Continued from Iran 2009 Trip Report - Part One
Day 3: Tehran to Kashan
After breakfasting at the hostel (more carrot jam!) on what can only be described as a deep fried egg and nun bread, I walked around for a while and changed money before taking the metro to the bus depot.
On my way to the bus depot, I saw several women on the metro with plasters on their noses. Iran is the nose job capital of the world. The cheapest nose jobs run for about US$1000, and the best surgeons cost about US$4000. Despite the average annual wage being far less than that, Tehran alone has about 3000 plastic surgeons. About 90,000 noses are redone in Iran every year. And if you get tired of your redone nose, it’s not uncommon to get multiple nose jobs. And it’s not just women. Men do it too. Unlike the west, where people who get plastic surgery often lie about it, or get it done while on holiday, Iranis are proud of their nose jobs. It’s a status symbol. Enough so that many people have taken to wearing the plaster on their noses, just so they can look like they’ve had a nose job.
I got to the massive Tehran bus terminal, from where I took a bus to Kashan. Language is an issue in Iran. Nowhere more so than at the bus depot. There are several private bus companies, each with their own ticket counter. I went to a random one and bought a ticket to Kashan, for a bus leaving in five minutes. I got lucky. If I had gone to another counter and they had a bus leaving in three hours, I would’ve bought it and waited. Comparison shopping is hard to do when you don’t speak the language. So, I had my ticket, but had no idea which bus to take. I wandered around for a few minutes, trying buses at random. “Kashan?” “Kashan?” “Kashan?”. After I found my bus I got on, and we were off. The ride to Kashan wasn’t very long, about three hours. On the way we stopped in Qom for a few minutes and I got off and took a quick look around. Qom is one of the holiest cities in Shiite islam, and is home to most of the hard-line clerics that run the country. It is very conservative. Not much to see here.
After making it to Kashan, I walked the few kilometers from the bus depot to the town center. The first order of business was to find a place to stay. I ended up splurging on the Khan-e-Ehsan. My travel budget is about US$30 per day, and in Iran I typically spent US$10 per day or less on a room or a bed. The Khan is a fairly new place; its dorms weren’t ready yet. It cost me $40 to stay here, and was worth every penny. When I say new place, I mean that the Khan-e-Ehsan is an amazingly well restored two hundred year old house that recently opened as a hotel. It’s built around a large courtyard, has several well appointed rooms, and a small stage upon which there are weekly performances by local artists. The owner ploughs the profits from running the place into his NGO, which supports the arts, especially among Irani girls and women. The night I stayed there a group of school girls came in for music lessons. The day I was leaving there was going to be a poetry recital. Iran isn’t the most woman friendly place, I’m glad to support women’s rights and women’s organizations in Iran in any way I can, and staying in the Khan-e-Ehsan when in Kashan is a good way of going exactly that. It’s also supposed to be a great place to meet young educated Iranis in Kashan. After leaving my stuff in my room, washing my clothes and leaving them to dry, I went for a walk.
Kashan is a fairly small town. Its’ claim to fame is that it is the place from which the christian bible’s three wise men set out to pay their respects to the newborn christ. If those events actually happened, this does fit in with the place, given that the three wise men were magi (Zoroastrian priests). The people in the area were mostly Zoroastrian at the time.
It was afternoon, and getting kind of hot, but it wasn’t too bad. I walked to the old city walls, and then checked out a couple of traditional houses. Kashan has several traditional houses built in the 19th century, which have undergone restoration over the past few years. I spent some time at the Khan-e-Ameriha, one of the more impressive houses. It has seven courtyards, and is spread over 9000 square meters. It was really impressive, and in its prime, probably housed hundreds of people, once you include servants.
I saw many traditional doors while wandering around as well. These typically have two knockers, one round and fat, the other long and thin. One is for women and one for men. They give off different sounds so that the inhabitants of the house know whether a man or woman is at the door, and can decide who should answer the door. This was important in a society with purdah.
After the houses, I made my way to Kashan’s Bazaar. This place was huge; however, all the shops were closed for the afternoon siesta. Nobody was around. I took advantage of the solitude to climb onto the roof of the bazaar, and walk around. The roof is paved with mud, you can actually look into the shops through the ventilation holes. The mud keeps the entire structure cool.
Kashan is really laid back compared to Tehran. I just sort of walked around and soaked it in, checked email at a nearby cafe. The shops began to open, so I had some unidentified black juice from a blender at a small grocery shop. It was really bitter, but good. I bought one of the locally bottled colas to try out as well. Because of the sanctions, Iran doesn’t have Coke or Pepsi, or anything made by them. They have some very good local soft drinks though. I think Zam-Zam is my new favorite cola. More on that when I talk about Esfahan. Some of you may be familiar with the name of this cola:
I ended up sitting in the courtyard that evening, watching the stars come out, reading my book of Rumi’s poetry
The next morning after breakfast, went to the Fin Garden with a fellow traveler. Came back to the hotel, checked out, went to the bus station and caught a bus to Esfahan.
Continued in Iran 2009 Trip Report - Part Three
Also in this series:
Iran 2009 Trip Report - Part One
Iran 2009 Trip Report - Part Three
by Gaddis
by Harris
by Sachs
