Tabas was one of the nicest cities I’ve seen in Iran. It was an oasis in the middle of the desert, full of colourful flowers and palm trees. I only saw the public garden at night, unfortunately, but even then I could see it was the most beautiful one I’ve seen so far. Far nicer than the ones in Shiraz (and free, for that matter). Everything in this city said “We don’t know tourists, let alone foreigners”, but no one really cared either which made it kind of beautiful.
The sister-in-law of my host in Tabas drove me to my host’s place, where his wife welcomed me with a tea and a few snacks. None of them spoke English very well, but my Farsi was getting a bit better and with my Farsi and their English we almost had something one can call a conversation.
Thinking back, I have to say it was one of my nicest experiences in Iran. But most importantly, I was instantly part of their family and circle of friends. We went hiking in a beautiful canyon and for the weekend, we went with their friends for a party in the mountains close to the city where I learned more Iranian games (Iranians love playing games). In the evening we went to play volleyball in the desert with a bunch of people until sunset. Overall I had an amazing time with lots of laughter and Iranians favourite dish, ice cream. After a couple of days with the family I continued my trip around Khorasan province.
Deyhuk
I decided to take the longer route to Kashmar to see Deyhuk on the way. I didn’t know much about the city except that I heard it is supposed to be beautiful. When I arrived there after a nice couple picked me up from Tabas I researched the interesting sights of the city and found out about some beautiful ruins of the former old town in the north of the city center. On my way I noticed a car with a grimly looking older man inside circling around me. I was getting outside of the city center in a very non-touristic area (especially lacking foreigners) and started to worry a bit, but the ruins were just in front of me and the situation didn’t feel too suspicious. Shortly before I arrived at the ruins, the car passed me again, stopped a few meters before me and a young, nice girl jumped out of the passenger’s seat and started to talk to me in English. She explained her father saw me on the street and thought she can speak English with me. I didn’t have anything against a nice conversation and so showed me around the ruins of Deyhuk. Her father wasn’t happy with my decision to leave my backpack somewhere in the ruins to explore the surrounding without it and watched my stuff while I was away. I start to trust Iranians more than they trust themselves.
They invited me for lunch and later to their grandparent’s house in a small village a little off the path. I thought it might not be the smartest idea given that I still had a four-hour drive to Kashmar, but I was too curious to refuse. I went with them and suddenly ended up in a 400 year old house. It looked like the historical houses I’ve been in Yazd and Kashan, just inhabited and with the typical welcoming atmosphere I love so much in Iran.
Unfortunately, I had to keep on moving as it was already getting later than I thought and they drove me to the street where I should wait for a ride. Before going there I had to register at the police station though as the local police had found out about a foreigner in the area. I have no idea how the word spread so fast as I didn’t go anywhere except out of the car and into the house where I stayed for about an hour, but I got used to the idea that the police knows everything around here.
The street was a little off the path and it was really difficult to get a ride. Earlier in the day I wouldn’t have worried, but checking the watch and the weather let me reconsider my situation. A taxi was riding circles around me just waiting for the moment I gave up so I decided to do a little for the local income and let him take me to the nearest city where I was hoping to get an easier ride, but on the way I decided it was getting too late and asked him to drive me to the bus terminal. Arriving there we had a bit of an argument about the correct amount of money as I thought he quoted something completely different, but we met in the middle and I also had other things to think about. There was no bus going to Kashmar directly, but I could get into the one to Mashad who would pass by a city close to my final destination. It would have left at 10pm at night. Considering my options I decided to keep on trying but having the bus as the backup plan. Best decision I could have made. First a nice Iranian woman and her mother brought me to the edge of the city, then the street police helped me to get a ride further. The police officer managed to get me into a tour bus with a bunch of Iranian party animals who were most happy to have a foreign tourist joining them on their ride. I on the other hand was super happy that some of them spoke English very well and at one point a guy came to me and started speaking German to me. It turned out he had lived in Germany almost his entire lifetime and was in Iran to visit his family. We chatted for quite some time while the other Iranian travellers had fun playing pantomime and having a dance contest in a bus on a highway. I was almost scared that I had to pay my ride with a dance session myself, but luckily they were not insisting on me to show off my non-existing dance moves to Iranian music.
They drove me to a town a good 45 minutes drive from Kashmar and I was lucky enough to have my host coming to pick me up there. Once he got to the square where I waited for him it was already quite late and we went to Kashmar through a pitch black road and a thunderstorm in front of us. Around 8pm, I arrived in Kashmar where my host’s family greeted me with a nice cup of hot tea.
