I slept in till 0930 today. With a 1730 departure, I pottered around with packing before going downstairs for breakfast. They had doughnuts filled either with cream, or savoury with chicken ham or beef ham. I chose the chicken one and it was quite nice. The Turkish coffee was awfully bitter as it was meant to be.
I followed up with a pineapple shake. While nice, the mango and green melon was probably the bst so far. Sitting at reception enjoying my drink, an Iranian man chatted to me. He, along with the mother, are trying to apply for refugee status somewhere. I tried to explain that refugees are normally running away from some kind of persecution and it would really help if he was Baha’i. I do have an awful sense of humour at times!
I took one walk around the neighbourhood, especially Manouchehri Street with its antique shops and the bread bakeries nearby. I took a few photos for keepsake too.
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- Scenes around my neighbourhood.
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- Manouchehrie Street antique shops.
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- Manouchehrie Street antique shops.
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- Manouchehrie Street antique shops.
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- Manouchehrie Street antique shops.
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- I love the bread bakeries.
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- I love the bread bakeries.
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- Scenes around my neighbourhood.
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- Naderi Hotel.
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- Naderi Hotel receptionist.
After check-out, I grabbed a Paykan taxi from the roadside. Despite having negotiated the rate down to IRR70K, he refused to give me change for the IRR80K once we arrived at Imam Khomeini International Airport. I didn’t fight over it. What would I do with the rials once out of the country anyway.
As a security guard was preventing people into the check-in area too early, I wandered around and inspected the workmanship of the airport. The refinement is really poor, especially when the workmanship on mosque repair work in Tehran is just top notch.
The airport is still currently under-utilised. Currently only regional flights to/from the Gulf arrive here. Once longhaul flights start, it should get busier.
Imam Khomeini International Airport looks good except when scrutinised close-up.
Once airside I noticed my 1730 flight was already here. They must do a very inefficient turnaround of at least 2h. Perhaps it is because their homebase at Doha is so jam-packed.
My A320 landed in Doha so smoothly that I didn’t even know. I couldn’t feel the wheels touch the runway and the absence of reverse thrust meant there were no other clues. I had a four hour transit from 1900 until 2300 when I leave for Singapore.