Crazy that it is already the 50th personal blog post, so for this one there is something unique coming. I was traveling surprisingly fancy, something you haven’t read much and probably it will continue not fancy as well!
How did it start?
After sleeping very late at the celebration day with the Persian party I was called early from the guys at the car rental place. They picked me up and showed me around the city.
Click here to read more about the story.
I received a free city trip which included the driver/guide and a videographer. We saw many things and enjoyed the time together.
It was weird for me having this attention and also having a guided tour in a country where it would not be necessary! Still it was relaxing and nice to learn more about the country I was in. They were sharing some historical stories about Iran with me, which was very interesting.
After they dropped me at the airport, it was time for me to discover another city of Iran.
Visiting Mashhad
Mashhad is a religious city near the border with Turkmenistan in the North East of the country. Roughly three million people are living there and many pilgrimage people are visiting it all the time.
The flight was short and decent, I think I was the only foreign person on the plane and the person next to me was hyped to have a conversation with me, but sadly we were speaking different languages. After many attempts and a lot of smiling we both basically gave up.
Arriving at the airport was weird. I was planning to take a transportation to the accommodation and researched a specific application. In the distance I saw a guy having a sign with the name of my hotel for the night.
To give you more information, I am supposed to meet another German traveler in Tehran and fly with him to Mashhad. Felix was worried about the security in Iran and decided to fly to Ashgabat directly. He booked a hotel in Mashhad but couldn’t get his money back, so he decided to give me the details and let me stay in the hotel room which was very nice!
I felt so privileged by just being a guest in a hotel, which would give me a free transfer from the airport, quite nice!
The Hotel in Mashhad
Arriving at the hotel was interesting again. I came with my backpack and not the cleanest clothes in this very fancy hotel where I didn’t need to open the door by myself.
I wanted to check in, which wasn’t as easy as expected.
The guys at the check in didn’t believe me, that I would be able to afford a night in that hotel. They were doing many check ups and letting me wait for over an hour, before they agreed to let me stay in the already paid hotel room.
It was such an annoying situation, but at least I had a comfortable bed and they printed things for me. Just not my world in general, I didn’t feel welcome there and could be probably more satisfied somewhere else. Also the taxi which was organized from the hotel was very pricey for Iran.
The workers were also quite spoiled by asking me for more tips than I gave. It was after them forcing to help me out with luggage, which I find quite weird. When you receive some money, why ask for more?
Exploring Mashhad
Mashhad is a religious city which was possible to tell right away. Women were covered and they had a huge religious complex. It felt more like the Middle East than Tehran for sure!
The city was very clean and people were very helpful. I was visiting the religious complex and shrine. It was massive and very beautiful.
Just walking over the complex was great and amazing how many carpets they were using to cover the huge amount of floor.
The architecture was in Persian style, which was just great to experience.
Going shopping
I changed too much money into the local currency (100 Euro) and I had to get rid of it somehow, because it wouldn’t be worth much when I returned.
In Nepal I was planning to purchase a suitcase and some other things, so that was something I was searching for at the time. So it was time for some negotiation again, something which is a lot of fun for myself, to get the biggest discount possible.
The suitcase was well priced at the end, but as realized a day later, the quality wasn’t great.
Besides the suitcase, there were some souvenirs I wanted to get as well. I bought spices and some sweets. Also actually some jewelry as a gift as well. Still there was money left, which was used the next day on my transfer to Turkmenistan.
People were not talking too much, until they realized that I was actually not from there. My first time being in a city in Iran without knowing someone was not as tricky as many people might think. It was working out very well and adding to it, it’s very safe.
Getting to the border
The night was short, I didn’t sleep at all, mainly because I was doing a video call with Marla in Germany and then it was basically too late to sleep. Quite stupid, but that’s normal for myself.
On time the person was there to pick me up and there we went. Just a three hour drive through nowhere, just desert and mountains. I was sleeping for the most part, just the driver woke me up sometimes to ask for directions, which shouldn’t be my job to be honest.
I was getting a little bit of sleep, which was good, but at the border another shit show started, like always.
What is up next?
Next week you are going to have the first article about Turkmenistan and read how the border situation looked, so stay tuned! Also more then happy about reading some comments!
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