Author archive
15 May 2003
The hotel buffet breakfast was similar to those we’ve had so far on this trip, plus crispy dried cake-bread and biscuits. Last night, we had organised with the hotel receptionist Hussein for a driver to take us to Persepolis. He said he knew a good driver which he had known for 34 years that had […]
14 May 2003
Ali from the hotel had arranged our bus ticket from Kerman to Shiraz, so it was a stress-less breakfast followed by a short taxi ride to the bus station for our long bus-ride to Shiraz. At the station we ran into the man whom we met at the bazaar, who wanted to know about migration […]
13 May 2003
Above: Bam’s town centre. It was our sleep-in today, waking up at 0830 before taking a cold shower and having breakfast. Akbar, the owner of the guesthouse introduced himself after returning from Kerman. He was a teacher in English and Persian literature. We wandered around Bam’s town but there wasn’t much to captivate us. […]
12 May 2003
We reached Akbar Guest House in Bam around 1300. It was like a little oasis within their compound. We bought some snacks in place of lunch. It was a social place at the guesthouse. We chatted to Daniel, a Swedish ex-military guy who raves about Sydney and Australia, having been there for the Olympics in […]
12 May 2003
It was a more civilized wake-up at 0700 for breakfast of greasy fried egg, bread sticks, jam and coffee. Our organised transport turned out to be the driver which booted us out of the taxi at the airport yesterday for whatever reason due to communication difficulties. His job for the day was to take us […]
11 May 2003
Above: Mosaic work at Jame Mosque, Kerman. We rose early at 0600 and were down for breakfast at 0700. It was the same breakfast except the jam was now a carrot jam which was new to me, but I liked it! We were in a taxi to the airport at 0800. We spotted a few […]
10 May 2003
Golestan Palace We woke to another beautiful day in Tehran with clear blue skies. The hotel breakfast was a good introduction to the Persian breakfast. Nan bread (not like the Indian tandoor one but thinner and somewhat cardboardy), egg, white cheese spread, butter and jam. [Edit: while I enjoyed it, little did I know that […]
9 May 2003
Flying to Tehran We woke at 0500 and walked downstairs to the bus station and caught the 0550 bus to Dubai International Airport. With our luggage already with the airline, we got to the airport about 1h30 prior to departure. We had a light breakfast at McDonald’s before heading to our gate for our 0745 […]
8 May 2003
Despite a buffet breakfast, I was able to restrain myself a little. We were picked up from the Galle Face Hotel on Colombo’s waterfront at 0845. The ride to the airport of over 30km took about an hour. Security was tight at Colombo Airport just to enter the terminal. With our flight departing at 1255, […]
7 May 2003
Above: Chance encounter with a Vel procession. Look at the hooks on his back and thighs. Today our exploration of Sri Lanka comes to an end as we head back to Colombo. We drove from Nuwara Eliya back to the capital via the bridge where the movie Bridge on the River Kwai was filmed. But […]