If I was a Journalist in Iran...

"Good evening, ladies and gentleman, from the holy city of Qom!" - that was my introduction sentence I spoke in front of the camera, as I ended up applying for a job at the local TV station. The opportunity came unexpected, as my host in that city happened to work as a TV presenter, and her station was looking for someone who can be a host to programs on English language.

Her name is Fatima, and she is one of the most active couchsurfing members in her city. She accepted my couchsurfing request just few minutes after I sent it, and a day later, welcomed me to her house. Her mother comes from Germany, and she moved to Iran long time ago, accepting Islam and marrying a local. Although most of religious girls are quite conservative with hosting men, Fatima was quite open-minded and her house was open to everyone and always full of guests. Besides me, there were two other guys (from different part of Iran) staying with her. Later that day, in the same house, I had an honor to meet a local champion of swimming through the Persian Gulf for 85 days, crossing 1000 km along the coast of southeastern Iran. He made approximately about 11 km per day, protected by the 7-meter long shark cage, followed by the guide boats of the safety team. Among the pictures he showed me, I remember one where he shakes the hand with Ahmadinejad, Iranian president at that time.

His story brought my memory back from the times I used to work in Serbian media - several radio and TV stations, where I met so many different characters, and learned a lot about people. I was thrilled to accept the job, but however, I had a trip waiting for me and two visas of unusual countries about to be put in my passport.

This city surrounded by desert, is about 100km away from Tehran, and was a good chance to escape the capital, while waiting for my Tajik visa. "Our consul is a little bit strange, so you have to wait for a few days" - said a woman from the Tajik embassy, after I came there for the third time. Therefore, I hitched a ride from the capital's exit toll gate, and a man who picked me up gave me short introduction about this holy city.

He brought me to try local sweets called "sohan" - a flat sweet biscuit made of pistachios and saffron, very famous across the country. He also showed me Ayatollah Khomeini's house, where he lived for some time after the year of Islamic revolution. In this city, Iranian spiritual leader brought his opposition to the Pahlavi royal dynasty back in the 60s. Qom has a reputation of being quite conservative city, and as a place of pilgrimage, the atmosphere seems more serious than in previous cities. Behind every corner there are big posters of Iranian spiritual leaders, looking at you.

The pride of the city is Shrine of Fatima-al-Massumeh. This holy complex of several mosques, visited by thousands of pilgrims per year, is the place where Fatema È Massumeh was buried in the 8th century. She was a sister of the eight Imam. As I looked like a local, people at the entrance assumed I came for praying...

The next day, I returned to the capital. There, I spent few more days with more people. However, on my surprise, I reunited with Anya - a Russian solo female traveler, who went alone to at least one third of the world. She was my guest back in Serbia one year ago, so naturally, I was happy to have found a new traveling partner for the next two weeks, with whom I continued my hitchhiking trip towards the east...