4 august 2007, border crossing from Iran into Armenia

and finally at 3.30pm, we crossed the Iranian border to Armenia.
the scene after this: we were held up for 4 hours at the Armenian border. the Russian soldiers did not speak to us and we saw that all our passports were kept in a safe box in an office. many officers went in and out of the office to check our passports.
we were thinking... whats wrong? no one came forward to tell us anything. only silent stares...

after 4 hours, 2 russian soldiers came up to us, brought me and sk to a room at the basement and explained to us that they suspected that our passports were fake and that they would have to refuse our entry into Armenia.
after much lengthy discussions amongst themselves, they decided to empty all our backpacks and go through every single item that we had. body searches were done... and finally they were convinced that we were just travelers and visas were issued to us on the spot with a big welcome!

SK, Xiao hua and I took an overnight bus from Tehran to Tabriz and then a taxi to a small bus station where we took another bus to Jolfa. from Jolfa, we took a taxi to the border. it was a complicated and tiring journey...

2 to 3 august, chalus (caspian sea)

i was harrassed by an iranian man here. he had followed us from somewhere and sat very close to me after the boys went into the sea. suddenly he placed his hand next to my bottom. i stood up and asked him to go away but he replied with "i love you." ???

i said some angry words to him to make him go away but it failed. fortunately, sk noticed something was wrong and swam back to the shore. seeing that, i told the man that my husband is coming. that man stood up and walked towards sk to borrow a light and left. phew...

xiao hua, sk and miles were having some fun in the caspian sea

here at the seaside, women are a little more relaxed. some of them have removed their head scarves to enjoy the mighty sun. Elaine and me found a shady place to sit and wait for the boys.

1 to 2 august 2007, tehran, Tehran, TEHRAN!

these men got free nuts from us, lucky guys!
...and finally he got it!

Miles looking greedily at the nuts making machine...
the international team of super models consisting from left to right - a singaporean, an english, an iranian and a malaysian. it was a bizzarre encounter... we met Pari (the Iranian lady with the pink scarf) when we were crossing a main road. she got hold of Miles in the middle of the road and offered to show us around town. she spoke in perfect english and she loved Miles a lot! she brought us to Tajushi mountain, introduced us to non-pasteurised milk, bought us pizzas, sandwiches and non-alcoholic beers for supper and packed the leftovers for us to take back to our room.

busy bazaar in tehran - as usual, we were too stingy to buy anything.

29 to 31 july, esfahan

they had a chat but it was chicken and duck talk. he looked troubled, dont he?

his sister was too shy to take a picture with him... she was standing on the left hand corner of this picture and they really look alike in person! she was the first short hair woman i met in iran.

this boy was shivering after he got up from the water. his mother was happily hugging and wiping him dry with her chador... motherly love...

mothers waiting for their children... they were having a good time swimming in the shallow fountain water. does it remind you of waiting parents at our very own bugis junction fountain?

he got these rolled up posters from the tourist office.

printing designs on traditional carpet

the next day, we were back in Imam Square bazaar

walking across this bridge to the Armenian quarters...

a night shot of Imam Khomeini Square

me having a chat with my mates... do i blend in?

the magnificent Imam Khomeini Square - one of the coolest squares to hang around. it was full of activities such as picnics, inline skating, horse riding, shopping, etc...

a shopping mall in esfahan. weather here was much cooler than other parts of iran at the time of travel. i didn't sweat with my scarf on...

27 to 28 july, shiraz

a view of persepolis

persepolis - the ancient roman empire

these chicks might have been injected with colors

look what he has to offer...

the NASA lookalike gate to shiraz

persepolis... here we come!

waiting for bus to shiraz

a local iranian bus

25 to 27 july, yazd (the old city)

the night before we left yazd, sk tossed a handful of 9 numbers for this cute boy to pick.

unknown to him, sk emailed the numbers back to singapore to buy 4D.

nice to cool off next to a fan. the heat in yazd is about 40 degrees during the day time. fortunately, weather was dry so... less sweat but more burn...

the inside of jameh mosque.

getting lost in the old city... it's fun!

i still haven't figure out what this picture means. if you know, please write me a comment.

zorastrian sign

the zorastrian temple

a zorastrian fire temple. there is a flame in this temple that has been kept burning since A.D. 470...

an example of a live body in the pit on the tower of silence...

the tower of silence - the ancient zorastrians (a religious group) used to place their dead bodies here for vultures to eat them. there were no cremation nor burial in those days because they felt that fire and earth are sacred.

a bazaar

another mosque

a small view of the old city

jameh mosque - next to our hotel (silk route hotel).

we arrived Yazd in the middle of the night and took a taxi to Silk Route hotel which was recommended by travelers on the Lonely Planet forum. it was a lovely hotel with many wooden bali-style daybeds placed around its common area. we got a dormitory bed each for 40,000 rials per night (sgd 6) and the room sleeps about 8 people, had a high ceiling and was located at the basement. i thought it was quite a good recommendation and there is no check-out time.