Daytrip to Torbat-e Jam

With a little bit of Malaysian time in my system, I woke up early at 0630 and was downstairs for a delicious breakfast at 0730.  Crunchy cucumber, ripe red tomatoes, thick yoghurt, cheeses, bread, eggs, omelette and boring cornflakes.

My plan today was to do a daytrip to Torbat-e Jam.  I took a taxi to the bus terminal where it was a bit hard to work out where to buy the ticket and catch the bus.  But I sorted it and as on the 2.5h ride through the barren countryside with the odd patches of green.

From the station there, I took a taxi to the Mausoleum of Ahmad Jani.  It had a nice garden with lots of trees.  The courtyard had some pistachio trees and the man’s grave sat under one of them.  He was a sufi, mystic and poet that lived from 1048 and 1141.  Pilgrims that come to pay their respects to the man, kiss the stone fence surrounding the tree and also say prayers.

I couldn’t get into the Kermani Mosque, located within the complex, which is supposed to be quite nice.  Overall, the Mausoleum was a nice enough visit from Mashhad but it wasn’t as special as Mahan from my previous visit to Iran.

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It was interesting to note the mix of dress styles here.  A number of people had Pakistani-style dresses with rich embroidery rather than the chador.

When I came out from the complex, my sandals were gone.  I was a little worried about having to return to Mashhad bare-footed!  Some people came round and they had been placed in a bag for safe-keeping by a blind caretaker.

Some kids walked me out to the gate.  With no taxis around, a young man offered me a ride on his motorbike to the station, sans helmet.  I offered him a drink for his services but he preferred money.

I needed to use the facilities at the station.  The toilet cubicles had no doors.  No, it’s not like China where they can be door-less and partition-less.  They had curtains instead of doors.  And as usual in Iran, there were no urinals.

Bus from Torbat-e Jam back to Mashhad.

I nearly missed the 1330 bus back to Mashhad, thinking that it was scheduled for 1530.  Back in Mashhad around 1600, I had a banana shake and pistachios before relaxing in my room. Oh, the banana shakes here are awesome, made with banana, ice-cream, walnut pieces and ground pistachios.

When the weather cooled a little I walked to Janat Mall.  It was buzzing with shoppers and proved good for people-watching.  I found what’s supposedly the nicest tea room in Iran.  But with no live music at that time, I didn’t stay.

After more people watching, this time in the park, I went in search of dinner.  With no live music at the tearoom still, I settled for a quarter chicken with rice at a cheap underground diner, rather than eat at that tearoom.

I treated myself to a banana ice cream shake with walnuts and pistachio powder at a place called Vitamin Sara.

I found Bazar-e Reza near my hotel.  The 800m-long covered bazaar is designed to look semi-traditional but is a 20th-century creation. Shops within sell a wide variety of products including turquoise from the nearby region. It was bustling with so many shoppers many of them chador-clad women.  It was like a carnival in black.