Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - Iran riding experience nitty gritty update

Hi here

I have just finished a 3 week trip in Iran (June 2011) and thought I'd write some little pointers for the nitty gritty stuff. I did have photos and maps but the site wont seem to let me up load them. Enjoy your time in Iran.

Cheers - Adastra

Ride Pray Laugh....... the not so MiddleEast Adventures (now)

Bazargan border crossing
On the Turkey side travel on the other side of the road until you get to the border gate to avoid the massive truck queue. I had my passport asked for at the bottom gate but I think it was from a non official as he then started talking about changing money - however on the way back through (a couple of weeks later there) was an official at this gate. So if the barrier is down you will need to stop but if it is up you could probably keep going until you reach the top gate. Signing out of Turkey is straightforward.

If you are female put your headscarf on before you exit the big gate into Iran. On the Iranian side there are two main areas you need to work with. The first is passport control it’s in the first hall , If it’s open, the Tourist Information Office is just to the right of the main entrance and can help you with what you need to do. Passing through to customs area - Hall 2 - none of the official have uniforms. There are three areas you need signatures from but sometimes you need the same area to sign twice! Someone from the HUBB might be able to make this section more clear as I can’t remember the exact sequence. I did have a little map but the site won’t let me up load it. There is a person in the centre of the room near the two long tables (A), a person near the door to the third hall (B) and a person in a little room to the right of the hall ( C) . I went to A - B - C - A - C …..I think J Unfortunately I had a unwanted helper with me at this stage so that is why I’m not sure of the sequence.

If there are a lot of people, there will be a line up in C (this is also the area you need a copy of your Iranian visa and passport front cover) - Other people were placing their documents on the table in a queue and then standing back and waiting for their turn. If you don’t have photocopies of your documents you can enter Hall 3 and the coffee shop to the right will do them for about 1 Turkish Lira even though they ask for 1 million Turkish lira (seriously ask??!!) . This room is full of touts and money changes and all sorts of ‘interesting ‘people. As the doors into Hall 2 are locked you will need to tap on the glass to get the attention of one of the guards to get back in.

You are given a piece of paper when you have finished your customs work in (C ) that you need to hand to the guard at the final gate down a big hill. I had to pay 30 Euro here for a road tax stamp here but don’t know if this was legitimate or not. A more official money change place is at the truck stop about 50 metres back from the final gate on the left hand side. I brought insurance outside the gate at Karafarin Sigorta which was just past the round about on the left hand side down a little corridore - 20 Euro for 1 month after some haggling. All the dates are based on the Iranian calendar which is the year 1390 and the 3rd month when I went through so a little harder to make sure you have the right dates on your insurance papers.

Money
Money changers at the border (the guys who annoy you) only seem to have 20,000 notes which means you would have to carry large bundles to pay for your accommodation and it‘s easy to be missing one or two from the stack. One tried to tell me it was the highest note Iran had - a blatant lie. The best and most easily obtained notes are 500,000 for accommodation, 100,000 or 50,000 for petrol and then a couple of 20,000 notes for food. There is a 200,000 note but I didn’t see these very often.

Driving in Iran
I didn’t find the traffic any worse than other Asian counties and probably a lot better. There were numerous police on the road checking for speeding etc. Talking with locals, there have been significant attempts to reduce the road deaths over the last few years. Having said that, there is heaps of blind corner overtaking and overtaking because you are a bike and can move to the shoulder (read need to move to the shoulder) so you do need to be vigilant.

Watch out for speed bumps they are everywhere and usually without any paint. Generally, if you see a roundabout there will be speed bumps before it. Police checkpoints have big ones and there are random ones going through towns (although generally these are plastic or painted). I launched myself a couple of times because I didn’t have any cars in front of me slowing down to warn me.

Road signs are written in English and Farsi - the only exceptions I found were in the centre of some cities and in areas they don’t think tourists would be - often the places bikes are! You get to laugh at the different English spelling for the same town on different signs but overall they are very easy to follow.

I found that strong winds started blowing in the afternoons so I tried to get to my destination by about 2 or 3pm.

Petrol
You don't need a tank card, the petrol attendant will fill-up your with their card or add your sale onto the sale just before. It's 70 US cents (roughly) a litre. Petrol stations are generally on the way into towns, only bigger towns seem to have them on the main road within the town. There are very few petrol stations on the roads between towns and on secondary roads none, so it’s best to fill up when you can. The GNC stations often do not have benzin. If you need to buy oil the contains they have leak with the bike vibrations so put the oil into one you know doesn’t leak or expect a mess!

Accommodation
Mostly I paid about 40USD per night (prices quoted are for one person.)- if you have the latest Lonely Planet guide it is best just to double everything.

There is a chain of Government run hotels call ITTIC (.:: ایرانگردی و جهانگردی-صفحه اصلی ::.) which offer ok prices (35USD - 40USD) and safe parking, some are better than others in terms of fitout. You may be the only guest in some of them which was a little freaky but the management was super nice. One place even covered my bike with a table cloth to keep the dust of it.

If you have been doing it cheap and need a little pampering at a decent price, the Setareh hotel (www. Setarehhotel.com) in Esfahan is brilliant. Great rooms, big breakfast buffet, fantastic rooftop restaurant, 24hr guarded and locked bike parking and a location right in the centre of town. Only about 10USD more than the Pol and Park which seems to be the place to stay (all up it was 59USD) but from what I could see heaps better. Highly recommended. The Parasto Hotel in Tehran was also ok about 60 USD. Few hotels had wifi.

I didn’t search around for the cheapest place as being female there was the strong possibility that I would be turned away. The places I stayed at were friendly and accepting of me - I’m sure you could find cheaper if that was your requirement.

Camping - Iranians seem to camp anywhere on the side of the road, especially around the weekend / holidays. I’m not sure if there is some process in this, but I think you would be ok if you were male or a couple. I did not see any official camp sites.

Food
I arrived in towns I was staying at usually around 2 - 3 pm when most stores have shut down for the afternoon. Supermarkets are hidden in the backstreets if they have them at all. Dinner places open around 7:30 - 8:30pm. Road side stalls only seem to have junk food. I must have put on 5kgs…just from eating junk because I couldn’t find anything better.

No go areas
Err don't head into Komijan or Khondab near Arak as they are sensitive military areas...although they don't tell you this anywhere!!!!! You are likely to get a police escort out after some interrogation (yep - personal experience)

Being a solo female
Mostly people were very friendly and I was asked to sleep at people’s places or to have food with them a couple of times. However as it is illegal for Iranian women to ride a motorcycle (or bicycle for that matter) and it’s culturally not accepted for women to travel alone, you do get the occasional cold shoulder. I found that the reception you received at the benin station often mirrored the reception you might get in town. In places that were very conservative it was harder to connect, no matter how many smiles you gave. Unless you are riding with tight leather jackets people will assume you are male until you pull off your helmet. I sometimes had people backtracking when they realised they were speaking with a woman. Occasionally, I just kept my helmet on (benzin stations and stopping quickly at a road side stand) because it was easier - however they must think all Australian men are very effeminate. You will be asked why are you alone 50,000 times and twice I needed to discuss a husband to deter some unwanted attention. Obviously there was a problem with their eyesight J Cheaper hotels are likely to turn you away and I don’t think I could have easily camped in many places - but that could just be me being a chicken.

Clothing - I had a mantea (black one piece head scarf) that I used when riding with a large black long sleeved shirt that came to about mid calf. When off the bike I wore a scarf. I wished I had a nice longer shirt to wear for when I was off the bike- the larger towns especially Esfahan and Tehran have very ‘liberal’ dress with scarfs way back and tight bright coloured shirts with jeans. If you need to go to any authority i.e. police station make sure you are as conservative as possible.

Overall experience
I meet some wonderful people in Iran, the locals are very happy to ask you to join them -you will get a multitude of hellos - enjoy your time there!

　
　
　
　