at the customs i was shy of taking pics and maybe I forgot later to do it, so, only two…
Awakening 5 o’clock, no surprise as I was excited or so…
Samuel-host waited when at 6:30 I left the room with my stuff. He gave me the dates I had paid for yesterday, we talked a bit and I went off.
This is more for people who also want to cross the Armenian/Iranian border
At the customs I didn’t know where to go, people were neutral and disinterested. In the end, I had to go in with my bike at the last entrance on the right side of the building, rechts davon would be the gate for cars, that was closed at 6:50. The bike had to wait until a lady had checked my passport, and she checked thoroughly. I had to go out and at thee next door again in to get my bike. The officer helped me with the door as my bike packs were to wide. Then there is a quite long way to move on. In the middle is a small hut with again two officers who not passionately but finally also wanted to check the passport. Then there is a bridge with a gate and an officer for the last Armenian passport check. A few meters ahead, was the first Iranian control but he let me pass and welcomed me, smiling. The next officer 100m forward in a hut waved me to the other side, took his time to check the passport, but also let me go. In the vistors center, finally, I had to put all my bags in the x-ray, the officer opened my computer that I had put out and then three of four bags. He took some items out opened a water bottle if it contains something else and when he was tired of checking he let me go.
If it was good or bad to change money with a guy who asked me if I need to, I don’t know yet. I just did it, as it were 30000 dram, that is around 60€ and I got 61 100000rial notes. In daily life I will thus calculate with 1€=100000Rial and as I am not more exact also the exchange rate is within a tolerance.
The more as on this day I got so much for free…
Before that, I tried to get a SIM-card, to guys tried to help me with what they had, but it didn’t work and I didn’t want to wait until 9. It was 8:30, as border crossing had been around 1 hour and half an hour I lost by Iranian time.
So I went on. Nowhere before wanted so many people to get into contact with me. A guy stopped me, and if I would have had more time I would have got my first Iranian tea. One girl in good English asked where I am from while they overtook me, and as it was so steep I was breathless before but answering was too much. I came up the hill, breathless, and the family waited there for me. First question was “Are you ok?” and the girl made a kind of interview asking all the questions she could find. After that she wanted a picture and we said good bye.
An elder couple stopped besides me and gave me three tasty figs. Later they again overtook me, and I got an incredible delicious apple and a smile.
A man with his son stopped to give me fruits and his shy little son should shake my hand. He did but it took all his courage and father’s support. Then the father went again to his car to bring some sweets, too. As they drove away I realized that it was the direction they had come from…
When I saw the first road sign with English writings, I was happy, but later I saw more of them, also at small villages and crossroads.
Some parts of the route, I was accompanied by a little stream, directly at the side of the street, making such a delicious “drink-me!” sound that I hardly could resist. But at least, several times, I stepped into this water or little rivers and cooled down my cloths.
In the last village before Tarzam, the chain blocked totally and when I got it out and set it in the right position, it fell off immediately. I got help, two boys bringing me to a shop, the man of the shop showing me another shops, there, a lady came, without hesitating grabbed the dirty chain with her well-kept hands and coloured long nails and as she saw that it is more complicated, she told the boys where to bring me next. This was a Werkstatt. 5 men surrounded the bike, trying this and that and finally an elder man started to work on it. It partly gave me the impression of an medieval dentist as he only armed with a big screwdriver twisted around on my gearswitch and crankset, but in the end I understood that; maybe because of that chain blocking, the chainring was twisted and he fixed the problem by that. Could I pay? No, I couldn’t. I would have been invited to dinner if my time had allowed. We talked a bit, a group of those five men and the cousin of one. She was best in English and made the main part of the conversation. Finally, one man asked about Trump and as I agreed with his opinion I got a kiss from him. They filled up my waterbottle and I began that incredible steep climb to Tarzam. It took me an hour for those 6km and then I didn’t find a place to stay and went on. I don’t know exactly what I hoped, but in the end, I had to give up and leave the remaining 350m elevation for tomorrow. I simply was exhausted, and it was about to get dark. Even in good condition, I would not have done the pass before night. Garmin told me that I had made a new record on total elevation today. It was 2500m and this on only 80km. Maybe that explains or even excuses my weakness.
So I set up my tent a bit higher and off the street, but in the end, it was more on a balcony than hidden. So, people kept on waving and greeting while I set up my tent and at 8pm it was dark. The traffic became less, and the night brought cool air. Sometime the wind was heavy, so, all in all I wondered how good my sleep would be. (edit, next day: not so good, but ok)