I made 2 blog entries this time so scroll down not to miss my great first day in iran!

Km today: 0

First time I wake up 6:30 but it´s much too early as no one will start to do anything before 10. I go to the toilet (a hole in the ground with nearly freezing water for washing) and then back to bed. Inside is summer so I continue sleeping until 10:30. The first thing I hear today is the sound of a carwash! YEAH! That’s exactly what we need now! Suryananda is full dirty because of the snowy road in the mountains. So the plan for today is fixed: Wash suryananda, refill my own gas tank and repair the engine.

I am curious if I will be able to leave today as it is half past 12 already and nobody started to fix my car yet. I make music for the people again and after I am invited for breakfast. When I come back the mechanic tells me he is sorry for the delay and he will start in half an hour so I wait inside suryananda. Half an hour later I get out and see him sitting next to his oven inside the workshop with his finger full bleeding.

He had an accident 1 minute ago and I can see the pain in his face – his finger looks bad. The other guys make first aid and after they are done I give him reiki. When I am finished he is already smiling again and even though I tell him to rest a little he starts fixing suryananda immediately. The next thing I really need to do is to refill my gas tank. It takes me all afternoon to explain what I want (the guy who helped me yesterday is not here all day). Finally suryananda is ready after they take of the cylinder head again and in the same second the guy who helped me with the gas yesterday comes.

We drink chai and go to the gas shop to refill my tank. They don´t have the connection for my tank so they just fix one tube into another to refill mine tank to tank. First I am not sure if they really know what they are doing as everything looks very dangerous and strange to me. But finally the tank is full, we leave back to the workshop and see a wonderful sunset on the way back. When we arrive at the workshop I want to pay the mechanic and at the carwash. I find out the mechanic is gone already but he said I don´t need to pay – he needed no spare parts only adjustments had to be done. I read in the guidebook it is polite in Iran to refuse payment 2 times before accepting so I ask at least five times how to give him the money. The other guys around me call him and he says again and again no money – same does Wahet from carwash! I make little present for both of them including dried roses from Istanbul, incense from India and homemade apricot chutney.

We drink lots of chai when they ask me about my religion. I try to explain for me there is only one god and I refuse to give too much attention to his name because calling him god or Allah makes people fight even though they believe in the same god. They show me Koran television and are amazed when I show them my Koran (book) I have with me. Again and again many people ask me “Iran good? Iran bad country – no?”. I really don’t understand how anyone in the world can believe Iran is a bad country! Iran is not good – Iran is amazing! After chai I am invited to hamam – they tell me to relax for two hours and after they will pick me up at the workshop. I want to leave early tomorrow morning so hamam sound great program for tonight!

Wahet is quarter an hour late so I think already he will not come. He picks me up with his brother and then we make little sightseeing tour. Hamam was obviously a misunderstanding. Two more friends of Wahet need to be picked up so the car is full soon. Of course I have to sit in the front. We buy some food for me and go to a festival which is really amazing. Seeing a small Iranian dessert city at night first time is amazing too. Only two stored brick buildings. Everybody looks at me like I am the first westerner they ever see. (Which is probably the case as I am a little of the beaten track if such exists in Iran.) All the people call me “mister” and many say “I love you” (probably the only words they know in English) so I have to laugh a lot. After the festival we go to a small soya mill where all people meet in the second floor to drink chai and smoke shisha. Soon there are more than 20 people in the room. Nobody speaks English but I learn my first words in farsi: Masaley nist means “no problem, chub (pronounced german like) means good and arame “slowly” (in hindi aramse means relax so this is easy to remember). The evening passes very fast and soon I am back in the car. What an amazing experience!