Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Persian Trip: Fourth Leg – Tehran

Monday, 26 December 2016

We left a wet Isfahan for Tehran this morning but not before a brief stop at Khaju Bridge. This bridge was built more than 360 years ago on the foundations of an older bridge and in its heyday, it also functioned as a dam. Unfortunately, Zayandeh River on which it spanned was dry. We walked across the bridge and re-boarded the bus for our long journey to Tehran.

We stopped en route at Kashan to visit Bagh-e Fin or Fin Garden, the oldest extant garden in Iran and also one of the nine gardens in Iran that are grouped under The Persian Garden, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. So on this trip, we had visited three of the nine Persian Gardens on the UNESCO World Heritage Site: Bagh-e Eram in Shiraz, Bagh-e Chehelsooton in Isfahan and now Bagh-e Fin in Kashan. The Fin Garden employs many water features fed from a spring on a hill behind the garden and the water pressure was such that a large number of pools and fountains could be constructed without the need for mechanical pumps. Truly an engineering feat. It was drizzling when we were there.

We then had lunch at a nearby restaurant before visiting Borujerdiha House, a beautiful former merchant house. The house was built for the bride of Haji Mehdi Borujerdi (she was from the affluent Tabatabei family. The Tabatabei family had their own impressive house which we didn’t visit unfortunately).

We left Borujerdiha House and walked to our bus in the rain. We still had a long trip ahead of us.

We reached Tehran well after dark and wow, it’s a busy bustling metropolis! We got caught in the crawl heading to the capital and inched our way along. Our first stop was of course a restaurant with its quirky but charming decoration for dinner before checking in to Espinas Gulf Hotel, our hotel for the next two nights.

Tuesday, 27 December 2016

The day started off grey and wet and some of us, me included, borrowed umbrellas from the hotel. And I was so glad I did so as the weather continued that way for the better part of the day.

Amin informed that he had tweaked the programmes a bit and that our first stop this morning would be at a nut shop in north Tehran as he said we may prefer to do our shopping first so that we could pack when we returned to the hotel (the nut shopping was supposed to be on the following day (last day in Tehran) and he said tourists tend to shop a lot and then have problems as they have to pack their purchases at the airport. Yup, that makes sense. We spent an hour there. I only bought some dates for dad and figs and pistachios.

After that, we drove to the National Museum of Iran. There are two complexes: the Museum of Ancient Iran and the Museum of the post-Islamic era. We visited the former first and Amin brought us through it with a running documentary. I think we spent just enough time there without getting restless (I love museums but I know not everyone likes spending much time in one). We left for lunch after an hour or so and returned back to the museum to visit the second complex, the Museum of the post-Islamic era.

After that, we drove to the National Jewellery Museum which is housed in the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is only opened in the afternoon between 14:00 to 16:30 on Saturday to Tuesday. There were a lot of people here and we were not allowed to bring in any cameras inside. There are many jaw-dropping pieces of jewellery and big gem stones adorning crowns, coronation belts, swords, dish covers (!) and even thrones (!!!). I’d been to Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad a while ago and now couldn’t say which was better. It was truly a feast for the eyes and I enjoyed the visit very much.

It was getting dark when we left. We drove through the rain to the Grand Bazaar and were given less than an hour to browse. Some decided not to go and stayed in the bus. I wasn’t too hot about walking in the pissing rain but decided to get down anyway, reasoning that I might as well have a look while I was there. There were a lot of people around, shopping for their daily needs at the bazaar, returning from work and going out for dinner. Nothing much caught my fancy though at the bazaar and I left the covered bazaar and went to browse the shops outside the covered area. I was looking for honey to bring home for dad but couldn’t find any that satisfied me. I returned to pre-agreed the rendezvous point and waited for the rest.

We then went for dinner at a Chinese Restaurant (yes, I found it puzzling too) before returning to the hotel.

Wednesday, 28 December 2016

Today was our last day in Tehran. We left the hotel at 08:30 with our bags as we would not be returning to the hotel. The day started off grey and gloomy. We drove to Saadabad Palace, stopping briefly at Azadi Tower for some Kodak moments. It was raining when we arrived at Saadabad Palace so we hurried into the White Palace, the largest mansion in the complex. It was used for ceremonial and official affairs and summer residence of the Shah. We ooh-ed ahh-ed at the rooms, the ceilings that mirrored the carpets (or is it the other way round, i.e., the carpets mirroring the ceilings?), the furniture, and the overall opulence of it all.

Lunch was had at a nearby restaurant - I got bored waiting for the main course and slipped out to perform prayers at a mosque behind the restaurant (I can now say that I had performed prayers in a Shia mosque) - before we drove back across the city to Golestan Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Golestan Palace is one of the oldest historic monuments in Tehran and is a formal royal complex. There was a marble throne at the terrace where coronations and formal court ceremonies were held (i.e., it wasn’t a residential palace). We had to don shoe covers inside the palace building. It was beautiful inside and we all agreed it was even more spectacular than Saadabad Palace that we visited this morning. I guess Amin saved the best for last. The weather finally improved when we emerged out.

We drove to a restaurant serving traditional Persian food for early dinner. The speciality was abghoost (lamb stew) and even though I’m not a lamb or mutton person, I decided to give it a try. And it was really good and delicious, exactly what I needed after a cold wet day!

It was already dark when we left the restaurant. We boarded the bus for the hour-long journey to the airport. There was a queue and the counters were so slow that I managed to change clothes while queuing. After checking in our bags, Nit and I went out again to sell our Iranian Rials. The moneychanger had no USD and we were given Ringgit instead. We then went to clear immigration and headed for the washroom and then the prayer room.

Our flight took off at 22:40 and they served us some delicious meal (I was too sleepy and tired by then but still ate sleepily). I was surprised when I woke up to find that I had managed to sleep (I always find it hard to sleep during flights, no matter how long and far).

Thursday, 29 December 2016

We landed in Doha just after midnight and had to catch a bus to the terminal. I went to check out some stores (the Hermès sales assistant remembered me!) before heading to the gate. We boarded after 02:00 and it was in the flight that we found that the flight had been overbooked. One of the Datuks had to sit in economy (he also had to sit in economy from Tehran to Doha) despite paying for business class and our tour leader and another lady had to take a later flight. I had flown Qatar twice before this trip and never realised they had these problems. Again, I had no problems nodding off (and no, no complaints!). I did wake up a few times to perform prayers and use the bathroom.

We landed at KLIA at 15:30. I rushed off and went to perform prayers. My bags came out shortly after I arrived at the carousel and I was already on the bus back to KL by 16:10.


So that was my year-end trip. I would like to go to Iran again but different cities next time. And I think I will still fly Qatar Airways. InsyaAllah.