picnic parks all welcomed anyone in need of a place to stay
Overall we paid for two nights in a hotel, the rest were camping and staying with the locals
The Iranians loves to picnic and eat outside. They would even make a fire for cooking kebabs
Several times we got approached by people saying it is unsafe to camp due to wild animals. They were insistent that we were silly to camp outside. We never saw anything - any wildlife left would be lucky to exist given the habitat destructions Camping at any of the many picnic parks are no problem at all
Iran received a TCP/IP score of ★★★☆☆
What is the TCP/IP score?
We made a scoring system called "Tour Cycling Point over Important Pointers (TCP/IP)" to review a country based on 5 important pointers. They are:
People and Culture
Infrastructure, Safety and Politics
Landscape and Nature
Value for Money
Camping and Outdoor Living
Return for a Retour?
We will come back to Iran, but not on a bicycle. There are still many places to explore, souvenirs to buy and friends to revisit. There were many cool kitchenware we wanted to have at our own home so next visit can't be on a bike. We have friends almost every corner of Iran after spending 4 months here!
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