Tehran

I just arrived in Tehran. I'm sitting on a hill with a beautiful view for snowy mountains. First time this year I feel summer. Here is definitely more than 20°C & the while morning was very sunny. Perfect weather.

Many people didn't advise me travelling alone to Iran. I've already spent here 3 days & I must say one thing: it's surprisingly normal. I found Armenia much more exotic. Of course I get some attraction on the streets because of being foreigner but (finally!) I don't feel this annoying impression of being an instant sex object for the half of the men on the streets.

I played with some guys basketball & football. Nobody behaved different than in Europe - everybody was focused on game not on possibility to touch the female body.

Of course, you can see the oppressive religious regime everywhere. Women aren't allowed to enter some restaurants & shisha bars. Stricted sex segregation in public transportation, no alcohol, no drugs, no satellite TV, no Facebook or Youtube (they're blocked), no dogs at home, no music, no dance, no meetings between boys & girls. And what? Women smoke shisha in parks, everybody uses VPN to obey the internet censorship, dancing party are organised in private flats, etc.

I haven't meet anybody who supports the regime or the religious law.

Couchsurfing in very popular. When I sent an open request in Tehran, I received more than 15 invitations in less than 5 hours! Can you imagine this?! Paradise :)

Hitch-hiking is rather difficult. Most of Iranians just don't know what it is. They expect money for giving you a ride (a local custom) but when they hear that I don't have money, they want to help (by taking you to bus station & buying you ticket or dragging you their home...) I decided to use night buses - from one city to another could be more than 500 km so it saves a lot of my time. They're extremely comfortable (very wide seats, free drinks & snacks, brand new) and even more extremely cheap (from Tabriz to Tehran I paid less than 4 euro).

I'm eager to see all this ancient monuments in the south of Iran :)

[written on March 4th]

BTW, when I was leaving Tehran on March 7th it was snowing there.

South Caucasus short summary

I spent 21 days on the South Caucasus again (for those who don't know: I lived & worked in Georgia for more than 2 months in 2012). I visited Georgia, Armenia & Nagorny Karabach. I didn't manage Abkhazia.

After almost 5 months in Poland I forgot how different the Caucasus is. I forgot about the sex taboo, poorness, unemployment & crazy driving. I stopped realising how privileged I am by my Polish citizenship & education, how easier my life is.

I met with the old friends: Lasha, Darryl, Crystle-Day, Rusiko & Gia, Gocha, Thomas, Varduhi, Anna and Adam. I also met the new friends: Lora, Shukri, Maciej, Sergo, Aram, Tatev, Tigran, Pali, Nana & Merabi,Ramez. I'd like to keep in touch with most of them but the reality will be like that: some of them I'll meet once or twice again, most of never again. You appear in someone's life, you get on well together & after a few days you disappear. And it just hurts.

Some of you the real reason of hitch-hiking to Georgia. Well... I managed the talk but during it I realised that this journey became more important than its planned aim. I am free person again. Eager to enjoy Iran :)

statistics

I've been already travelling for more than one month so I will try to make a small statistical summary:
- I slept 7 nights in trucks, 2 in a hostel, 2 in a chapel, 9 by CouchSurfing, 5 at friends' who I'd known before & 10 times I was simply taken home by drivers or someone who I just met on a street,
- I spent about 200€ including 106€ visa fees,
- I used a public transportation 4 times,
- I crossed 9 state borders for 12 times,
- I was taken by 34 drivers,
- I had to buy lunch for myself 10 times,
- I had 11 sex propositions,
- I spoke in 6 languages (Polish, Portuguese, Russian, English, German, Turkish),
- my Russian became almost fluent,
- I learnt about 50 words in Turkish so I'm able to have a very simple conversation,
- I once washed my clothes,
- 3 times I felt somewhere so good that I had a temptation to stay there forever.

I love Turkey

I feel here just great! People are great, very helpful and friendly. Nobody wants to have sex with me after 5 minutes of "friendship." Nobody tries to cheat me on money or overcharge me. Nobody looks at me unfriendly just because of my big backpack. The policemen & taxi drivers are just helpful - they don't prick on me.

The food is delicious. They have plenty of very different meals (diversification!) A lot of good modern music to listen to and collect.

The CouchSurfing & hitch-hiking are extremely popular & work perfectly.
I've already seen at least 15 other hitch-hikers! (in 4 days!)
All flats are warm inside & have hot water! Yes, yes, yes!

Society is generally modern and quite open. There are of course plenty of women in hijab on the streets but also you can see a lot of boys & girls with a very alternative look. And nobody cares - that's all ok.

Young people spend often time actively - have their hobbies, etc. Two days ago job went with Osman (my CS host in Sürmene) on a whole days bike trip, later we played football & took photos of nature. Tomorrow I'm going with Ahmet & his girlfriend (they're both PE students! and my CS hosts) skiing.

If I still like Turkey so much after the end of this journey, probably I will move here for at least a couple of months (salary here is also good enough - not worse than the EU average)

Life is beautiful!

Trabzon

So I left the South Caucasus & arrived in Turkey. Unfortunately, I didn't go to Abkhazia - my visa application is still proceeded. Maybe I will try to get there again before I will leave Turkey but probably not this time :(

In Zugdidi I washed my clothes in the washing mashine! (And that was definitely an attraction of the month) Thank you, Thomas! I'm going to love you until the end of my days ;)
I also learnt there that policemen are really nice guys. They don't believe in hitch-hiking & couchsurfing so they looked at me as I was crazy...

I've just received the Iranian visa. I look so pretty in hijab :) I think I will have to use to it... My new ultra-muslim look.

In Turkey people speak only Turkish -  I learn it fast... Sometimes they speak also German - I learn it even faster.
But today when I was trying to buy a local simcard my knowledge of several languages (English, German, Portuguese, Spanish) wasn't enough... You cannot imagine how happy I became when I heard that one women can help me if I know Russian! She was a Georgian immigrant. After 3 months all together in the Caucasus I didn't just learn Russian - I started to feel comfortable when I use it :)

I promise to write something longer about my "adventures" when I will have access to computer, internet & nothing to do at the moment. But it could be rather hard to fulfil all these constrains in the same time...

Yerevan

I'm taking a rest at CouchSurfers' flat in Yerevan. Tomorrow I hope to hitch-hike back to Tbilisi (if the snowfall will finish :(
I promise to write more when I will get access to any computer for enough time :)

travel plans

Guys, my travel plans:
today - Tbilisi,
later (in the following order): Armenia, Georgia again, Abkhazia (if I will get visa), Turkey (just Trabzon), Iran (I'm not sure yet, I will apply for visa in Trabzon), Turkey (general sightseeing  - long time there ;), Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, home in Poland.