I have managed to find a descent internet connection in Iran, so I can update you all sooner than I thought you lucky people!

After posting my last entry in Mumbai I went back to the hotel and found that Claire had upgraded to a snazy hotel around the corner from ours, which just happened to have a fantastic roof top bar overlooking the Mumbai skyline, India Gate and the sea, so me, Claire and Joanna spent a very enjoyable 6 hours topping up our tans and our alcohol contents before heading into town and Leopolds bar/restaurant to meet up with the others for our final meal in India. A great night was had by all. The following morning at 8 we caught a couple of cabs to the airport to catch our flight out of India. We said our goodbyes to Claire and checked out of India for our Iran Air flight to Tehran.

We had quite a good four and a half hour flight and touched down in Tehran at about 5, customs was no problem and we breezed into Iran. We met up with Prue at arrivals who is our new driver and leader through Iran until we meet up with Martin again in Goreme in Turkey. She is Australian and has been doing this for about 4 years, so she knows her stuff.

From the airport we caught a couple of taxis to the hotel, which I thought were having a race, but now that I have been here a while I realise that everybody drives like that! My first impressions of Iran could not be more opposite to what I expected and what you hear in the media. Tehran is a very modern and western city, all the roads are good, they have modern cars and clean streets with descent shops and flashing neon signs. All the women are wearing head scarfs and chadors, but they are showing a lot of hair and are wearing lots of different colours, not completely covered in black like we were told.

Once we checked in we got introduced to our new truck (Claudia) and headed out for our first Iranian meal. Meat at last! We found this great little restaurant in a basement, which was traditionally decorated and served only typical Iranian food. We started out with tea, followed by bread and salad, then kebabs with rice, all washed down with lots more tea and a yoghurt/water drink. Little did I realise that I would be having exactly the same meal for the next 10 days.  Virtually every restaurant you go to does not have a menu, they just have meat (beef), chicken or lamb kebab - take your pick! To finish off we ordered a Sheesha which is a water pipe which you smoke flavoured tobaco through. I am not a smoker but I thought while in Rome, so I had a few puffs and it was actually quite nice - it is very fruity and there are lots of different flavours to choose from, it is not like smoking at all.

In the morning we left early and started our 6 hour drive to Esfahan. The scenery is stunning, mainly desert scrubland with  lots of small mountains as backdrops and behind them even larger mountains with snow capped peaks, for the rest of our time in Iran we are never out of sight of mountains and stunning scenery, once again completely different from what I expected. We arrived in Esfahan and had lunch next to the hotel, we ordered chicken and chips, but he was having trouble with our Farsi and he turned up with a whole roast chicken on a plate with 5 plastic forks sticking out of it, no plates, bread or knifes for us! From there we headed into the Emam Khomeini Square which is the second largest square in the world behind Tianamen Square. What a fantastic place, at one end is one of the most stunning buildings I have ever seen (Emam Mosque) which is huge and is covered in ornate blue tiles, there is also another mosque, a palace and a huge shopping bazar and in between all of this are great little shops.

Our first port of call though was Aladdins carpet shop were we met our guide for the next three days Saied Mesbah. If anybody has seen Carlito's Way he looks just like Al Pacino in that film! We had tea in his shop which was our base whenever we were in the town, we could lounge around, help ourselves to tea and use his computer to conect to the internet - it was a home from home. The day we arrived in Esfahan was the last day of the No Ruz holiday which is the Iranian New Year. It is tradional on that day for all families to get together and have a picnic somewhere, so there were literally thousands of families sitting out on any spare patch of grass. After tea we left Saied's shop and he drove us down to the river in his small car (what a squeeze with 6 people - not much room in the back was there Pru!). Esfahan is famed for its beautiful bridges which span the Zayandeh River and rightly so. From the river Saied drove us out to meet his family and we spent the next few hours sitting around with his family drinking tea and then joining in games of volleyball and dodge ball. To finish the evening it is traditional to build a fire about 3 feet in diameter and get the flames a few feet high and then for everybody to jump over it!  You will all be pleased to know I made it through without harm.  What a great start to our Iranian trip.

The next day Saied picked us up from our hotel and we spent the day going to all the sights in Esfahan (bridges, Armenian church and museum, war cemetary for the Iran v Iraq war, pigeon tower then lunch, tea in the famous tea house in one of the arches of the 33 bridge, fire mountain, the shaking minarets and finishing up out of town at a view point looking out to the mountains and back to the city - stunning). From there we went back to Aladdins for some tea and then got take away pizza (it is taking over the world) and headed back to the hotel. It was by far the best day of the trip so far.

The following day (Monday 4th April) we had a late start and then Saied gave us a tour of the famous bazar and I did some shopping, buying some ceramics and a Sheesha (water pipe). In the afternoon we spent a very nice few hours being shown and told the history of Iranian carpets in Saied's shop. Prue, Joanna and Paul made purchases and if I had more money to spend I would have done too as they were beautiful, trouble was I fell in love with one that cost 900US$ - typical! While we were shopping Saied got a call from one of his friends asking him round for dinner, he said he couldn't because he was looking after 5 foreigners, but we got invited too, so we ended up at Saied's friend's house spending several hours listening to them playing music and dancing while they fed us. What a great bunch. We got back to the hotel at about 1.30 and had to say goodbye to Saied. Saied was one of the friendliest and nicest people I have ever met, treating us like one of his own family. A truely great bloke, who helped us all have the best 3 days of our trip so far. If you are ever in Esfahan, go to Aladdin's carpet shop in Eman Khomeini Square and look him up.

The next day we left early and drove down to Shiraz, which had a hard act to follow. We were all pretty tired though, so just had a bite to eat and headed off to bed. I had a very easy day on the 6th getting up late and spending a few hours on the slowest internet connection known to man and having a little stroll around the town. In the evning we went to a great restaurant for one of the best meals we have had so far. Shiraz was OK, but there was not a lot to see there and we were all knackered, so I did not get the most out of it.

On the 7th we drove to Yadz to see the towers of Silence which is where the Zoroastrian's used to place their dead and let the vultures eat them. It was a bit of a strange place which had a lot of deserted huts and weird vents to let air get into the houses. It looked like a set from Star Wars. Once we had seen these we headed back into town and saw a couple of other sites, namely the fire temple (temple with an eternal flame in) and a mosque which we could climb to the top of and get great views of the city and the mountains. From there we had arranged to meet in a tea house at 7 which has been converted from an old bath house, but it was a bugger to find and we all eventually made it there by 8.30 - me and Martin only made it because we were latched onto by a local teacher that knew the way! We ate there and then went back to the hotel via another really cool tea house which was in a hotel where we had another Sheesha (this is turning into a bit of a habit) - even Claudia has one on board now!

We left early again the next morning for the two day drive upto Tabriz which is where I am now. The journey was broken up after covering 1000km in the first day by staying in a hotel in a town called Zanjan. Tabriz seems OK, but we are getting close to the border with Turkey and it is starting to get bloody cold. It is also the aniversary of somebodies death (cant remember who), so all the shops are shut.  Tomorrow we hit turkey and can once again get some lager - lovely.

Iran has been fantastic, it is a very relaxed and beautiful place and I would recomend it to anybody. I would definately like to come back one day.

We have a 3 day drive to get to Goreme in Turkey where we are spending a few days, so I will try to do another update then. Sorry if its a bit of a long one!