What’s the concept of Iran in your mind? An unrest society? A stubborn religion? A culture that’s far away from your day to day life? A veiled woman who you struggle to have an intelligent conversation with?
I was stupid enough to summarize Iran as the above before a trip to a small town called Shiraz.
So you would be asked the same question below as we were asked if you travel there with someone of the opposite gender.
“Are you guys married?”
“umm, nope.”
After a small pause.
“Just say you are next time you are asked and you forgot to bring your marriage certificate. Welcome to Iran.”
“Oh, okay. Thank you!”
As you can see already, Iranian people don’t do things by the book. They are very welcoming and tolerant towards foreigners with or without the same religion. That has been said, here is another example of female travelers covering up themselves. Obviously there should be no shorts or any revealing clothing and we should be veiled before entering the country. But it isn’t as scary as it sounds. You are not requested to completely cover up your hair. Having a scarf on your head is more of a sign of respect than a rule you have to follow.
A smiley middle-aged local uncle picked us up at the airport. He put on traditional Iranian music in the car after we settled in and walked us through the must-see places for the following few days. Outside the window, the small town looked quiet and peaceful in light shower rain.
The home-stay hotel we chose has a very similar style to traditional Northern Chinese architecture — siheyuan四合院, where you have a central yard with rooms built surrounding it. The location of the main living room is set to get the maximum of sunshine throughout the whole year and the room is supposed to be cool in summer and warm in winter. The owner of the home-stay started off as a guide in earlier days. He’s got a large knowledge base of both local and world history and is now just managing his hotel business. And cooks for his guests occasionally.
Speaking of cooking and food. Iranian cuisine is a real mouth-watering one. Been born in China with a rich food culture and a massive cuisine, I was still impressed by how original and tasty Iranian food was. Shiraz is a town that hasn’t been globalized yet. Thus there is rarely foreign residents or restaurants there. The food local people have kept the concept of “natural” and “original”. From food stands on the streets to fancy restaurants, you can always get a taste of flavorful veggies grown freely in the open air and fresh meat from animals running up-down the hill. Out of everything, Iranian tomatoes were the most surprisingly tasty thing we’ve tried there. With a taste bud that’s numbed, or even, poisoned by greenhouse vegetables, Iranian tomatoes took me back to my childhood where grandpa planted everything we put in our mouths in a natural environment.
Iranian people speak Persian, not Arabic. And have their own way of making ice-creams. Instead of using a blender, they use long thick sticks to “beat up” their ice-cream mixture. Personally, Iranian ice-cream is not as smooth and milky as western ones, but the unique saffron flavor is a must-try.
Saffron, in Chinese medicine, is a very valuable material for one’s immune system. It’s also very expensive given the fact that it only grows in extreme conditions in Tibet or Yunnan. Thus Shiraz was heaven for me for saffron being cheap and a very commonly consumed product you can find at nearly every cafe and restaurant.
The sugar Iranian people use in their tea and coffee is quite special. There are usually white and orange colors of the sugar. And it’s shaped as crystal stones and curdled beautifully on a small wooden stick. Sitting at the most sunny spot in a hipster cafe on a cozy afternoon, with a cup of saffron tea in a crystal clear glass, and watch the same crystal sugar melting slowly in the glass, then do nothing but space out, was one of my favorite moments.
The art of Iranian architecture is among the most beautiful and complicated art I’ve seen around the world. It’s as if by magic different patterns, strips and colors got together and worked just fine. Walking through historical sites and museums in different countries always reminds me how much of a better and more real artist our ancestors can be over us. They didn’t have the anxiety created by social media. They didn’t have the pressure from corporate companies. They spared a big part of their time to wild dreams and put their wildest dreams into practice through poems, paintings, sculptures and architectures. I’ve always believed there is an artist in every one of us. But it’s been trapped by us losing(or gradually losing) communications with mother nature. I can’t help thinking in a negative way sometimes that the whole society is going forward against our nature attribute, if we don’t consciously maintain a bond with nature, there wouldn’t be artist left within us. There would just be so-called “art” and the real art displayed in museums.
Mosques are divided into male and female sections. The roof is decorated by evenly cut shiny glass pieces. With the reflection of the lights, the whole place looked dreamy and sacred. Holly Muslim songs are played in the air at specific times during the day. It’s the time for people from all walks stop and pray. There is a kind of hallow in the air that even touched me as a person who doesn’t have firm beliefs in specific religions.
It’s well-known that the US and Iran don’t have a good relationship. This has had a direct effect on Iranian banking system. We needed to prepare a lot of cash before entering Iran because there is no ATM machine that takes international cards.
Well, adversities are not always bad. It urges on people to work harder and find solutions to get out of the situation. Iranian people are very smart because of that, on both IQ and EQ level. I felt the same when I traveled to Lebanon where it had scarily long years of war between two different religions. Lebanese people addressed me as very smart, tough and business-minded people. From personal experiences, people who’s suffered and are somewhat depressed tend to create better art works. Walking down the streets of Shiraz, we could see brilliant street arts and hipster-looking artists.
It’s a slow-paced life style in Shiraz. People are warm-hearted as well. A local girl walked to us with a smile when we entered the biggest mosque in Shiraz, spent time to explain things to us on a historical and religious aspect. And didn’t charge a penny in the end. Compared to most of the touristy sites full of commercial guides, this is a wiser and more comfortable way to promote one’s culture.
There are always frozen moments during one’s travel that make you forget about yourself, time and space. Moments like this woman covered in black walking down a valley and the bright light shining through a tunnel in a bazaar.
Why do we travel? Why do we throw ourselves in the worst conditions and dangerous corners? To meet ourselves? To discover new and unknown? Or just to get a piece of quiet mind walking through the beautiful lights at night on a strange land?
What’s your answer?