Tehran is the place where I made a decision to travel overland to China, and so, I had to stay there for ten days in order to prepare documents for my Afghan, but also for Tajik visa. In order to do that, one of the necessities was to get a letter from my own embassy, which confirms my existence. And, so, I went to my embassy and sent $60 to Serbian government (for both documents), after I assured them that I know what I am doing, as north of Afghanistan was safe. Ha! Safe! Ok... at that time, I believed it was, and I knew how to persuade other people believe it too.
And while waiting for my visas, I could just relax, and "enjoy" Tehran. If I forget about swallowing pollution and running for my life while crossing the street, I could say that its possible to enjoy this crazy city.
Ilaria, my co-passenger, stayed only few days in Tehran, as she had to go back to Italy for a wedding. We both stayed with Mohammad, who was a couchsurfing host of my Serbian friend a year before I came. For the rest of my time in the capital, I stayed with another three people, and met maybe thirty three more...
Social life in Iran is quite a story. Its quite possible that some suspicious official approaches the crowd of more than 7 people and starts asking some questions. To avoid that, most of Iranian youth organizes social activities in their own houses. There are no official clubs, discotheques or dancing places, so people are making their own "underground parties". One of my hosts made such a party, with more than 15 of his friends. We had a memorable night of dancing, laughing and drinking some strong homemade alcohol. After the party finished, most of the people stayed overnight, in order not to get caught drunk on the street.
With such a limit in social life, how is it possible to start a relationship? Well... I'd like to share one unique story about one girl who hosted me in Tehran: As I mentioned before, traffic is quite crazy and every third driver had a small, or so called "regular accident", described by one local. Regular accident means that you hit a person on a pedestrian crossing, or just "kiss" another car while driving. However, this girl had a big accident. Her car was completely smashed by another car, and she was lucky not to be injured. The other driver offered his help with the bureaucracy process, and they started meeting regularly. Eventually, their interests went further, and one day... they hooked up!
The largest city of Western Asia, which serves as a country capital for more than 200 years, has so many undiscovered stories from its charismatic locals. The longer you stay, the more stories to tell...
And while waiting for my visas, I could just relax, and "enjoy" Tehran. If I forget about swallowing pollution and running for my life while crossing the street, I could say that its possible to enjoy this crazy city.
Ilaria, my co-passenger, stayed only few days in Tehran, as she had to go back to Italy for a wedding. We both stayed with Mohammad, who was a couchsurfing host of my Serbian friend a year before I came. For the rest of my time in the capital, I stayed with another three people, and met maybe thirty three more...Social life in Iran is quite a story. Its quite possible that some suspicious official approaches the crowd of more than 7 people and starts asking some questions. To avoid that, most of Iranian youth organizes social activities in their own houses. There are no official clubs, discotheques or dancing places, so people are making their own "underground parties". One of my hosts made such a party, with more than 15 of his friends. We had a memorable night of dancing, laughing and drinking some strong homemade alcohol. After the party finished, most of the people stayed overnight, in order not to get caught drunk on the street.With such a limit in social life, how is it possible to start a relationship? Well... I'd like to share one unique story about one girl who hosted me in Tehran: As I mentioned before, traffic is quite crazy and every third driver had a small, or so called "regular accident", described by one local. Regular accident means that you hit a person on a pedestrian crossing, or just "kiss" another car while driving. However, this girl had a big accident. Her car was completely smashed by another car, and she was lucky not to be injured. The other driver offered his help with the bureaucracy process, and they started meeting regularly. Eventually, their interests went further, and one day... they hooked up!
The largest city of Western Asia, which serves as a country capital for more than 200 years, has so many undiscovered stories from its charismatic locals. The longer you stay, the more stories to tell...
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| a typical Iranian lunch in a Tehran restaurant |
Life in Tehran has its ups and downs. I received a lot of positive energy from its residents, visited the biggest bazaar I've seen so far, also few palaces, ate a lots of meat, took a ride in buses with divided section for men and women, was invited for a lunch in many houses, watched open-air theater, smoked nargiles accompanied by tea with yellow sugar, and even tried driving in the traffic jam (huh, never again)...
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