24th - 27th August - Talas - Kyrgyzstan

Talas is a small town in northwestern Kyrgyzstan, located in the Talas River valley between two imposing mountain ranges. Its population is 32,538 (as of 1999). It is the administrative headquarters of Talas Province. The town was founded by East Slavic settlers in 1877. To the south is the Besh-Tash (five rocks) valley with the Besh-Tash National Park.
Its economy traditionally oriented towards the ancient city of Taraz in present day Kazakhstan. The only motorable road to Bishkek and the rest of the country rises to a height of more than 3500 m above sea level over the Otmok Pass (closed in winter) before descending in many turns to the Chuy Valley and Bishkek.
The mythical Kyrgyz national hero, Manas, is said to have been born in the Ala Too mountains in Talas oblast. A few kilometers outside Talas lies a mausoleum, supposedly that of Manas, called the Kümböz Manas. However, the incription on its richly-decorated facade dedicates it to "...the most glorious of women Kenizek-Khatun, the daughter of the Emir Abuka". Legend explains that Manas' wife Kanikey ordered a deliberately false inscription in order to mislead her husband's enemies and prevent the desecration of his body. The building, known as "Manastin Khumbuzu" or "The Ghumbez of Manas", is thought to have been built in 1334. It now contains a museum dedicated to the epic. A ceremonial mound also lies nearby.

20th - 23rd August - Taraz - Kazakhstan

One of the oldest cities in Kazakhstan, Taraz celebrated its official 2000 anniversary in 2001, dating from a fortress built in the area by a Hun (Xiongnu, Hsiung-nu). The city was first recorded under the name "Talas" in 568 CE by Menander Protector, the medieval city of Talas was a major trade centre along the Silk Road.
Numerous archaeological finds and monuments in the foothills of Karatau and in Talas-Assin oasis show the antiquity of settlements in the Talas River valley, supporting Taraz' claim to being the most ancient city in Kazakhstan. The history of the city is composed of several historical periods, interrupted by destruction and depopulation.
The opinion was expressed in 1903 by the authors of the book Turkistan that ancient Taraz (then known as Talas) was situated under modern Taraz. However scarcity of information, inaccuracy of descriptions, and weakness of geography made it impossible to know the location until 1936. Professor Wilhelm Bathold’s research established that the location of ancient Taraz was under the Green Bazaar. Further research and archaeological excavations, which were made by an expedition of The USSR Academy of Science in 1938 under the supervision of A. Bernshtam and G. Patsevich to the depth 2-6 meters, made it possible to reconstruct the appearance and cultural – economic importance of ancient Taraz. The latest archaeological data has considerably expanded ideas about Taraz.
The year of Taraz's foundation is generally accepted as 568 A.D., the date of the first written record according to the Greek sources. At that time the Great Silk Road ran across Southern Kazakhstan. It played a major role in trade and cultural exchange between China, India, Byzantium and Persia. Taraz developed as a fortified tradecraft city on the greatest transcontinental route in history.

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16th – 19th August - Tashkent - Uzbekistan to Shymkent - Kazakhstan

Tashkent is the most cosmopolitan city in Uzbekistan, with large ethnic Russian minority. The city is noted for its tree lined streets, numerous fountains, and pleasant parks. Since 1991, the city has changed economically, culturally, and architecturally. The largest statue ever erected for Lenin was replaced with a globe, complete with a geographic map of Uzbekistan over it. Buildings from the Soviet era have been replaced with new, modern buildings. One example is the "Downtown Tashkent" region, which includes the 22-story NBU Bank building, an Intercontinental Hotel, International Business Center, and the Plaza Building. In 2007, Tashkent was named the cultural capital of the Islamic world as the city is home to numerous historic mosques and religious establishments. Picture: Memorial to earthquake victims in 1966.

And onwards to Shymkent in Kazakhstan. This city, founded in the 12th century as a caravanserai to protect the Silk Road town of Sayram, 10 km to the east. Shymkent grew as a market center for trade between nomads and the settled people. It was destroyed several times: by Genghis Khan, soldiers from the southern Khanates, and by nomad attacks. The name Shymkent comes from two words: shym meaning turf, and kent meaning city. Shymkent (Kazakh) and Chimkent (Uzbek) have identical translations. After Kazakhstan gained independence, the city was renamed Shymkent in 1993 as part of the government’s campaign to apply Kazakh names to cities. The border crossing from Uzbekistan was good and Chrissy comments that Kazakhstan is really pretty so far. Picture: Mountains just outside the city of Shymkent.

Typical main course dish from Uzbekistan

Bulgori Dulma - Stuffed Bell Peppers

1 kg 12 sweet bell peppers, 500g (18 oz) mutton or beef, 100g rice or 1/2 cup rice, 1 egg, 4 onions, 3 tomatoes, salt, black pepper and bay leaf.

Put meat through a meat-grinder and combine with pre-soaked rice, beaten egg, finely chopped onions, salt and black pepper. To make stuffed peppers, remove stems and seeds from bell peppers and fill with meat mixture. In a large pot, boil meat bones to make broth, place stuffed bell peppers on top and cook over low heat about 30 minutes. Serve 4-6 peppers on each plate and top with strained broth.

12th - 16th August - Samarkand, Uzbekistan

One of the oldest cities of Uzbekistan and in the world is Samarkand, established during the middle of the first century BC under the name Marakanda and later known as Afrosiab. It was the capital of the powerful state Sogd, the center of Emir Timur's great empire. The numerous monuments of Samarkand and its suburbs impress their beauty and splendor. The refined architectural shapes, intricate ornamentation, mosaics, blue-tile domes and facades are interesting for all who visit theses beautiful buildings.

Samarkand is situated in the valley of the river Zarafshan. It is the second largest city of Uzbekistan and is of the same age as the city of Babylon or Rome. The history of Samarkand is about 2,500 years old; it has witnessed many upheavals particularly during the times of Alexander the Great, the Arabic Conquest, the Genghis-Khan Conquest and lastly Tamerlane's. Hence, the culture of Samarkand was developed and mixed together with the Iranian, Indian, Mongolian and a bit of the Western and Eastern cultures. Majestic and beautiful city Samarkand has a marvelous and attractive power. Poets and historians of the past called it "Rome of the East, The beauty of sublunary countries, The pearl of the Eastern Moslem World".

The Silk Road

What do we know about it? Our imagination pictures the boundless sandy sea of scorched desert. Cutting through waves of dunes move the never-ending caravans loaded with the valuable goods … The Silk Road stretched for thousands kilometers leading caravans across scorching deserts, picturesque oases, and mountain passes. The cities of the Silk Road witnessed numerous devastating wars, destructions, fires, famine and death. For centuries multilingual Oriental markets buzzed, for hundreds of years the dusty caravan roads were traveled by merchants who took precious silks and stones, spices and dyes, gold and silver, exotic birds and animals to the Europeans in the West.

So, the Silk Road can be called the grandiose trade route which connected the East and the West and became the reason of the appearance of many unique cities, historical monuments, customs and even entire states.

Countries on the Silk Road
China- Kyrgyzstan - Kazakhstan - Tajikistan - Uzbekistan - Turkmenistan - Iran - Azerbaijan - Georgia

Routes of the Silk Road
The Silk Road was never a single-path route. Its system included some branches of caravan roads which passed across different mountain passes bypassing deserts. It originated in Chang’an, the ancient capital of China, and went along the northern Tien-Shan to Dunhua, the city near the Great Wall of China. There the single road split bordering the Taklamakan desert from the north and the south. The northern way went through Turfan to the Ili river valley. The Middle road (the so-called Southern way) led from Zhang Qian to the southern coast of Lake Issyk Kul- via Khotan and Yarkand, and reached Bactria (northern Afghanistan). There the Southern route split in two other roads: one followed to India, the other to the West and Merv where it merged with the Northern route. Further it passed via Nisa, the capital Parthia, Iran, Mesopotamia, Bagdad, went to Damascus and reached the Mediterranean.

Travelling in Iran

One of the overwhelming memories of Iran for us will be how welcoming the people have been. In fact I would go as far as to say the Iranian people are some of the most hospitable people I have ever met.

One example of the Iranian hospitality that we have become accustomed to that really sticks out (apart from our night in Khoy) in my mind occurred shortly after leaving our gaudy hotel in Tabriz. After outstaying our welcome at the hotel by ruthlessly over using the hotels facilities (internet, filling our drinking water tanks, clothes washing etc) we drove barely 1km to Tabriz’s equivalent of Hyde Park called Egoli Park knowing that we would find a quiet spot and camp out for the night. From our previous days excursion we knew the Iranians are expert picnickers and we were about to learn that they love camping too. Not long after pulling into the park we spotted dome tents dotted everywhere under the shelter of the dense foliaged tree. Once we found an empty spot in a carpark (half the size of a football field) I used the lift as normal to get out of the van – a process that has intrigued many people during our journey and this time it was no different. However, on this occasion I felt there was a sense of reluctance for anyone to approach me. This all changed shortly after a car driving past on the highway 200 meters away came to abrupt stop when the driver saw me. Sitting ouitside at the back of the van with an Iranian guide book on my lap I watched the driver get out of his car; jump the narrow ditch and start to stride over the empty car park towards me. His greying stubble underneath his bushy moustache made me think he was in his late 50’s and the closer he got to me the less I knew what the hell was about to happen. Finally he walked straight up to me, greeted me with ‘salaam alaikum’, shook my hand and then held me firmly on both shoulders and bent down to kiss me on both of my cheeks. As soon as he finished he turned around, strode back across the car park, got into his car and sped off with wheels both front wheels spinning. All I could hear at this point was Chrissy giggling away behind the curtain of the van. She had watched the whole sequence happen through a gap in the curtain whist preparing supper in the seclusion of the van and she found the whole experience very amusing. To say that he left me slightly embarrassed is an understatement but this extraordinary greeting seemed to be the queue to the other campers for them to come over and introduce themselves and ask if we needed any help. By the time the sun had dropped under the horizon the whole park was filled with families camping out for the night in their pop-up dome tents. Many of them were on a short holiday before Ramadan started and others had been visiting holy sites around the country. Other examples of Iranian hospitality have been numerous offers of lunch or chai (tea) that would have made us the envy of any well-off lady from Chelsea that ‘loves to lunch’. This has happened in a crowded street and even at the petrol station. Recently, we were invited to stay with a young couple in Mashad purely because we explained to them how an awkwardly designed pepper grinder worked.

The other memory will be the chaotic driving, which after witnessing is no surprise why Iran has the worst accident rate in the world. I think everyone of the 70 million population owns a car and they all seem to be on the road at the same time. This may be a slight exaggeration but there are so many cars on the road that we still haven’t worked out when rush hour is yet? As a result there is a constant hum of car engines and a smell of car exhaust on most of the roads we have travelled on. We’ve seen only 10 traffic lights whilst we’ve traversed the whole country. Only one of those had vehicles stopped at them during a red light and that was only because the occupants were buying water melons from the conveniently stationed water melon stall. Like a poorly organised but successful Red Arrow display (successful because there were no crashes) you can expect other motorist to dart across the road towards you, across you and behind you. It is not uncommon either for a driver in the slow lane of a highway to drive as fast as they can but for some reason they do this in reverse. The cars worst habit is as they overtake me they take one look of my hand controls and promptly cut in front of me and slow right down, so that I have to over take them again and they can have a good look at my controls. This can happen two or three times until they are satisfied they have seen all they can see at which point they’ll speed off into the distance never to be seen again. Added to the cars driving in all manners of directions the other main transport in Iran are 125cc Honda motorbikes. Generally the main aim of the rider or riders is to try to look as cool as possible, which normally means that there only piece of safety equipment (helmet) is strapped to the front or back of the bike. And I’m sure if you ride one of these Hondas you must instantly know what the meaning of life is because every time you see more than one person on one of these chicken chasers they seem to be in the most depth conversation, whilst somehow managing to weave in and out of the Red Arrow display at the same time. The number of passengers on these motorbikes can vary widely too. Two examples are, two young boys with squashed faces sandwiched between their mum & dad & separately a proud father with his 3 year old daughter sitting on the fuel tank like a proudly displayed trophy. The other offender on the road is of coarse lorries. Possibly because of the sanctions it is vary rare to see a new lorry on the road. Instead they seem to be brightly painted orange twenty year old Volvo or Mercedes lorries that strangely seem to be able to go faster than another vehicle on the road. It is safe to say that in Iran ‘size does matter’. In fact it seems to be that there is only one rule on the roads. No matter what you are doing i.e. coming onto a round-about or even crossing a busy highway if you are bigger than the vehicle coming towards you or beside you have the right of way! So on Iranian roads lorries are the kings. With this superior prowess comes a very annoying habit. Without doubt when a lorry comes hurtling up behind at an ungodly speed it will wait to the very last minute to unleash the full brunt of its deafening air horn just to let you know it is about to overtake you? As if you didn’t know that? No matter how many times this happens and even though I know it is going to happen the sound of the air horn reverberating around our tiny cab still scares the living daylight out of me. So size does matter but I have to mention an Iranian Daniel & Goliath moment. Having spent a week on Iranian roads and learning to put the size of Miranda to good use to make other smaller vehicles yield to our might I became slightly too over confident. Seeing a lone motorbike on an empty highway I opened Miranda up so that we would cruise past the measly 125cc engine vehicle and I’d let a loud blast go on my horn ‘just let them know I was passing’. The overtaking manoeuvre worked extremely well until out of nowhere the same motorbike overtook me and let a blast go on what must have been a specially fitted truck air horn that scared the ‘Be-Jesus’ out of me. Having been put in my place I have to commend the Iranian drivers on one thing and that is despite all of this chaos they all always remain very calm. I’m sure if all of sudden the UK driving habits turned Iranian over night half of the country would have heart failure and the other half would be taking out the services of psychiatrist to help curb their overwhelming road rage.

The regime that people live under will also stick in my mind. The freedom we have in the west to wear what we like, say what we like and eat and drink what we like can be taken for granted. Here restrictions that the people endure have many implications. For example once we left Tabriz we descended 4000 ft in one hour down a twisting road to the Caspian Sea, which is 23 feet below sea level. By 11am it was 37 degrees with 27% humidity and within 30 minutes I had decided the only sensible clothing to combat the stifling humidity would be under pants, flipflops and an umbrella. However, the strict Iranian rules state that women should cover their heads with a hejab and their body with a loosely fitting manteau (garment that covers the arms and falls just below the knees). In some cases women can wear the trade mark black chador (translate to tent) garment that covers the whole body. For men the laws are less strict and they only have to keep to the status quo by wearing long trousers. As foreigners in Iran we also have to abide by the rules, which isn’t so bad for me but for Chrissy she has to adorn the previous stated attire. In short, the implications of this dress code are stifling. For any marketing guru out there these restrictions may you leave you a little flummoxed too. In the West if you need to market anything you generally just take a few pictures of incredibly beautiful women wearing next to nothing holding the ‘stuff’ you are trying to sell and then you plaster the picture on billboards around town – job done. However, the dress code prevents this blatant marketing. Instead you see huge billboards with kittens and balls of string or the most popular one seems to be an old moustached man leaning over a bunch of trophies. In any case it is virtually impossible to work out what they are trying to advertise.

Following the elections in 2009 when the web was used to post videos of the protests the government emplaced restrictions to access of many social websites (including our blog – we can’t post pictures), which would make it practically impossible for any Facebook addict to live in Iran. Other far reaching restrictions include sanctions and visa restrictions on the people making it extremely difficult to travel and on a much broader level we have heard how this is leading to the migration of young well educated Iranians seeking a better life. Ironically I wonder whether these restrictions have a positive outcome and I can only observe that these restrictions on life have seemed to really unite the family bond. Every where we go we see families with three generations all interacting together, which is fantastic to see. What is more due to the alcohol ban you never have to worry about drink driving or drunks approaching you in dark alleys at night.

Our six days driving along the famous caviar Caspian coast was some what of challenge. If you look on google earth you will see a mountain range that runs along the south of the Capsian sea that acts like a barrier against the deserts further south. You also notice how the north side of the mountain that gets moisture rich air from the sea and is completely green, however the south in comparison is barren and parched. Being trapped in between the coast and mountains makes it incredibly humid and we spent those five days driving on a two laned highway surrounded by two story buildings feeling incredibly hot. Relief from the humidity came with the further east we travelled, which took us through the beautiful Golestan National Park that had dramatic gorges and dense deciduas forests. On our penultimate day in Iran we headed for the Turkmenistan border and climbed to 5000ft onto the Kopet Dag (translates: many mountains) mountain range, which was stunning rolling hills that were completely golden and contrasted with the vividly blue sky.

50km from the border we decided to camp over night in a barren gorge which coincidently was situated next to a pilgrim site that people come to visit the priest and pray to heal any ailment. With in 10 minutes of parking under the shade of a tree next to a some other campers we were approached by a man asking where we were from. His name was Abraham and he had been a Cobra Helicopter pilot in the Iranian air force. He spoke with the best English we had experienced so far and introduced his family to us. When we told him what we were undertaking the emotional impact it had on him was obvious. He later said that he would adopt Chrissy as one of his daughters and that she was a great person for helping me and that she deserved a medal. Unfortunately, we had to abstain from taking him up on his invite to stay with him in his home that night as he lived 80 km in the opposite direction that we needed to travel in the next day. His family were unable to speak any English and as the sun started to sink his family started to getting impatient to leave. Abraham’s response was to say ‘I can’t leave you here’ and by giving us anything he could think of which included flat bread and one of his wife’s treasured china picnicking plates. Just as the light was fading his families hints persuaded him to leave. Meeting Abraham and his family highlighted again how generous and warm the Iranian people are and we felt fortunate to have met him.

I thought that our meeting with Abraham was going to be the final Iranian moment to savour but I was wrong. Sitting in our van shortly after Chrissy had prepared another paster dish we heard a knock on the door. As Chrissy parted the curtain and opened the door into the pitch darkness I didn’t know what we were about to encounter. ‘Had we parked in a holy site and were they going to move us on?’ went through my mind. Prepared for the worse I was surprised to see a middle age lady dressed in a full black Chador. She said some thing to Chrissy in Farsi and motioned towards where I was sitting in the back of the van. In her left hand she held a loop of small black beads and in her right she held a small plastic card that was being lit up by a small boy using his mobile phone next to her. After motioning towards me she started to read from the card and rotate the beads in her hand. Every time she finished a paragraph she would look at me and blow one puff of air towards me. As she carried on with the prayer tears started to roll down her cheeks and her words became staggered with emotion. Coming to the end of the prayer she motioned for Chrissy to put the loop of beads around my neck and to place the prayer card in my pocket. Not long after they left into the darkness Chrissy and I both sensed a huge sense of atmosphere and emotion. Although I’m not religious I could really feel how important religion was to this lady and how she believed strongly that her prayer and the holy site could heal my spinal injury. I felt very privileged by how much she wanted to help me and by the whole experience. This wasn’t the end of our experience either. 10 minutes later we heard another knock on the door to see her son holding a freshly cooked plate of food of chicken, aubergine, tomatoes and freshly baked round bread, which I imagined was not the normal food they eat considering their financial means – again incredibly generous. That night we slept in our small camp with the sound of a donkey roaming around outside.

Travelling in Iran has totally changed my previous conception that I have learnt in the West about Iran. The people have been absolutely amazing. We had a great experience in Iran and I would highly recommend it as a destination to travel to.





Posted by Colin





Pictures 1: Colin & Iranian Family at Egoli Park. Picture 2: Driving in Iran. Picture 3: Chrissy dressed in her hajed at the Kopet Dag. Picture 4: Abraham & his family. Picture 5: Our finally campsite in the gorge on the Kopet Dag

6th August – Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Colin and Chrissy made it to Bukhara - it was a long day sightseeing Merv and crossing the Karakum Desert with temperatures well over 40 degrees C. Bukhara is Uzbekistan’s fifth-largest city, it has a population of 263,400. The region around Bukhara has been inhabited for at least five millennia and the city itself has existed for half that time. Located on the Silk Road, the city has long been a center of trade, scholarship, culture, and religion. The historic center of Bukhara, which contains numerous mosques has been listed by UNESCO as one of the World Heritage Sites. Fitzroy Maclean, then a young diplomat in the British Embassy in Moscow, made a surreptitious visit to Bokhara in 1938, sight-seeing and sleeping in parks. In his memoir Eastern Appoaches, he judged it an "enchanted city", with buildings that rivalled "the finest architecture of the Italian Renaissance".

Ismail Samani mausoleum
The Ismail Samani mausoleium(9th-10th century), one of the most esteemed sights of Central Asian architecture, was built in the 9th century (between 892 and 943) as the resting-place of Ismail Samani - the founder of the Samanid dynasty, the last Persian dynasty to rule in Central Asia, which held the city in the 9th and 10th centuries. Although in the first instance the Samanids were Governors of Khorasan and Ma wara'u'n-nahr under the suzerainty of the Abbasid Caliphate, the dynasty soon established virtual independence from Baghdad.

5th August – Mary, Turkmenistan

Mary (pronounced Mur-ree) is a city of Turkmenistan, capital of the Mary Province. In 1999 its population was 123,000 (up from 92,000 in the 1989 census). Mary is Turkmenistan's fourth-largest city, and a large industrial centre, for the natural gas and cotton industries, the nation's two major export industries.

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Turkmen carpets

A Turkmen carpet is a type of hand-made floor-covering textile traditionally originating in Central Asia (especially in Turkmenistan). Such rugs are now mainly produced in, and sold from Pakistan and Iran. The intricate designs of these rugs derive mainly from various Turkmen tribes, such as the Yomut, Ersarik, Saryk, Salor and Tekke. Various vegetable and other natural dyes are used to produce the rich colors. Many patterns and colors are used, but the traditional and most typical is that of the octagaonal elephant's foot (Bukhara) print, often with a red or tan background (picture).

3rd – 4th August 2010 – Ashgabat – capital of Turkmenistan

Ashgabat is a relatively young city, growing out of a village of the same name established by Russians in 1818. It is not far from the site of Nisa, the ancient capital of the Parthian Empire, and it grew on the ruins of the Silk Road city of Konjikala, which was first mentioned as a wine-producing village in 2nd century BC and was leveled by an earthquake in 1st century BC (a precursor of the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake). Konjikala was rebuilt because of its advantageous location on the Silk Road and it flourished until its destruction by Mongols in the 13th century CE. After that it survived as a small village until the Russians took over in the 19th century.

In 1869, Russian soldiers built a fortress on a hill near the village, and this added security soon attracted merchants and craftsmen to the area. Ashgabat remained a part of Persia until 1881, when it was ceded to Tsarist Russia. Russia chose to develop Ashgabat as a regional center due to its proximity to the border of British-influenced Persia. It was regarded as a pleasant town with European style buildings, shops and hotels. Posted by Blog Assistant

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan is the world's 52nd-largest country. It is slightly smaller than Spain and somewhat larger than California. Over 80% of the country is covered by the Karakum Desert. The centre of the country is dominated by the Turan Depression and the Karakum Desert. The Kopet Dag range, along the southwestern border, reaches 9,553 ft at Mount Rizeh. The Great Balkhan Range in the west of the country and the Koytendag range on the southeastern border with Uzbekistan are the only other significant elevations. The climate is mostly arid subtropical desert, with little rainfall. Winters are mild and dry, with most precipitation falling between January and May. The area of the country with the heaviest precipitation is the Kopet Dag Range.

The Turkmen shore along the Caspian Sea is 1,099 miles long. The major cities include Ashgabat, Turkmenbasy and Dashoguz. It is one of the driest countries in the world, some places have an average annual precipitation of only 12 mm (0.47 in). The country possesses the world's fourth-largest reserves of natural gas and substantial oil resources. Half of the country's irrigated land is planted with cotton making the country the world's tenth-largest producer of it. Islam is the dominant religion in Turkmenistan (89% of the population); the 9% of the population that adheres to the Eastern Orthodox Church are ethnic Russians; the remaining 2% religion is reported as unknown.

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1st – 2nd August 2010 – From Azad Shahr to Bajgiran, Iran

Colin and Chrissy spent Sunday night in Bajgiran, an Iranian village located at one of the three border points between Iran and Turkmenistan. It is located about 40 km from Ashgabat, the capital of Turmenistan. The journey from Azad Shahr where they’d been on Saturday, a town in Golestan Province in northern Iran, to Bajgiran entailed crossing the Kopet Dag mountain range, a spectaclar range on the frontier between Turkmenistan and Iran. The highest peak of the range in Turkmenistan is southwest of the Capital and stands at 9,646 ft, whilst the highest Iranian summit is 10,466 ft.

The Kopet Dag Range is a region characterized by foothills, dry and sandy slopes, mountain plateaus, and steep ravines. The Kopet Dag is undergoing tectonic transformation, and is subject to severe earthquakes. Earthquakes exceeding seven on the Richter scale have been recorded.

The woodlands of the region are home to many fruit trees, shrubs, and vines that have proved valuable for human use: pomegranate, wild grapes, fig, wild apple, wild pear, wild cherries, wild prune, almonds, and hawthorn. Key endangered fauna include leopard, wild sheep, bezoar (bearded) goat, hyena, Indian porcupine, and a number of other rare species of mammals, birds, snakes, and lizards.

Chrissy referred to the drive as ‘spectacular’.

Posted by Blog Assistant.

Saturday 31st July – 1st August - Gharra Tappeh Sheikh – Northeastern Iran

Northeastern Iran sandwiches the empty desert of Dasht-e Kavir and the steppes of Central Asia, with its spine of mountains that become more lushly forested as you head west. East of Minudasht the wilderness has been declared the Golestan (Paradise) National Park. Above the overdeveloped Caspian coast rise more forests and the grand Alborz Mountains. A trio of beautiful but busy roads take you across that dramatic range but there are lesser-known alternatives that get you into more remote, less spoilt zones around Alasht and Baladeh. Historically, the area developed as Khorasan (Where the [Iranian] Sun Rises) and Tabarestan/Mazandaran (the southeastern Caspian littoral). Millennia of culture reached a zenith here around 1000 years ago, producing many of Theera’s great scientists and poet-philosophers.

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28th - 31st July, Nahan Khoran, Gorgan, Iran

Nahar Khoran - 7 km south of Gorgan, * this forested area is known as Nahar Khoran, and so far remains comparatively unchanged. Colin refers to it as a tree-lined steppe just before the mountain range. There are plenty of hiking trails through dense forest which are easy to find and are just begging to be explored. Though Nahar Khoran can be a bit crowded during Noruz and summer, especially on Friday and public holidays, you may have the whole area to yourself the rest of the time. * Gorgan is the capital of the Golestan Province, Iran. It is approximately 400 km from Tehran. It had an estimated population of 241,177 in 2005. The city was known as Hyrcania in ancient Greek records, which comes from Old Persian Varkâna -- "Land of the Wolf". Although modern Gorgan is only a city and county (sharing the same name), ancient Hyrcania was the name of a region on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea (encompassing present day Golestan, Mazandaran, Gilan and parts of Turkmenistan). In modern times the city used to be known as Astarabad as of 1937.

Posted by Blog Assistant

27th - 28th July - Chalus, Caspian Coast, Iran

For the inhabitants of Tehran, Chalus is a seaside resort only three hours away from the capital. A seaside resort with beautiful forests. There is also a beautiful mountain road with deep gorges, an artificial lake and the possibility of excursions in the Alma Kuh, the highest mountain complex in the Alborz range. Colin and Chrissy said the view of the mountains that surround the sea was generally obscured by thick haze and the view of the coastline was obscured by buildings which appear to be lacking somewhat in any aesthetic quality. Added to that it was extremely humid so felt even hotter than they were used to. On a more positive note, they said that the people were still very welcoming.

Posted by Blog Assistant.