It's weird how it feels like it's been ages since I went on that trip to Iran, and at the same time, 5 years is not so long in a life!  And I should totally have written about it sooner...  I had the opportunity to do this trip in 2004, when at the time a globe-trotter aunt lived in that country's capital.  I thought - eh, great opportunity!  I am the worst history geek, I'm now doing a research degree in Ancient History actually, so I was really drawn to the Middle-East, especially after having had such a good experience in Egypt when I was younger.

So I planned my trip, and being restricted by school and summer job, I had to go in May-June - brilliant time for a little French-Canadian like me used to the cold! OH boy did I sweat....  This is when I realised that one could sweat from the elbows... You learn everyday eh!  Having someone living there helped me know what to bring, I was especially worried about appropriate dress.  Because it is the law in Iran for any woman, Muslim or not, to wear the Islamic dress (hijab and long overcoat), I had to make sure I had at least one set for when I would arrive at the airport.  The hijab part ended up being the easiest, as you don't have to hide all hair.  Just one of those scarves that old ladies wear on a windy day is fine, or just a small pashmina draped on the head.  The overcoat was more problematic, needed to go down to the knees, and I needed something VERY light, so I ended up sewing one myself, with the plan of buying another one once there.

After all the bureaucracy of visas (hell...), I finally departed on the plane that would take me from Montreal to Tehran, with a stop in London - all 12 hours of a stop... ouch...  Let's say that I wasn't exactly fresh I got to Tehran in the wee hours of the morning!  Fortunately, I had already planned to spend the first 2 days in Tehran at my aunt's, so that I could recover from the time change and jet lag.  The first thing that struck me in that first ride in the streets of Tehran, towards the hills of the mountains that border it, was the incredible number of cars sharing the roads, generally ignoring the road lines so as to be 4 lanes of cars instead of the 2 that were indicated... I find that closing your eyes in those cases is generally the best way to not think about that car that almost just nipped the right wing!  I slept through most of that day, inside because of the scorching heat, and the next day only came out briefly, covered appropriately, to buy some vegetables with my aunt.

On the third day, I left with a guide for my 12-day tour of the country.  Since I would be doing the trip alone, and prices were so affordable, I decided that it would be best to proceed with an agency, with an itinerary I had chosen, so that I could make the most of my time in Iran (being in Iran might have been cheap, but the tickets to get there weren't!!).  So, off to Tehran airport we went, to fly south to Ahwaz, where our driver already was, to start our journey.

It was a short journey, only about an hour, in what was the most "un-modern" plane I have ever boarded...  I reckon those planes must have been bought from the Soviets in the 70s before the Revolution - they had the right colour of seats (yellow and orange), and the size of the seats probably was more appropriate to a Twiggy than to a GMO-generation girl!  Nevertheless, we landed safely in Ahwaz, and left the air-conditioned airport to a blast of sizzling desert wind.  Into this oven we stepped, to start the day with the first sight - the ziggurat of Choqa-Zambil.

(The trip continues in next blog... my cake will burn if I keep writing!)