‘Dangerous’ Iran

The first major stop in our year long adventures was Iran, which has been the country of my dreams for about 15 years. I don’t know why exactly I have wanted so much to visit this country and learn its language, but the fact was I did. I guess meeting wonderful Iranians living in Denmark back in 2001 was what started the interest. Studying ‘Politics of the Middle East’ and ‘Islam, Politics and the challenge of terrorism’ courses at Otago University fuelled the fire, but nothing can really explain why I got goose bumps when I heard a couple speaking Persian at the local swimming pool in Christchurch. Actually whenever I heard Farsi, some part of my heart leapt a little and I got excited.

So a trip to Iran was meant to be. Visiting Iran was the only thing on my ‘bucket list’ so I was lucky Antony agreed to start our trip there. He wasn’t sure why I wanted so much to go there but was happy to go along with it. Yay for an easy going husband who trusts my judgement.

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Other people were not so understanding. ‘Iran, why do you want to go there? Isn’t it dangerous?’ was a response we got from a few.  Others who had been there were excited for us and told of wonderful experiences. Travellers we met in NZ were jealous, having heard of the wonderful hospitality of Iranians.

So is Iran dangerous?

Yes and no.

In terms of terrorism- no. None, nada, not on home turf anyway. In terms of crime – again no. We felt incredibly safe during our whole stay in Iran. People were always willing to help us and make sure we were ok. Almost on a daily basis someone (often a complete stranger who approached us on the street or in a shop) offered their contact details (mobile number) to us ‘in case you have any problem in Iran please call me and I will help you’. Strangers invited us in to their houses for tea and our one hitch-hiking driver took us to a relatives house, fed us delicious food, invited friends and family to meet us and insisted we stay with him. The family were most disappointed when we refused and we felt we had really let them down.

With the guy who picked us up when hitchhiking and insisted we meet his relatives, Kerman.

With the guy who picked us up when hitchhiking and insisted we meet his relatives, Kerman.

Almost all the locals we did stay with showed us around fantastic places, cooked lovely meals for us, wouldn’t let us help or pay for things and really wanted us to stay longer at their place.

Wherever we went people on the street or even from their cars called out ‘Welcome to Iran’. Aside from wonderful hospitality which is part of their culture and the Islamic faith, we felt that Iranians were incredibly helpful and hospitable to tourists in an effort to reverse any negative views foreigners may have of their country. Iranians often asked us ‘what do you think of Iran?’, ‘what is your feeling about my country?’ They know that most of the coverage Iran gets in the Western media is not very positive and they hope that our experience will show a different side of Iran. Which it certainly did!

One of the many friendly Iranians we met. This camel farmer stopped on the beach in Qeshm to talk with us for quite a while. He even recited poetry... about love and longing.

One of the many friendly Iranians we met. This camel farmer stopped on the beach in Qeshm to talk with us for quite a while. He even recited poetry… about love and longing.

In our two months in Iran we had just one negative experience which happened in the first few days in the country. Antony went swimming and left his hat, sunglasses and sandals on the beach. When he came out of the water they were gone. Incredibly frustrating given that the sunglasses were prescription and of no use to anyone else and the sandals were expensive travel sandals purchased for our trip that had only just begun. Sigh. It was not cool. But it could have happened on a beach anywhere, we will need to be more careful.

Whenever this event came up in conversation Iranians were shocked that this would happen and apologised to us for the actions of the thief. Our hosts who had lived on the beach for a few years had not heard of this ever happening before. But we met an Italian traveller who had had a similar experience just the day before. After swimming he saw that his shoes had disappeared. He asked around on the beach if people had seen his shoes. One boy replied that his uncle had taken them. The tourist said he wanted them back so the boy called his uncle on the mobile phone and he returned to the beach with the shoes!! No such boy with uncle to be found in our case unfortunately.

Aside from this incident which one can hardly describe as dangerous, more an annoyance, the only dangerous thing about Iran was the driving.

Truly crazy driving.

It deserves its own post – stay tuned.

 

About the Author

Born and bred in New Zealand's South Island, this Kiwi likes getting 'out there' exploring the world and its wonderful people! I have taught English in South Korea, volunteered in Kyrgyzstan, studied in Denmark, lived in community in Scotland and visited friends and wonderful people all over the world. Now married to Antony the adventures continue together. I have a habit of being notoriously behind in my blog - but will do what I can to record my adventures, as much for my own record as anything (as I have a terrible memory). After an amazing year in Iran and Europe, in 2016, Antony and I are off again September 29 2019 - Feb 1 2020. Hopefully I can blog about most of what we get up to! Enjoy the read! Kate x

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