Maharashtra IN

India! Another mystic destination that I am able to experiment. I am a lucky one.

Mumbai is not the Indian capital, but known to be BIG anyway! I don't know... I did not stay there. I escaped. I didn't want something to happen to any of my ankles again ;-)

Pune or Poona, the second largest city in Maharashtra, was on the way south Do you remember, I go to Sri Lanka. Getting closer every day! Aviram allowed me to rest, having quiet time, in quiet places. In his lovely neighbourhood, in the magnificent new mall, or in a concept city. A city in the city. Where everything is clean, peaceful, everyone is well educated, has a good job IT engineer is the best, my dear, is polite and respectful. The city is surrounded by walls, entry is controled, or not. The poor people stay outside, anyway. In this environment, I bought a nice Indian novel, had massages, got a Swirls ice cream, listened to Queen, the Pink Floyd and Michael Jackson, watched Friends. Easy life.

Aviram was the perfect introducer for Indian culture. He drew the link I missed between Iran and India: Pakistan, the country I couldn't go (No Pak visa is given outside your home country. You've done the right thing, Nathalie). He is Punjabi. Punjab was split up while creating Pakistan. I am still trying to figure out whether Muslim people fit well in the Indian society, whether they are welcome. :-/ "But the Chistian people, they build school here, they bring something to the society!". By the way, I have seen my first Montessori school in India. I don't know if there are more here than elsewhere.

Thanks Aviram!

Oh, and of course, I missed THE Osho (the sex guru) center, 20€ to enter and probably again 5€ for a bottle of water. Sorry Amélie, I haven’t done that... Shame on me.

J'essaie de me recoiffer. Merci Jacek d'immortaliser ce dur moment d'intimité !

Tel un dieu grec (!!), Aviram

Cocotiers et cannes à sucre

Dans un hotel, je prends soin de moi

Dubai

No, it's not as bad as expected. Be careful of a priori. Yes there are many skyscrapers, an amazing number, for sure! And life is expensive, but not as much as Europe. And besides the fact that United Arab Emirates is mostly big buildings, highways and awesome metros, the place is safe and surprisingly quiet. People are relax and tourists hang around in peace.

To avoid the 50€ hotel, Jacek and I stayed mostly in Sharjah, the cheap dormytory of Dubai, still nice but less bling. Sand as matress! And we have seen bikinis again! People drinking, laughing loudly, playing volleyball and music the entire night... We have seen happiness. I know it can appear quite superficial, but it was nice to live lighter. Iran's situation was too heavy to carry for me.

The purpose of going to Dubai was to try to get a ferry or boat hitchhike to India. From the last big attack in Mumbai, no ferry has made this road anymore. No private boat sails to India neither. And about the dhow boat (see below), there was no easy way to get one. We could have stayed there 2 weeks to try more. But Dubai wasn't the place of our dreams to stay. So... I cheated again... I flew to Mumbai.

On ne t'a pas vu beaucoup, Walid, mais Merci pour le bel accueil ! La prochaine fois, on essaie de passer plus d'une heure et 2 chansons ensemble ;-)

 

Voilà le 1er test du mode "retardateur". On nous voit quand même un peu !

Boutres (dhow boat in English). Bateaux indiens, petits chargements commerciaux, vieux, faits en bois, qui traversent les océans, non sans risques...

Une plage tranquille de Sharjah, Jacek et la power plant behind

La vue du 33 ème étage, les tutures sont t'te pitites !

Isfahan IR

When you go to Iran, visiting Isfahan is a must. I generally don't really care about the things that I must do. And this travel is a good example. I mostly haven’t seen any site I should have, as a regular tourist. But I had 3 days between the different steps of the Indian visa process, so I went there, trying to escape the biggest city. It was without thinking that Iran is only covered by sand or big cities! I went by bus. Because even if hitchhiking is possible, as a single woman, I haven't really enjoyed it. I had some weird experiences. In order to remind positives meetings and not to be focused on bad memories, I decided not to hitchhike anymore in Iran.

Isfahan is nice, indeed. Very conservative too. 3 days were enough. I thank Sadi and Kyan for welcoming. And I also thank a very nice religious woman, Meshrin (spelling?), who saved me from bad persons and helped me to find my way. She gave a gift, a muslim pendant, in opal, that I have been wearing from that time. Don’t worry, I am still atheist, but she was so inspired and naturally generous that I took it.

When I came back to Teheran, I realised I needed to extend my Iranian visa in order to wait for my Indian visa. Then I had to look more Iranian style than before => see the photo!

 

Me, Computeringly cleaned, wrapped the persian way

Here is the dressing code

Teheran IR

Teheran is big!! It is a capital. The second one in this trip. The layer of pollution above Teheran thickens during day time. From up to the hill, you can see: At 7am, it's still clear, then 8am the grey layer appears, at 9am, the layer really sets, at 10am it gets thicker then 11am, thicker and brown... etc...

The main purpose was to make the Indian visa. Some clever people do it before leaving their home country... but it was much more complicated, then fun ;-) to do it here! It took 2 weeks.

As Iran is the country of guests, it was not difficult to find couches (through CouchSurfing network). Indeed, in big cities, people are always busy with their crazy life, have many couchsurfers requests and most of the time, don't even politely answer to the request saying no. They just don't give a sh..! Here, in Teheran, when you send 3 requests, you get 3 positive answers. Isn't it great for travelers?

I had sooooo nice time with Hamid, Salimeh and Saba, tasting great food, cooking some too, hiking Bronik cave, learning more about Iran culture, and even, Hamid and me getting angry at the society and government sillinesses. I also thank Beni and her great music. The next time I am in Teheran, I know where to go :-)

 

La famille au complet dans la cave ! Yavait pas de vin, une fois de plus...

Discussion engagée sur les dernières décisions politiques

Bon,on voit rien, mais c'était juste pour frimer ! On est 1300m au dessus de Teheran (déjà à 1400m d'altitude). Oui,Teheran a ses propres montagnes, station de ski et tout ! à 30min du centre, c'est fou ! Encore plus prêt que Chamrousse !

Beni's place

Guilan - I am revolted IR

Un problème de sauvegarde m'a obligée à réécrire ce paragraphe. De ce fait, mes propos sont moins virulents.

Guilan est la région la plus openminded of Iran (except Teheran), et pourtant, en tant que femme occidentale, il m'a fallu 10j pour craquer. En effet, il est simple de dire "Je vais porter le voile, je vais m'adapter, je vais suivre les règles, ce n'est que pour un temps". Mais, le faire, vraiment, mettre le voile, tout le temps, sous une chaleur écrasante, le pantalon, la robe qui doit couvrir les fesses... Et subir les remarques désobligeantes des hommes qui n'ont de cesse de nous répéter de remettre correctement le voile, parce qu'il tombe ou que la robe ne descend pas assez...  Et puis, il y a les cons qui en profitent. Qui ne daignent même pas te parler si ton voile n'est pas mis correctement. Qui te regardent avec des gros yeux quand tu n'as pas le voile et qui sourient, satisfaits, remplis de leurs plein pouvoirs quand enfin tu le remets. L'humiliation est quotidienne. Le voile est le symbole de la condition de la femme. Il est bien sûr interdit aux femmes de se baigner en maillot de bain. Dans la rue, on te regarde de travers si tu rigoles à une blague ou que tu dis un mot plus haut que l'autre. La femme n'a pas la possibilité de jouir de la vie comme les hommes, elle en est réduite à ne rien faire de marrant, d'épanouissant, d'enrichissant. 

La religion ne repose d'ailleurs pratiquement que sur ces interdits liés aux femmes. Le gouvernement a dégouté les gens de la religion. Les gens ne prient plus. Le ramadan est suivi par 50% de la population à Istanbul, 70% à Trabzon, mais que 30% en Iran !

Le plus fou est que malgré la profonde bêtise de ces lois et la forte présence de la police, les iraniens se contrôlent les uns les autres ! Oui, les gens sont cons, ils sont devenus cons pour la simple raison qu'ils ont peur de cette police des moeurs qui traine dans les rues en civile et peut arrêter n'importe qui pour une tenue trop 'choquante' ou un comportement divergent (marcher dans la rue avec sa petite copine, sans être marié). Ils ont peur des arrestations,  de la prison, des meurtres pendant les manifestations...

However, we have the government we deserve... In 1979, the society was ready to be controled, and unfortunately, too many people still accept the situation.

Les hommes et les femmes viennent d'être séparés dans les transports en communs. La mixité est également remise en question dans les universités. Avant le mariage, l'abstinence sexuelle et l'impossibilité de se connaître engendrent le malheur des couples. Aristote disait que le contrôle de la sexualité est un moyen très efficace de manipuler une société. (Quelqu'un me trouverait la citation ?) Les gens sont tiraillés par leurs pulsions sexuelles avant le mariage, et préoccupés par les difficultés de couples ensuite, ils n'ont pas d'énergie à consacrer aux questions politiques, par exemple ! 

After these serious issues, I have to underline positive points. Iran is THE country of guests. Everyone wants to talk to you in the street, they are eager to meet foreign people. They always try to help so much. At least once a day, someone offers you to stay at one's place. I met great people, and for some days, traveled with Jacek, an italian guy I met before. I would like to thank Azim and his family, then Mehran, Navid and their families. We really had nice times with all, near Astara first, then Lahijan. The Caspian Sea area is lovely, green, hills, mountains, nice beaches. We enjoyed a lot.

Near Astara

Quiet beach, fire, little dog, nice water, and no Nespresso, what else?

Mehran and Navid with family for a picnic

Manjil, between the green mountains of the north and the dry landscape of Teheran

Rasht IR

Bon alors, comme prévu, l'entrée en Iran fut un tournant dans le voyage : le voile, le manteau pour cacher les fesses, la condition féminine dans son entier... Et L'iran, l'autre monde, American Hell!  September, 11th, 10 years after. Here, they consider the Twin Towers have been destroyed by America. In order to justify war... On pourrait difficilement voir cela au 20h de TF1, présenté par Claire Chazal ! :-P C'est ce qu'on voit aux infos ici. Je suis très contente d'être passée de l'autre côté de la planète. Contrairement à ce qu'on pense, l'autre côté n'est pas l'Australie, c'est bien l'Iran. Dans Teheran, j'ai vu un énorme building couvert d'une "pub" montrant un drapeau américain fait d'une tête de mort et de bombes, clamant  la haine contre l'ennemi capitaliste. Ici, pas de Mc Donald. Ils boivent un peu de Coca, mange des Danettes pourtant... à quand l'éradication complète ? 

Comme l'occident en a assez d'entendre toujours le même discours pro-américano-israëlien, les iraniens en ont marre du positionnement de cette gouvernance, qui leur ment et contrôle tout. Dans un premier temps, bien qu'on ne puisse être pour ces monsieurs au pouvoir -personne de l'est, ici-, cette condamnation du monde occidental est doux à mon oreille...
Cependant, en creusant la problématique, on s'aperçoit que ce discours anti-américain n'est qu'un outil pour manipuler les foules. Comme les USA ont besoin d'un ennemi pour focaliser les pensées et vendre leurs armes, l'Iran a également besoin des USA. Histoires de contrôle et de gros sous.

Rasht was the first city I have been in Iran. I thank Pari very much for hosting, talking, explaning me about Iranian food, customs, issues. I was at her place during September, 11th, during the protest against the stupid movie insulting islam and during a religious holiday. For this last event, I went to my first Iranian family. Great experience: great food, home made specialities, great atmosphere, laughing, singing, dancing, learning how to eat nuts and clapping fingers! For both of them, I have to improve ;-)

The right side of the road is Armenia, after the fence, the left side is Iran. Taking photo is prohibited. Iran starts.

Ma façon de porter le voile, colorful, happy way.  I needed a few more days to realise what the scarf really meant.

Pari and her mother, and all the family