Step by step
Door: Monique
Blijf op de hoogte en volg monique
09 Juli 2006 | Iran, Teheran
Salaam eleikom,
Iran still isn't boring, and hospitality and luck hasn't stopped yet...
In Qom, the very religious city where Khomeini got his education, we met this man and he invited us to stay with his family. Qom is beautiful and weird since it is sill such a religious place! Everybody wearing strict clothes: Man wore long dresses, sandals and a tulband, woman fully covered in black (one piece),even socks in their sandals, not a single peace of meat to discover... Even very little children looked this way.
(In most parts of Iran, people are not very strict with the hijab and scarve. You can wear it a bit loose, people are allowed to see your hairs).
After Qom, we went to Teheran, where we started to look for opportunities to go for a hike: finally become active!
We called the mountain federation, and this very friendly man gave us much iformation. We wanted to climb Mount Damavand (5671m), but we did not think of gear (haha)...A bit stupid, since of course, we needed a place to sleep ( sleeping bag, tent), good shoes and warm clothes. THe conditions were ok, so we did not think much furhter...
I asked this man as well where we could find an international doctor, and this is where it all started.....Hospitality of Iran...AGAIN!
I called Doctor Hamid, and we was so kind to visit us in our hotel. He was a mountaineerer as well, so we talked more about climbing than about our hair loss. He insisted on helping us, so the next day we were in his house, and were able to borrow jackets, gloaves, and hats. He called friends who lived in the mountains and arranged we could sleep in their tents at the base camps! We left all our stuff in his house, and went off to the mountain. First we took a bus to a small village and from here we should look for a car who could bring us up. A bit vague descriptions were on how to reach the base camp, but at the beginning of the evening, we reached the base camp and were already expected by a friend of the doctor.
The mountain was beautiful, with its red roses, opium grasses, mules, nomads, snowfields and rocky roads. We were very happy to be in the mountains and got this warm welcome again. People offered tea, nuts and even wanted us to cook food (yes, indeed...we even didn't bring a spoon or teabag, only some canned beans, dates, biscuits and bread...). At 5 in the morning, we woke up and walked to the second shelter.
We thought we would be free in the mountains..."Out with all these clothes!", but unfortunately....NOT possible. We walked with three Iranian women and they were very afraid a man would see us like that. So we ended up by walking without scarve, if a man was in our view (although several hundreds meters away) we put everything on....
I think it really is not fair! Because man can't handle seeing one tiny peace of woman meat, they (we) have to hide?! Even when your walking up a steep mountain in the burning sun.... PFFFFFF....
But it's true; man here really seem not being able to handle getting exposed to it. Some man offer us to take it of, that this is ok for them. But every time we did, they started to try things, think they are in the position to touch us, or say weird things....really ANOYING!!! They are not being aggresive or anything, just think westerns are easy or something?! I don't know, but I know I find it hard to notice these things, since I am used to smile to people for example, but I know I have to be more carefull with it, since probably it can be a wrong sign? But of course, it is strange for people here, two young women traveling by themselves in Iran. "Where is your family"? This question is asked every day, as well as what our religion is.
Reaching the second shelter was not too hard (4000m)and a lot of Iranian people where here, preparing to climb to the summit. In here, a man immediately knew who we were, and alreay prepared a tent for us. We agreed to wake up in the night and climb to the summit, but when I woke up it was already light?! It had been dangerous in the night, bad air because of the mountain being a vulcano, so we left at 6 in the morning... I had a very bad headache, and my heart was running too fast during walking.I found it hard to get air in my lungs and did not enjoy the walking at all. Sarah climbed like a mountain goat, nothing wrong at all...
Slowly slowly I went up, being SOOOOO angry with myself! Why could my body not take this? Why did i START TO SMOKE AGAIN???It felt like walking in a different body, I did not recognize myself anymore. I was too dissapointed with myself, cryed..
My body was in real pain, everything, I knew I could faint, but did not want to give up. I started to talk to myself and repeated the sentence: " You are allowed to faint, BUT ONLY if you have reached the top", it started to sound like a mantra.
In the end I reached it, broken as I was. Sarah was soo happy, I was soo sad. I could only cry, did not see things in perspective anymore. I could not explain to her what had happened, it was not only about this climbing and my conditions..It was far more than this, it was me seeing me.
The view above, soo high in the world was fantastic, and although I was sad, I was happy to notice that I could beat my body with my mind, I've never experienced such a thing before.
AFter this 6 hours up, we went down, which was very slippery along the loose stones and my shoes with few profile. I lost Sarah and the guide, but could no be bothered anymore. I was soo fucking tired. Back in the second shelter, we decided to walk further down. On the way back, I finished my "sheepish-day" with a nice fall in the dust. My gosh, if I wasn't dirty enough yet?!
Today, my legs, as well as Sarahs are very painful. Haha, kind of logic if you first do nothing at all and then go hiking for 13 hours on one day...
Although it was a really tough experience, I loved it. We slept for a day, and then went back to Teheran, in a bus full of singing and dancing soldiers.
Toninght we will go by train (17 hours) to the west of Iran, than to Esfahan and back to Dubai and Oman.
Futhermore:
- Our hair loss is still going on, doctor said it probably is a lack of vitamines and Iron. Could be, since we don't eat meat, many bread and rice and fruit though. Iran is not really full of restaurants, on the streets only kebab.
- The water in Iran is really well arranged! Surprised by this!
- It is still very nice to travel with Sarah! We meet few tourist who are doing the weirdest things. We notice though, as soon as we are with them (foreign men), we are totally ignored by the locals. Beause of this, we are very happy we did not go traveling this country with a man.It would have been a complete different experience, being on the background and ignored all the time.
- It's too hot in this coffeenet
Love and take care, see you all soon
Monique
Iran still isn't boring, and hospitality and luck hasn't stopped yet...
In Qom, the very religious city where Khomeini got his education, we met this man and he invited us to stay with his family. Qom is beautiful and weird since it is sill such a religious place! Everybody wearing strict clothes: Man wore long dresses, sandals and a tulband, woman fully covered in black (one piece),even socks in their sandals, not a single peace of meat to discover... Even very little children looked this way.
(In most parts of Iran, people are not very strict with the hijab and scarve. You can wear it a bit loose, people are allowed to see your hairs).
After Qom, we went to Teheran, where we started to look for opportunities to go for a hike: finally become active!
We called the mountain federation, and this very friendly man gave us much iformation. We wanted to climb Mount Damavand (5671m), but we did not think of gear (haha)...A bit stupid, since of course, we needed a place to sleep ( sleeping bag, tent), good shoes and warm clothes. THe conditions were ok, so we did not think much furhter...
I asked this man as well where we could find an international doctor, and this is where it all started.....Hospitality of Iran...AGAIN!
I called Doctor Hamid, and we was so kind to visit us in our hotel. He was a mountaineerer as well, so we talked more about climbing than about our hair loss. He insisted on helping us, so the next day we were in his house, and were able to borrow jackets, gloaves, and hats. He called friends who lived in the mountains and arranged we could sleep in their tents at the base camps! We left all our stuff in his house, and went off to the mountain. First we took a bus to a small village and from here we should look for a car who could bring us up. A bit vague descriptions were on how to reach the base camp, but at the beginning of the evening, we reached the base camp and were already expected by a friend of the doctor.
The mountain was beautiful, with its red roses, opium grasses, mules, nomads, snowfields and rocky roads. We were very happy to be in the mountains and got this warm welcome again. People offered tea, nuts and even wanted us to cook food (yes, indeed...we even didn't bring a spoon or teabag, only some canned beans, dates, biscuits and bread...). At 5 in the morning, we woke up and walked to the second shelter.
We thought we would be free in the mountains..."Out with all these clothes!", but unfortunately....NOT possible. We walked with three Iranian women and they were very afraid a man would see us like that. So we ended up by walking without scarve, if a man was in our view (although several hundreds meters away) we put everything on....
I think it really is not fair! Because man can't handle seeing one tiny peace of woman meat, they (we) have to hide?! Even when your walking up a steep mountain in the burning sun.... PFFFFFF....
But it's true; man here really seem not being able to handle getting exposed to it. Some man offer us to take it of, that this is ok for them. But every time we did, they started to try things, think they are in the position to touch us, or say weird things....really ANOYING!!! They are not being aggresive or anything, just think westerns are easy or something?! I don't know, but I know I find it hard to notice these things, since I am used to smile to people for example, but I know I have to be more carefull with it, since probably it can be a wrong sign? But of course, it is strange for people here, two young women traveling by themselves in Iran. "Where is your family"? This question is asked every day, as well as what our religion is.
Reaching the second shelter was not too hard (4000m)and a lot of Iranian people where here, preparing to climb to the summit. In here, a man immediately knew who we were, and alreay prepared a tent for us. We agreed to wake up in the night and climb to the summit, but when I woke up it was already light?! It had been dangerous in the night, bad air because of the mountain being a vulcano, so we left at 6 in the morning... I had a very bad headache, and my heart was running too fast during walking.I found it hard to get air in my lungs and did not enjoy the walking at all. Sarah climbed like a mountain goat, nothing wrong at all...
Slowly slowly I went up, being SOOOOO angry with myself! Why could my body not take this? Why did i START TO SMOKE AGAIN???It felt like walking in a different body, I did not recognize myself anymore. I was too dissapointed with myself, cryed..
My body was in real pain, everything, I knew I could faint, but did not want to give up. I started to talk to myself and repeated the sentence: " You are allowed to faint, BUT ONLY if you have reached the top", it started to sound like a mantra.
In the end I reached it, broken as I was. Sarah was soo happy, I was soo sad. I could only cry, did not see things in perspective anymore. I could not explain to her what had happened, it was not only about this climbing and my conditions..It was far more than this, it was me seeing me.
The view above, soo high in the world was fantastic, and although I was sad, I was happy to notice that I could beat my body with my mind, I've never experienced such a thing before.
AFter this 6 hours up, we went down, which was very slippery along the loose stones and my shoes with few profile. I lost Sarah and the guide, but could no be bothered anymore. I was soo fucking tired. Back in the second shelter, we decided to walk further down. On the way back, I finished my "sheepish-day" with a nice fall in the dust. My gosh, if I wasn't dirty enough yet?!
Today, my legs, as well as Sarahs are very painful. Haha, kind of logic if you first do nothing at all and then go hiking for 13 hours on one day...
Although it was a really tough experience, I loved it. We slept for a day, and then went back to Teheran, in a bus full of singing and dancing soldiers.
Toninght we will go by train (17 hours) to the west of Iran, than to Esfahan and back to Dubai and Oman.
Futhermore:
- Our hair loss is still going on, doctor said it probably is a lack of vitamines and Iron. Could be, since we don't eat meat, many bread and rice and fruit though. Iran is not really full of restaurants, on the streets only kebab.
- The water in Iran is really well arranged! Surprised by this!
- It is still very nice to travel with Sarah! We meet few tourist who are doing the weirdest things. We notice though, as soon as we are with them (foreign men), we are totally ignored by the locals. Beause of this, we are very happy we did not go traveling this country with a man.It would have been a complete different experience, being on the background and ignored all the time.
- It's too hot in this coffeenet
Love and take care, see you all soon
Monique
-
09 Juli 2006 - 13:08
Corien:
Ook maar in het engels dan : It's such a joy to read of all your adventures !!
Good luck with the hairloss...
Mind over matter ( was dat geen hoogteziekte ;)?)
strange to experience isn't it !
Love Corien. -
09 Juli 2006 - 20:33
Je Moe:
Mo,
het waren 100% verschijnselen van hoogteziekte, volgens mij. Eigenlijk poeplink wat je gedaan hebt. Is niet best voor je gestel en kan zelfs fataal zijn. Maar ja, je hebt er een ervaring bij. Blijf zuinig op je lijf, want dat heb je maar een. Soms is doorzetten niet zo verstandig. Gelukkig is het goed afgelopen en heb je je uitzicht gehad. Volgt er nog meer? Doe het de laatste weken rustig aan, dan kunnen we je nog in levende lijve van Schiphol halen. Probeer ondertussen de tekorten in je lijf aan te vullen. Nog veel plezier, liefs Mamma -
12 Juli 2006 - 14:22
Djoeke:
Wow...speechless...again... -
12 Juli 2006 - 21:08
Johan:
Ik bewonder je doorzettingsvermogen Mo! Maar doe wel een beetje voorzichtig he! Zelf ben ik rond half augustus weer terug in NL. Wanneer jij? Veel plezier! -
13 Juli 2006 - 11:54
Laura:
Jemig Mo, wat een verhaal. Maar je bent vast al overladen met bezorgde berichten, dus een extra "pas je wel op?" heb je vast niet meer nodig!! Nog steeds heerlijk om hier mee te genieten van je grootse avonturen. Voelt je outfit inmiddels al als een tweede huid? Hhmm..zit nu perzik te eten en toetsenbord onder te smeren, dus ga even poetsen hier. Wat een vlijt.
XX -
13 Juli 2006 - 18:45
Anita:
Mo.
Jullie maken wel wat mee. Wat een verhalen zeg!
Doe je wel een beetje voorzichtig daar?
Take care.
Liefs Aniet
-
14 Juli 2006 - 05:52
Suus:
Love ya right back ! Smok uut grun..! -
16 Juli 2006 - 00:04
Arjanne:
Hi Bikkel,
tja medisch gezien niet zo verstandig; misschien volgende keer iets langer aan hoogte wennen? Maar erg knap dat je top hebt gehaald! Ga je ook nog ff joggen en touwtje springen in de woestijn ter voorbereiding op beachvolleybal in Scheveningen!?
Veel plezier en succes daaro! Zie uit naar de rest van je verhalen!
Arjanne XX
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