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India - Pakistan - Iran - Turkey - Syria - Jordan - Lebanon - Syria - Turkey - Europe Reisverhalen, grensovergangen, de auto en de opdrachten in het Nederlands |
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| Date | GPS | Location | Story |
| 3 February 2004 | N36º26'2.3" E48º47'41.0" |
Border Iran - Turkey (1793 m) |
The goodbye of Iran was a border officer who wanted a bribe of US$20 for opening the gate to Turkey. Of course, we offered him only some nasty words, but this last incident was the climax of just too many similar incidents in Iran. Very sad for all the nice people we met in this country. We were very happy to enter Turkey! |
| 2 February 2004 | N36º26'2.3" E48º47'41.0" |
Soltaniyeh (1793 m) |
We found the mausoleum of Soltaniyeh not impressive enough to justify the 3 euro entrance fee. But maybe we are just tired of Iran... |
| 31 January - 1 February 2004 |
N36º16'9.1" E50º0'8.9" |
Qazvin (1338 m) |
We would have liked to visit the (in)famous castle of the Assassins, but after driving for about an hour into the mountains through a snowstorm, we prevented our assassination by Nature by turning around. |
| 29 - 30 January 2004 |
N35º49'41.9" E51º25'36.9" |
Tehran (1797 m) |
Back in the capital to pick up our visa for Syria. Info: More GPS waypoints of Iran. |
| 28 January 2004 | N35º53'15.0" E51º31'42.1" |
Fasham (1850 m) |
We ended up in this village because of our troubles with frozen diesel. The friendly restaurant Golchin offered us a welcome meal and a warm place to sleep. |
| 26 - 27 January 2004 |
N36º0'26.6" E51º29'17.5" |
Shemshak (2492 m) |
Skiing is a popular pastime for the elite in Iran and the skiing resorts are not bad at all. Interestingly, a contrarevolution will maybe start here: the skiing resorts are the only public places in Iran where women are not forced to wear a headscarf! Some details about skiing in Shemshak: |
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| 24 - 25 January 2004 |
N35º49'41.9" E51º25'36.9" |
Tehran (1797 m) |
Tehran lies on a major seismological fault. A medium strong earthquake like one that killed about 26.000 people in Bam, would kill maybe more than 700.000 people in Tehran. As we saw with our own eyes at building sites in Tehran, the big problem is the remarkable low building standard in this country. Even more remarkable is that every decade thousands of people are killed by earthquakes in Iran and no lessons seem to be learned. Of course, you can put your fate in the hands of Allah, but then you must be sure he is on your side... |
| Tehran (Teheran) |
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| 23 January 2004 | N34º27'19.3" E51º6'37.7" |
Shur Ab (911 m) |
A stop-over en route to Tehran. |
| 22 January 2004 | N32º14'1.4" E54º23'8.3" |
Chekchek (1397 m) |
We went back to Yazd to buy some souvenirs that appeared to be unavailable elsewhere. With 1.6 eurocent per liter diesel backtracking is not a big deal in Iran. Especially when you can camp in the beautiful desert near the zoroastrian site of Chekchek. Dutch: Opdracht 2 - Orion boven de woenstijn. |
| 21 January 2004 | N33º35'11.8" E51º35'19.7" |
Abyaneh (2250 m) |
A pittoresque village in the mountains. |
| 19 - 20 January 2004 |
N33º59'17.0" E51º27'12.0" |
Kashan (955 m) |
Beside the blue tiled mosques, a covered bazaar and a citadel, Kashan offers also a nice mausoleum and some fine traditional houses. |
| 16 - 18 January 2004 |
N32º39'22.8" E51º40'35.9" |
Esfahan (1585 m) |
Blue tiled mosques, covered bazaars, pleasant tea houses - just like any city in Iran, but Esfahan is King. |
| 13 - 15 January 2004 |
N28º54'55.7" E52º31'44.7" |
Qalah-é Doktar (1403 m) |
Back again at this superb spot. However, because of heavy rains, the river was at an elevated level. With the LandCruisers (ours and the BJ45 of Coen-Karin-Marijke) we hardly managed to cross the river. |
| Picture by Coen Wubbels |
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| 10 - 12 January 2004 |
N29º37'2.5" E52º32'29.6" |
Shiraz (1533 m) |
Coen-Karin-Marijke brought for us from The Netherlands an Olympus digital camera. So from now on we don't have to rely on lousy scans from lousy prints. |
| 9 January 2004 | N31º49'22.1" E50º3'6.1" |
Izeh (1057 m) |
En route to Shiraz, straight through the mountains and thus through the snow. The Iranians were suprisingly good prepared - everybody carried snow chains. Except us. But don't worry, four-wheel-drive is a nice substitute for snow chains... ;-) |
| 8 January 2004 | N32º11'39.1" E48º14'41.0" |
Choqa Zanbil (73 m) |
Camping next to the remains of a city and pyramid dating from 1200 BC. Archeologists are still uncovering complete houses and palaces. Dutch: Opdracht 1 - Zand of potscherven? |
| 7 January 2004 | N32º11'39.1" E48º14'41.0" |
Shush (73 m) |
Ruins, rains, and lots of rials as entrance fee. So we just enjoyed a comfortable hotel room. |
| 6 January 2004 | N30º17'12.9" E50º10'11.6" |
Oil fields (245 m) |
Camping on the beach proved to be no fun: within five seconds our car was covered with a googol flies. So we ended up spending the night in the south-western hills between the oil wells. |
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| 5 January 2004 | N28º59'11.6" E50º49'39.7" |
Bushehr (sea level) |
The not so interesting port at the Persian Gulf. |
| 4 January 2004 | N28º54'55.7" E52º31'44.7" |
Qalah-é Doktar (1403 m) |
A beautiful camping spot near the ruins of a 6th century Sassanian castle. After a week we will return here to have a weekend off. |
| 3 January 2004 | N29º59'21.0" E52º52'36.0" |
Naghsh-é Rostam (1642 m) |
The tombes of Darius I, Artaxerxes, Xerses I and Darius II - four of the great kings of the Acheamenid Persian Empire (559-330 BC). |
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| 1 - 2 January 2004 |
N31º54'3.3" E54º22'12.2" |
Yazd (1243 m) |
Believe me: visiting the desert city of Yazd during wintertime is much more comfortable than during summertime! |
| 31 December 2003 | N31º53'43.5" E54º21'56.2" |
Yazd (1223 m) |
New Years Eve is a massive celebration in The Islamic Republic of Iran... not. So we celebrated the Christian new year with the two of us, on our hotel room, with the wodka we smuggled from Pakistan. |
| 28 - 30 December 2003 |
N30º17'5.8" E57º4'20.7" |
Kerman (1773 m) |
For some Dutch newspapers we had to write articles about Bam. We heart very sad stories at the hospitals in Kerman, but also upbeat stories of the relief agencies temporarely based at the Kerman airport. Dutch: Onze verhalen voor de dagbladen van de GPD. |
| Akhbar Tourist Guest House |
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| 27 December 2003 | N29º5'26.0" E58º21'44.8" |
Bam (1066 m) |
The day after the earthquake in Bam! |
| 26 December 2003 | N28º58'37.6" E61º33'1.1" |
Border Pakistan - Iran |
An easy border crossing, no vehicle search, with a bizarre ending: on the BBC World Service we hear about the earthquake that destroyed Bam this morning. We missed it by just one day... Dutch: het verhaal over de grensovergang volgt later. |
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Picture copyright owned by Erwin Voogt. Please contact me first if you want to use any of these pictures, images or photographs for any purpose. |
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