Tehran

Dan from London leads the way today.

Wow, I am in Iran !! It was an emotional day when it finally came. The effort to enter Iran with your own motorcycle was incredible, but with out question it was worth it. The standard questions , where are you from, my name, what city do you live in, the motorcycle, and so on,  start at almost every place I stop at. It may only be a brief stop for a bottle of water , but someone is going to see me and want to know more.. The people tooting there horns , smiling  and a wave as they drove past me on the road made riding in the Heat a lot easier .. Tehran is a big city in excess of 14 million people, traffic is as you would expect, but I can say I have seen worse !

Soltaniyeh, the worlds 3rd largest domed building 1303 AD

I hope you enjoy seeing more photos of me, I have been told it would be nice ... The first night was at Hosseins guest house not far from the border, then off to the Capital. Its going to be a faster visit than I would like, so its a busy schedule of riding early before the heat, and visiting the many sites in the evenings.

The photo here is in front of the old American Embassy ... Its a large compound surrounded by walls of graffiti . The graffiti is what it is, but does NOT reflect the general feeling of most people in Iran. I have been told just today that they wish for better relations between the countries, including Canada.

In Esfahan I was taken below the bazzare to see the dying of cotton, how they used camels to  turn stone wheels grinding spices, the making and repair of carpets , and hand painting of fabric . Esfahan has a long trading history as part of the silk road to Bagdad. .

Iran

Today is the day !! I am excited to finally be moving forward with my travels East. Thanks to a lot of work and planning, I will put some miles on the bike again. I will travel the length of Iran , with stops in Tehran and Estafan for a rest and site seeing.

My final night in Turkey included a few beers, some music and street food on the way back to the hotel. The Kurdish people of Turkey are all very friendly, welcoming and sincerely interested in other people visiting their country. Nothing but good memories will fill my head when I think of Turkey in the Future !! Thank You to everyone in Turkey for the wonderful experience ..

Georgia

Good morning from Georgia ! Its been a few fun and frustrating weeks poking around Georgia and the Black Sea. I had no idea I would still be here a month ago, but here I am .. Batumi Georgia is the destination of choice to hang out while trying to get onward travel sorted out.. Iran changed some travel rules for Americans/ Brits/ Canadians & ?? AFTER I left home. In a nutshell I need a guide from the border of Turkey to the border of Pakistan.. Iran has a lot of guides, as well as a lot of other motorcycle guys touring the country... The issue is none of the guides want to be bothered doing a trip thru the country , they would rather take the easy peazzy trips... I have not given up, and hope the next blog post is to say I am on my way to Pakistan and NOT the airport !
An option was the Stans across the Caspian sea, but it involved a number of visas, a guide thru Turkmenistan and China, added to the confusion I needed to get into Pakistan before my visa expires on July 24th ...
My hopes remain good that eventually things will work out..
Tourists from Iran like to visit Georgia and Turkey, and all that I have met are very welcoming, with offers to contact them when I get there. Likewise Pakistan has some fascinating places to visit including their gun markets ( not like Sudan's camel markets ) where hand made duplicates of any weapon can be found to exacting details, While Turkey is great at duplicating cloths from the worlds top designers at a fraction of the cost westerners pay,
Also home to Pakistan is the : Karakorum Highway ! This is the highest paved road in the world ! its at an elevation exceeding 15000 feet ! ( Mt Rainier is 14,400 ) The region is home to 5 of the worlds 8 highest mountains. Not sure what to expect riding a motorcycle at the elevation, but its definitely an opportunity I will not miss. The road was built to connect China with Pakistan thru the Himalaya's ...
I have been healthy ( hmm...  the odd hang over ...  ) the motorcycle has a bad shock again , but I can deal with  it. The past few weeks have also been a little different as I ride with " Dan " from England ..we have met other riders along the way and enjoy beers while sorting out the usual travel details ...