Category Archives: Iran

Abu Dhabi, Iran, Sharjah, UAE

UAE return to Iran

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To organise our return to Iran, we needed to arrange our water crossing. Only one company to be found, which turned out to have moved and nobody knew exactly where to. Also the name had changed. Some dodgy dealings going on?

We finally, after asking, calling, searching a whole morning, found the Al Hili Marine Services office and checked upon pricing. Turned out the shipping would not be just the $250 for the car as Valfajr had mentioned. Our crossing over cost us $500 for the car, plus $120 for the Carnet de Passage and admin cost, plus some smaller amounts in port for certain signatures (not to mention the two passenger tickets each for about $35). There were charges for the Bill of Lading, for port handling, for customs check to be added, still coming to quite an amount. We could organise one item ourselves, but that would take us to be in the queue with all the agents who imported and exported goods, and making sure we would get everything done on time. In the end we decided it would not be worth the extra $50 we needed to pay for us to spend a whole day in port running around so we let Al Hili organise everything. It was a long weekend of holiday and so we would attract overtime charges and storage cost if we wished to leave tomorrow. We decided to leave on Sunday, with a few more days to stay in the UAE.

Sander, Rianne and Coco were our wonderful hosts for a few days and we so much appreciated their welcoming and warm hospitality. It was a mini-holiday for us to be taken for lunch, a stroll, a nasi goring dinner, and a day away with the boat for a swim just out of the marina. We were energised and ready to make the return crossing into Iran, or so we thought.

That Sunday, we drove from Abu Dhabi through Dubai, a quick cup of coffee with Jaska on the way, to Sharjah to deliver the car by 13h in port. Having settled everything, we were free to go out and about. We had lunch at the restaurant at the roundabout, where all crew from the dhows were having their lunch: good, simple food. We had a stroll along the quai with the dhows and Saeed got talking to one of the crew. It could have been arranged for us and the car to go with one of them, if one has some time on their hands, as the dhows only leave when full with goods, which could take a week or two. We saw goods being delivered and piled up on the ship, we saw ones in good shape and ship which could use a lick of paint.

We returned to the passenger hall to check in and get to drive the car onboard. But something wasn’t right.

The Al Hili representative had been trying to reassure us, however we felt something was out. “Drive the car onboard and I’ll leave your papers with the crew of the ship.” “No, please deliver them in our hands.” This he did.

When Saeed checked the Carnet de Passage (CdP), it turned out it had been stamped on the wrong page and an extra page from our CdP had been used for no reason other than a mistake. Saeed called the Al Hili representative back, who took a short cut to leave the ship. Saeed after him. His man had left had left the ship, quickly gone to his office to make his departure imminent. Saeed gave him a piece of his mind after first having tried to reason and to get him to rectify the mistake. They called the director of Al Hili who hung up the phone on them. We wanted to drive the car off the ship and stay in port overnight to rectify the mistake in the morning. As the captain had signed for reception of the car and was supposed to deliver it to Bandar Abbas, he didn’t approve of the car being driven off. In the mean time, the Al Hili representative had fled and there we were. Arrgghhhhh!!!

As we couldn’t do anything anymore, the sea would be rough if the ship wouldn’t leave now, we were given no choice than to stay on board, make the journey and check upon arrival with RAC re the CdP being wrongly stamped. We just had to make sure that in Iran, they would stamp the right page for entry.

And so we had a worry to deal with but as for the moment we were on a ship crossing the Persian Gulf and we couldn’t do anything, I went to sleep.

Two lovely Bandar Abbassi young ladies, one with her son, had taken pity on us and motioned for us to take the benches behind them. In the morning we had a warm-hearted goodbye hug with their invitation to stay with them anytime.

First priority: to get the car from the ship and out of customs, it took again a whole day of running around, signatures and paperwork. An agent helped us, so things were done rather rapidly and in correct sequence.

A skype call to RAC explained that as long as we didn’t need that extra page in the CdP and the entry and exit from Iran would be done correctly, there would not be any problem upon return to receive our deposit back. Pfew, what a relief!

Iran

Beautiful!!! post cards from Chuqa Zanbil (west) (12)

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19 October: Chugha Zanbil or Dur Artush was a palace/temple over 3 millinium old that had been covered by earth till its rediscovery a few decades back. 5 storey building made with baked brick, a burial and celebration of spring place. It is at the feet of the old capital Shush.
19 October: Chugha Zanbil or Dur Artush was a palace/temple over 3 millinium old that had been covered by earth till its rediscovery a few decades back. 5 storey building made with baked brick, a burial and celebration of spring place. It is at the feet of the old capital Shush.
19 October: Chugha Zanbil or Dur Artush.
19 October: Chugha Zanbil or Dur Artush.
19 October: Chugha Zanbil or Dur Artush.
19 October: Chugha Zanbil or Dur Artush.
Iran

Post cards Iran (central) west (10), Zayandeh rud, Khoramabad, Bisheh

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13 October: Zayandeh river dam reservoir where we spent a peaceful night.
13 October: Zayandeh river dam reservoir where we spent a peaceful night.
13 October: Zayandeh river dam reservoir.
13 October: Zayandeh river dam reservoir.
13 October: Falak-ol-Aflak or Shapour castle in Khoramabad. Due to eid-e Qadir we arrived at close gates. A group, to which we quickly added ourselves, was let in on the lower grounds only, so we did get some nice shots from the castle all around:).
13 October: Falak-ol-Aflak or Shapour castle in Khoramabad. Due to eid-e Qadir we arrived at close gates. A group, to which we quickly added ourselves, was let in on the lower grounds only, so we did get some nice shots from the castle all around:).
13 October: Falak-ol-Aflak or Shapour castle in Khoramabad.
13 October: Falak-ol-Aflak or Shapour castle in Khoramabad.
14 October: Bisheh waterfall in Ilam within Khoramabad forests in Southwest Iran. Unfortunately the autumn months have reduced the fall to what is seen here.
14 October: Bisheh waterfall in Ilam within Khoramabad forests in Southwest Iran. Unfortunately the autumn months have reduced the fall to what is seen here.
Iran

More post cards from central Iran (9), Kashan, Abyaneh and Natanz

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10 October: Fin garden (Bagh-e Fin) in Kashan, an exquisite sample of a beautiful Persian garden with natural spring which feeds the 160 water in- and outputs. Hoz joosh or water fountain pool, where the water from the mountain spring entered the garden. Gorgeous Shahnameh drawings on the ceiling. Delightful morning spent walking around this old garden from the 18th century.
10 October: Fin garden (Bagh-e Fin) in Kashan, an exquisite sample of a beautiful Persian garden with natural spring which feeds the 160 water in- and outputs. Hoz joosh or water fountain pool, where the water from the mountain spring entered the garden. Gorgeous Shahnameh drawings on the ceiling. Delightful morning spent walking around this old garden from the 18th century.
10 October: Fin garden (Bagh-e Fin) in Kashan.
10 October: Fin garden (Bagh-e Fin) in Kashan.
12 October: Abyaneh, mountain village with red roof tops where people still wear traditional dress and keep the village it's always been. Unfortunately nothing from the entrance fee into the village goes to the habitants.
12 October: Abyaneh, mountain village with red roof tops where people still wear traditional dress and keep the village it’s always been. Unfortunately nothing from the entrance fee into the village goes to the habitants.
12 October: Abyaneh, mountain village with red roof tops.
12 October: Abyaneh, mountain village with red roof tops.
12 October: Doors have two knockers: a big round one for women to use and a longer thin one for men. Depending on the sound they then knew who needed to open the door:).
12 October: Doors have two knockers: a big round one for women to use and a longer thin one for men. Depending on the sound they then knew who needed to open the door:).

Iran43 Abyaneh

Iran

Post cards…Iran (8) central, Meibod, Naien and Chak-Chak

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10 October: entrance to the caravanserai in Naien.
10 October: entrance to the caravanserai in Naien.
10 October: courtyard of the caravanserai of Naien.
10 October: courtyard of the caravanserai of Naien.
10 October: Meibod, the eldest adobe city in the world, over 5000 years old! At the edge of the desert, Meibod has a "post house", "Natural Ice House" both over 2000 years old and a restored Caravanserai from Safavid dynasty built in the 16th century. A lovely little gem, we spent sometime walking in its small ally ways, .....an historically rich, but tired old city.
10 October: Meibod, the eldest adobe city in the world, over 5000 years old! At the edge of the desert, Meibod has a “post house”, “Natural Ice House” both over 2000 years old and a restored Caravanserai from Safavid dynasty built in the 16th century. A lovely little gem, we spent sometime walking in its small ally ways, …..an historically rich, but tired old city.
10 October: Chak-Chak or drip-drip in English, Zoroastrian temple, major pilgrimage place for Zoroastrians, between gorgeous mountains in the desert 80km from Yazd. Very spiritual and moving place. Also called 'the old green man' because of the old tree, receiving water from the cliff rocks dripping down, around which the temple has been built.
10 October: Chak-Chak or drip-drip in English, Zoroastrian temple, major pilgrimage place for Zoroastrians, between gorgeous mountains in the desert 80km from Yazd. Very spiritual and moving place. Also called ‘the old green man’ because of the old tree, receiving water from the cliff rocks dripping down, around which the temple has been built.
Iran

Yazd, 2nd time: tlc for TLC

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This time, Yazd came to our rescue as the engine cooling radiator pipes had given up. While on the road in the direction of Yazd, we noticed that the temperature gauge had gone up. As we had just come down a mountain and the weather was hot, we thought we give the car a little rest and it should be fine. After half an hour, we went on the road again, but almost immediately the gauge went up again. Checking the water, there was water in the overflow reservoir. So Saeed said: “I am going to do something dangerous”, and opened the actual radiator (not to be done when the engine is hot!) which turned out to be empty! As we had done a stop and go two times, we had been noticed and police stopped kindly to help. They offered us their bottles of water to fill up the radiator (“Don’t use your mineral water for that”, not knowing that we had filled our mineral water bottles with tap water;)), and suggested we stop at the mosque 5km further down the road to get more water and buy coolant.
We stopped at the mosque, where we bought coolant and added it together with more water to the radiator. Lots of trucks around filling their ‘ice’ reservoirs, of which I took many photos. I have become very fond of trucks and discovered so many different types!

We continued to Yazd, but were being held at a police check point for unnecessary curiousness and nosiness. What we noticed however, Continue reading Yazd, 2nd time: tlc for TLC →

Iran

Criss crossing Iran, delightful encounters

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“So, how did you travel through Iran?” Our itinerary may not have been the most logic to follow, but we had our reasons!
Due to our previous good experience with extending my visa in Shiraz, we wanted to be there again to do the same and that meant taking some routes that we might have done differently if a visa extension would not have been necessary and time wasn’t running out. This allowed us however, to pass twice through Shiraz and Yazd, two cities we both love.

After our first Yazd visit, we continued on to Shiraz with only focus to obtain a visa extension, which we received for three weeks. Once received, we could relax and start preparing the next travels through Iran. This took us east to Kerman via Meymand, trodlodyte city where people still live in caves. Upon entering the village, Continue reading Criss crossing Iran, delightful encounters →

Iran

Post cards… (6) central to south east, Meymand, Kerman, Mahan

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8 October: Meymand, troglodyte village in central south Iran, going back in time for nearly 5000 years. People still live here and do good trade with the tourists.
8 October: Meymand, troglodyte village in central south Iran, going back in time for nearly 5000 years. People still live here and do good trade with the tourists.
27 October: Shahzadeh Garden, Mahan, south of Kerman, which is located in the east. Mahan is known for Mahan Food products.
8 October: Shahzadeh Garden, Mahan, south of Kerman, which is located in the east. Mahan is known for Mahan Food products.
8 October: Kerman, square of the bazaar with a badgir, the traditional, natural air conditioning system.
8 October: Kerman, square of the bazaar with a badgir, the traditional, natural air conditioning system.
8 October: Kerman, roof of the bazaar with lovely paintings.
8 October: Kerman, roof of the bazaar with lovely paintings.
8 October: Nemat'alah Vali shrine in Mahan. Vali was a sufi of the 16th century, whose shrine is set in this gorgeous tranquil garden. We liked it so much we visited it twice.
8 October: Nemat’alah Vali shrine in Mahan. Vali was a sufi of the 16th century, whose shrine is set in this gorgeous tranquil garden. We liked it so much we visited it twice.