Travel Notes on Iran (1): Seeing Persia for the First Time

write in front

The idea of ​​going to Iran has been brewing in my mind for a long time. Just leave, but it takes courage.

Nuclear weapons? Axis of evil? Arabian black robe? Fanatic Muslim? Supporter of terrorism? Is there no safety in social unrest? When people think of Iran, they always think of these words.

After learning that I was going to Iran, well-meaning people kept trying to dissuade me. Of course, the most common thing to say is "Isn't there a war there?"

I have a strong Silk Road complex. I don’t like to go to countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. I have no interest in Japan, the United States, Europe, or South Korea. However, I have a special affection for countries in Central Asia and West Asia. As for Iran, I prefer to call her Persia, which is a more elegant name. It is the country I most want to visit among all the Silk Road countries. (Next is Afghanistan, which sadly the war has destroyed, and third is Uzbekistan, because of Samarkand and Bukhara).

The plan always fell behind. The first planned time had to be given up because a family member was ill. The second planned time had to be postponed because the request for leave failed. On the other side, the news of the war in the Middle East continued to be magnified in the media. Here, it was not easy. The arranged companion finally backed down.

What should I do if I don’t understand the language? What should I do if I can’t swipe my card? What should I do if my mobile phone cannot access the Internet? What should I do if I can’t book a hotel online? What should I do if I don’t understand Islamic rules? All kinds of difficulties are like tigers blocking the road.

However, no amount of questions made me flinch. On the contrary, the yearning for the thousand-year glory of Persia and the beauty of Islamic architecture has become stronger.

Let’s go, says the author of Lonely Planet, “All you have to do is decide to go, and once you decide, the hard part is over.”

Hence this short ten-day trip to Iran.

Many people have labeled Iran as war, riots, terrorists, and the underground status of women. But this trip to Iran made me realize how terrible prejudice is. Of course, I have also heard bad things in the group about girls being robbed of their cellphones and being robbed of their phones. But my experience is that, overall, Iran is a very safe and friendly country.

A friend who travels with me has studied and worked abroad for many years. He left me a message on WeChat: When will I go to Iran again? I think this is the safest country I have ever been to.

Traveling can't change your life, but it can change your worldview and make you less prejudiced.

I think this is what traveling is all about.

 

1. Visitors from the East

Before traveling, after much hesitation, I still didn’t buy Mahan Air’s direct flight to Tehran, but chose China Southern Airlines’ flight with a stopover in Urumqi.

Firstly, I don’t like taking eight or nine hours of long-distance flights, and secondly, I want to fly over Central Asia.

At night, people on the plane fell asleep one after another, and I opened Robert Byron's travelogue "Arrival at the Land of the Amu Darya" as the plane flew over in the darkness. I know that the lower reaches of the Yangtze River are the land of Central Asia. China - Central Asia - Persia, thousands of years of time have passed, many dynasties have risen and fallen, and many vicissitudes have changed. I am full of expectations for a time and space journey back to history.

Take a look at a map and draw a line from the Mediterranean to Beijing, from London to New Delhi, from Moscow to the Arabian Sea, all passing through Iran. Iran is at the crossroads between the East and the West. For more than 20 centuries, the integration and intersection of the Eastern and Western hemispheres have occurred here - migration, trade, culture, exchanges and conflicts, Iran is a must-passage place.

Think about reality. Surrounding it is Iraq to the west, Turkey to the northwest, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east, and Turkmenistan to the north. For most of us, this is an uneasy place, and Iran, the large land in the middle, is no different from war-torn Syria or post-war Afghanistan and Iraq. Perhaps, the mere name of a conservative Islamic country that is completely theocratic is enough to frighten our people. That's good, at least it won't become another country occupied by Chinese tourists.

At 10 o'clock in the evening, the plane landed at Khomeini International Airport.

30% nervous, 70% excited. I quickly checked the English that might be used when entering the country on my mobile phone. However, in fact, no one paid attention to me at all. I didn’t need to fill in the entry form, and there was no inspection and quarantine... It was not as serious and strict as I imagined. I only queued for five minutes. Successfully entered the country.

I got close to the immigration officer and said "Salam". Unexpectedly, the seemingly serious immigration officer looked at me with an oriental face and replied "Hello!" in Chinese. The distance became much closer.

Khomeini International Airport is not large or complex. At the airport exit, after picking up my luggage, I quickly got rid of the currency exchange dealer, crossed the overpass, and immediately saw the eye-catching sign of the hotel I booked, Novotel Hotel. .

When we got to the hotel room, we could just watch the bright lights in the airport and the planes taking off and landing.

Of course it was hard to fall asleep, but I didn't feel lonely in a foreign country.

"I have traveled around the world for a long time,

Spend time with all kinds of people

Never left empty-handed at any corner

Pick up a bunch of ears from each stack. "

There was a Quran in the wardrobe in the room, and I read the works of the great Persian poet Saadi.

Always remember, there will be reverberations. Persia, I'm finally here!

 

2. City of Roses

Khomeini International Airport is located in the southern suburbs of Tehran, more than 30 kilometers away from the city. We are indifferent to the noisy and crowded big cities, so we do not plan to go to Tehran city to check in, but choose to charter a car directly from the airport hotel to check in. Yet.

I woke up in the morning and was in a daze in the hotel room. I watched the morning light outside slowly dispel the darkness. The sky in the distance began to show its bright color. The first Persian sun I had ever seen was about to rise.

The weather in Iran is much warmer than expected.

In the afternoon, I asked the hotel to help call a taxi to Kashan. Then we headed south, taking Iran's Gobi Desert as our companion, and headed towards the hinterland of Iran.

Kashan is the legendary city of roses.

This urban oasis on the edge of the Kavir Salt Desert is one of Iran’s most attractive destinations. Because of its rich production of fine rose water and rose essential oil, it is known as the "Hometown of Roses" in Iran.

Although it’s not yet the season when roses fill the city with fragrance in early March, this beautiful town still feels very Persian. Traditional courtyards, mosques, bazaars and Persian gardens are all fully displayed here.

After traveling for more than 2 hours, we quickly entered this small town with no high-rise buildings, only low-rise brick houses.

When we first entered the old town of Kashan, the warm Middle Eastern sunlight illuminated the small town in front of us in a dazzling white light. The maze-like old neighborhoods and earth-yellow buildings gave me a feeling of déjà vu as I had wandered around the old city of Kashgar.

At this moment, the sky is blue, the alley is quiet, the cat is basking in the sun, and you are smiling at me. I then let go of the fatigue of traveling far away and my guard against the unknown world, and immersed myself in the beauty of this exotic locale.

As early as the Seljuk Dynasty (1051-1220), Kashan was famous for its textiles, pottery and tiles. By the mid-19th century, it had become an important trading center. Time has changed, and the glory is no longer there, but history has left its own traces here.

How can you not stay in a traditional hotel when you come to Iran? After looking at TripAdvisor for a long time, we chose Manouchehri House, a traditional hotel hidden deep in the old city.

This hotel is located in the oldest urban area of ​​Kashan. It has been rated by LP as a boutique hotel in Kashan that deserves full marks. It is also one of the "most expensive" hotels in Kashan currently!

Walking through the alley to the hotel, from the outside, there is nothing unusual about the dusty little door. Only when you walk into the long arcade will you realize that there is something special inside.

In Kashan's many traditional residential compounds, all the houses are built around a series of identical courtyards and are decorated with elaborate stucco paneling, ornate stained glass and towering wind towers.

Entering the hotel, a beautiful central courtyard houses an iwan (a domed hall facing the courtyard) overlooking a large ornamental pond. No matter which side of the courtyard you stand on and look across, you can see a picture that combines extreme symmetry and colorful decoration.

The room is amazing, the sunlight is shining through the colorful windows, creating beautiful light and shadow.

Although the hotel's restaurant is small, it has exquisite ceilings and beautiful decorations. It was the off-season and there were not many guests in the hotel. It was a pleasure to sit and eat quietly like a local.

The bright carpets and cushions on the lounge chairs by the pool, as well as the rows of traditional handmade clay pots, are all full of strong Persian flavor.

Sitting on the porch enjoying traditional tea and pastries, listening to Persian music, it's like traveling back in time.

3. How deep is the courtyard?

For tourists, masterpieces of 19th-century residential architecture are the most anticipated part of Kashan. Among them, the three traditional houses [Tabatabaei House], [Borujerdi House] and [Abbasian House] are must-see attractions. Our time was short and we only went to Borujerdi House and Sultan Bathhouse.

“Borujerdi House”

Because merchants and dignitaries once gathered here, many luxurious residences were built here in Kashan. The Brugeldi Ancient House can be said to be the representative of the many mansions of wealthy families in Kashan Town. The ancient house was built in 1857. According to legend, there was a wealthy businessman in Persia who wanted to marry the daughter of another wealthy businessman. The only condition of the father-in-law was that his daughter should live in a beautiful house after marriage. So Brugeldi hired 150 craftsmen and spent 18 years building this mansion, and finally he got the beauty.

The main building of the ancient house is a two-story building with a one- and two-story vault in the middle of the roof. Nearly 20 niche-shaped skylights are clustered around the vault like open petals. The small vaults on the upper part stand upright like stamens. In the meantime, there are two tall wind towers on both sides of the vault. There is a pool under the wind tower, which uses the principle of air flow to ventilate and cool the room. The reliefs on the surrounding walls are exquisite; although the wall pillars and porches around the hall are dilapidated, you can still imagine the glory of the past. They can be called carved beams and colorful buildings.

Although the ancient house is old, time has given it another kind of beauty.

“Sultan Mir Ahmad Bathroom”

Among the many attractions in Kashan, the Sultan Bathhouse is also a tourist attraction. This bathhouse, built over 500 years ago, is known as an outstanding example of Iranian bathhouses.

The interior decoration has a distinctive Shia Islamic style, with complex geometric patterns and blue patterned tiles on the domes and columns.

Under the dome full of romantic blue and dreamy patterns, if you try to sit on the platform, you can experience the luxurious and ethereal feeling of the Sultan when he bathed here.

Walking up to the bathroom roof is another fantastic scene entirely. The high and low bathroom spires are inlaid with colored glass, as if you are stepping on a planet in outer space. Here you can also overlook the rooftops and wind towers of Kashan City, which is also a good place to take pictures.

 

4. This place of peace of mind is my hometown

After traveling through five cities in Iran, we did not miss the bazaar in each place. Bazari is full of all kinds of life, full of joys and sorrows. It is a place that witnesses the true nature of life and reveals the truest world.

Kashan's bazaar, like many markets in Iran, brings together local handicrafts and daily necessities shops. It is said that this place has been the trading center of Kashan for nearly 800 years.

In the Bazar, Iranian women wearing black robes walked through the alleys with wind at their feet, while in most of the commodity shops, men were running the business.

People looked at our group of faces from the East with curiosity. We were not able to feel the enthusiasm often mentioned in other people's travel notes, but most of the people in front of us were gentle and shy. Some politely asked me where I was from? Some just smiled and nodded. This made me, who was not good at proactive communication, feel very comfortable.

Wandering around the bazaar, I accidentally broke into a courtyard with a pool. It turns out that this is the famous Mirza Ali Khan Station (Khan Amin al-Dowleh Timche). This is a two-story ancient caravan station built in the mid-19th century. Walking in the maze-like bazaar, you will be shocked by the huge and towering dome that suddenly appears in front of you. The honeycomb dome is beautifully carved, and there is a large fountain in the center of the spacious base, surrounded by carpet shops.

The sunlight casts down from the dome, revealing a green dreamy light.

There is also beauty that can be seen in the dilapidated market place, and art is everywhere.

However, this is not an attraction specially created for tourists, but it is a place where locals live and play all their lives, so it is not so beautiful and even has a sense of vicissitudes of life. This real market atmosphere is simple and unpretentious, but it is full of life and fragrance.

Tired of shopping, I was about to go back to the hotel to rest, but I got lost again on the way back to the hotel.

The long and deep alley exudes a mysterious atmosphere under the yellow lights.

I originally planned to ask for directions, but after asking several times, I still didn’t know how to get there, so I just walked around casually. Kashan is not that big anyway.

Inadvertently, we found a restaurant called Negin House, which seemed inconspicuous. When we walked in, we were filled with joy.

It's less like a restaurant and more like a beautiful courtyard.

Blue pools and courtyard roofs, small fountains and lace tablecloths, as well as a large number of exquisite carpets and celadon vases... Order a cup of black tea and add saffron rock sugar to relax your body and mind.

The beauty of Kashan's traditional residential architecture once again made us stop for a long time in this restaurant and couldn't extricate ourselves.

Returning to the hotel tiredly, the sound of gurgling water and blurred lights gave me the illusion of traveling through time and space, like a dream.

Just imagine, a thousand years ago, there would have been such a businessman from China, who came across the long Silk Road and stopped in this charming hotel in Kashan, washing away the hardship of the long journey and being immersed in this foreign country. The style dispels loneliness and loneliness.

In the eyes of others, Iran is even more distant because of its mystery. But at this moment, seeing Persia for the first time, I feel that this place of peace is my hometown.

To be continued…