My hosts were so kind and accompanied me through the mountain road up to Neyshaboor to get me a little further away from the city.
The road between Kashmar and Neyshaboor was fantastic – we went through a green, orange, yellow, and violet jungle of colours. We stopped multiple times to take pictures before it was time to say goodbye.
My hosts helped me to get a car and weren’t satisfied until someone who went directly to Neyshaboor stopped for me and gave them his phone number, just in case. I hopped in the car and when I arrived in Neyshaboor, I was happy to walk around a little on my own and headed to the biggest park marked on the map. After I arrived there, I contacted my host who went to pick me up.
My host in Neyshaboor was the definition of the struggle Iranians face these days and I was constantly confronted with during my trip. He was very open-minded, spoke English (even with his two-year old son so he would learn it as soon as possible), helped in the house, and was earning money by stock trading. On the other hand, he lived in a (happy and respectful as it seemed) arranged marriage, was religious and constantly debating if the Hejab was a good thing or not, as he was not sure. He asked me if in Germany, a man can have two wives which I denied and I couldn’t stop me from continuing “she would kill him” with a laughing face. He was a bit puzzled and joked back that Iranian men win on this one. In general, I found my stay in Neyshaboor the most enriching one in terms of the discussions I had with him and his wife.
City wise Neyshaboor didn’t knock me off my feet – I visited the two mausoleums and a tomb, located in two beautiful gardens. but just from the cityscape and atmosphere, I already missed Kashmar (and its coffee).
I was about to stay only one night, but the next day was Friday and Fridays are not for travelling (or for doing anything other than going out and having a picnic). So my host convinced me to stay a day longer and we went to his family’s garden in the hills above the city. It was a lazy, beautiful day and I was more than happy to spend it in a garden and not on the road. But I couldn’t hide from moving on any longer, as my visa was about to expire and it was a long way to Gorgan – the next day I started hitchhiking at eight in the morning.
