Camel breath

I think this will be my last post from Iran. I decided to leave Yazd yesterday and jumped on bus to Bam in the Southeast of Iran. My visa's up tomorrow and I have to leave Iran, so I'm going to go to the Pakistani border at Zahedan tomorrow morning (about a five hour drive).

I've noticed that the Iranian buses don't like to stop and they go quite a while without stopping for a toilet break (and they don't have toilets on board). Yesterday I got on the bus at 4pm and it still hadn't stop by 9.00pm that night. I was about to burst my gut and eventually it stopped at a police checkpoint and all the men rushed to the front of the bus. I was thinking to myself "Thank fuck I'm not the only one who needs to piss" and I jumped up and followed them all. There was a sand dune that would have fit my needs perfectly, but they all ran out into the desert. Presuming that they knew something I didn't (maybe it was a sacred sand dune or something) I followed them thinking they would eventually all stop to relieve themselves... So I was with this group of Iranian men and suddenly they all dropped to their knees in prostration and started praying... and there was I standing in their midst with my zip half down... It was ...ehh... slightly embarrassing... I had two choices: drop to my knees and start praying or obviously turn around like an eejit and retreat. I chose the latter since I couldn't have feigned praying had my life depended on it... I decided to make use of the sand dune on the way back from my embarrassment and with quite some relief, I contributed my bladder contents to the battle against desertification.

Arrived in Bam late last night and spent today walking around the ruins of the Arg-e-Bam. Some of you may remember that shortly after Christmas 2007, Bam was hit by a very serious earthquake during which 35000 people died... the town is a bit of a disaster zone (click here for news coverage). The castle and citadel here (Arg-e-Bam) used to be the jewels in crown of the Iranian historical sites, but they've been reduced to rubble. They're trying to rebuild it like it used to be, but it's going to take them decades and millions of euros...

Also, see below for some pictures of Yazd... I went camel riding, saw some Zoroastrian stuff, some old citadels etc. It was very nice and relaxing with a good mix of seeing shit and then chilling out in the hotel, getting my ass kicked in chess, playing cards etc.

Zoroastrianism was the principle religion of ancient Persia and survived until the Islamic armies marched in. There are still 1m Zoroastrians in Iran (also in India and Pakistan). It's a pretty cool religion. Their god is Ahura Mazda and they have a prophet called Zoroaster (who looks a bit like Jesus in pictures). They believe in good and evil, truth and falsehood etc. They also place strong importance on the four elements: Wind, Water, Earth and Fire. They don't want to impurify earth or fire by burying or burning their dead, so they used to leave the cadavers to rot and the bones to be picked clean by vultures after death. They did this by leaving them in so called towers of silence. This has been discontinued since the sixties and now they bury their dead in tombs lined with cement so that contamination of the earth doesn't occur.

In other news, before I left Yadz, I collected books from the post office that my mum sent me (yay mum!)... so I've got books again and am very happy. currently reading 'Among the believers' by VS Naipul... which seems to be very interesting.

I also discovered that I really, really dislike camels and camel riding. Camels are ugly, smelly, fly infested, Starwars-esque beasts and to ride on them is paramount to letting someone with high heels do a jig on your genitals... I could not recommend it any less. I don't know how these Silk Road traders did it.

Here are some pictures of Yadz, more to come when I get a decent Internet connection (I've heard it ain't so good in Pakistan though... )

Signing off for the last time in Iran... C.