It's a Wrap! Time to head home... Iran back to Istanbul

It's time to go, to start the journey back to Istanbul and then home! Just a few more places to visit on the way.
We are getting better at backpacking with our bikes! The bus driver stopped to let us off at the turn off to Natanze, before we had the front wheel on someone stopped and handed us 3 pomegranates. 10 km on and we met Majhed, he pulled over and waited for us holding out more pomegranates, there is a lot of eating in 6! We chatted, he invited us to his place but we said we would find the hotel then come for a cuppa. As we got closer to the town he was coming back the other way, No hotel, follow me, you must be my guest. Majhed was an absolute hoot. Same age as Trevor, his job was managing the personal involved in new motorway construction. That week it was finding accommodation for crew for a few months or however long it would take to do the job. He spoke a little English but understood less, he could not pronounce our names so Trevor was Mr Al and I became Mrs Sis (and he introduced us as that to everyone) After a late lunch, shower and rest we went with him to view some accommodation options in a nearby city. Pretty basic and some tough bargaining going on! Then to the on site cook house, kebabs and rice for dinner. It was raining a little the next morning, he insisted we stay the day, picked up an English speaking friend, who was visiting her sister from Tehran and we enjoyed a day out and about as well as heading up into the hills to collect spring water. He was still 'at work' and spent a fair bit of time juggling his 3 cell phones. A traditional restaurant lunch and later that evening backgammon. It's hard to describe his sense of humour except to say everything was a laugh, he thought we were nuts cycling anywhere. He was divorced with 2 married daughters, said he left 10 years ago because he couldn't handle the 3 women!  It became a bit difficult to extract ourselves from his place the next morning, I think he had made plans for us for the next week! (Photo)
Natanze - Abyanee 60 km
A gorgeous ride to this ancient red brick village. The road wound its way up through a valley, the autumn colours spectacular, fresh snow on the hills around us. We met a kiwi guy coming down in a taxi, he was working as an engineer in Esfehan and just visiting for the day. It was pretty cold and starting to rain when we checked into one of the two massively over priced hotels. We only had a couple of hours to explore the area before dark but that was long enough to walk up to the old fort to get an overview of the town, check out the old troglodyte dwellings (photo) now used for animals and also the interesting old door knockers, one is for men and one for women - years ago the people inside could figure out from the knock who should answer the door, men for men, women for women.
Abyanee - Kashan 86 km
The best days cycling, a chilly start but then we were off mostly downhill through the valley again stopping to take a few photos including one of the many pictures of young war heros that are everywhere in the country,  lots of memories from the Iran Iraq war where many many thousands died. We met one  man last week who had been a soldier, signing up for military service well under age and then being taken prisoner in Iraq under the Sudam Hussain regime. Very sobering stuff to hear.
Onto the flat avoiding the highway then a quieter road and suddenly we were riding through an area of high security with barb wire high fences, guard towers, revolving guns and military presense. We felt watched. We actually said to each other - no stopping, no photos, I wonder how long it will take before someone comes to see us. Not long! A few km down the rd and then a vehicle approached from behind. Army/ police - passport please, what are you doing - (cycling??)  Where are you going? Etc They took photos of our passports and then a video of us, then said no photos, no stopping till Kashan and off we went.  Apparently a nuclear uranium enrichment facility, but we didn't hear that from them!
A great 2 nights stay with warm showers host Elam, Houssein and their daughter Negar, more lovely food, more family to meet and a day in Kashan.
Next stop Qazvin, skirting Tehren and heading west - after the, should we or shouldn't we go to the big city question that always arises. No!
We were supposed to arrive at 4.30 at the bus terminal 2 km from the center but after everything we have been through on this journey what we think is happening and reality are often quite different.
So, dumped on the side of the highway in the dark at 7 pm with the city lights twinkling some 10 km away, we had just a few under and over passes, bridges roundabouts, road works, motorway and traffic in our way. We found 'friends' to follow after 5 km, they put their hazard lights on, 1 km later - hang on they are stopping, its chaos, cars are stopped everywhere, people everywhere, a plate thrust at us, have some cake... Everyone is eating cake, in cars, out of cars, on the footpath, Trevor had to quickly eat mine as well as it looked like it had nuts in it, then off we went again following a different car, well we think its different, its still white but I'm sure there are different people in it, jeepers they keep changing lanes, now a U turn, crikey, let me just hold up 3 lanes of traffic while I go from the far right to the far left, do a U turn then get back over to the far right. Now there are 2 motorbikes coming toward me, the adrenaline surge, did I do that wrong? Am I on the wrong side of the road? no no I'm ok, they are just taking a short cut... Another roundabout, who gives way to who here? no one gives way, keep up, keep your line, how many cars are there on this roundabout? feeling a bit hemmed in, ok looks like we take the 3rd exit, can they see my arm out? I'm crossing lanes, ok Trevor are you with me, I'm crossing lanes, phew, no problem, that's right, there's no signalling in this country, they are probably wondering what's wrong with my arm and why my jacket  glows in the dark, oops, someone is yelling at us, handing over a plastic bag, food maybe,  luckily Trevor can grab it, I need my hands on the handle bars. Orange light, but our car has gone through, (was that our car?) quick, follow, oops its red... This continues for quite a while, eventually we see a hotel sign.  We made it, honestly, another 'We couldn't make this stuff up if we tried moment' of which there have been so many. We still have no idea what the cake thing was about!
The next day we looked around the city,then booked the over night train back to Tabriz for the following night. We enjoyed lunch and the afternoon with a young guy who we met on the way to buy our ticket, plus his family and neighbours. Again, more generous, hospitable people who did not leave us until we were in our cabin, the train almost moving. 
We got to Tabriz very early in the morning then had to wait nearly 3 hours to pick up our bikes. They were securely locked in a carriage and the workers didn't arrive till after 9 am - you wouldn't want to be in a hurry.
We feel like we are over sight seeing, we couldn't decide on anything to visit so we didn't, Trevor's sandals were coming apart, he got them sewn up by the guy on the footpath (photo) , we enjoyed a  Tabriz specialty for lunch, flat bread rolled up with mashed potato, egg and lots of butter inside. We caught up with Hamed again and enjoyed dinner out. He used to cycle in Europe as a junior until an injury put a stop to that. He has just brought a touring bike - from a Dutch couple who decided in Tabriz cycling was too hard and continued on backpacking instead -  and he is obviously keen to go somewhere soon, Best of luck Hamed, you'll love it!
On to Maku, we have been traveling on roads that are part of the ancient silk road, the trading route from China to Europe, there are still many old caravanseries  about where the animals were housed and the merchants accommodated.
A night there, then what turned out to be our final day of cycling (65km) back to Bazargan through the Iran Turkish border and onto Dogubayazit.
Thankyou very much to the people of Iran, although that seems inadequate, what a fantastic place to visit!
The border crossing was out of control. It took us over 2 hours to get through the border. So many impatient men crossing with so many boxes, bags and sacks of supplies. No such thing as an orderly line, just push and shove and all hold up your passport. When Trevor finally got to one of the two Iranian windows and managed to get our passports in, the poor guy could not find New Zealand anywhere in his system so it really held things up. I was hanging back with our bikes and saw Trevor being shoved out of the way and guys yelling, thrusting their passports in the window,  I thought there was going to be a riot. Security arrived soon after to calm things down, nothing like a few guns to keep the peace, we headed to the Turkish side, which was even worse, having gone from 2 guys processing things down to one. Trevor had a hard job holding his own in the mayhem among hundreds of pushy guys. Plus everyones bags had to be checked and go through security. One guy half hid behind our bikes and I furtively watched as he packed and repacked what looked like sugar cubes until he sorted them how he wanted, then it looked like he tried to bribe one of the guards to let him bypass the scanner.  Guys were stuffing cigarettes down their pants, in their pockets, taking them out of cartons. Climbing over barriers. Creating havoc and confusion which may have been a plan. It could have been some tax/duty thing, hard to know, or drugs, there is a huge amount of opium that comes to Iran and Turkey from Afghanistan. But a bit obvious if it was. There was very little proper organization, it was hilarious to watch but a bit scary as well. The officials were very nice to us but at the same time there is always that concern that you could be, unwittingly, caught up in something not really knowing whether this was normal or not. Possibly being the only border open had added to the problem.
Finally we exited and biked back past the kms of trucks waiting to be processed. The temperature had dropped considerably, we kept climbing slightly, it was bitterly cold by the time we made it to the town. Thankfully no stick wielding goat herders out today.  We enjoyed a hot meal at a restaurant thawing out in front of the pot belly stove before going back to the same hotel we were in a few weeks back.  English news on TV reporting on missiles overhead from the Caspian Sea to Syria and Turkey shooting down a Russian fighter jet. But nothing to worry about in this sleepy hollow. It was dark at 4.30pm.
The bus to Erzurum left at 8am the next morning. We loaded the bikes, chatted with the bus driver, who told us at least 5 x that he was Kurdish, not Turkish  and waited until we were told to board. We were surprised when we got on the bus that a lot of the back seats were full, 19 people, quiet, tired looking, different looking, a slight unwashed clothes smell.
After 4 hours, about 15 km from Erzurum the bus stopped at a restaurant type place, not a bus terminal, the 19 people got off, 2 young women, 2 young boys and the rest mostly young guys. They were directed to a bench, sat in the cold, there was a real bitterly wind blowing and they were not very warmly dressed. We continued in the bus, they stayed there, we then asked, hey what about the others, we were told they were Afghanistan refugees and that was as far as the bus was taking them. I just wonder where they went from there, hopefully there was more transport organized. The overnight low in Erzurum was -11 that night. It's very sad, we wished we had had time to get them a cup of tea or give the kids our gloves. Not sure how or where they crossed the border, the bus drivers are also taking a big risk transporting them.
We physically chilled out in Erzurum, far out it was cold. A dry cold. Any moisture turned to ice straight away. There is a  ski field right behind the town. 2 nights there then a 17 hour overnight bus to Istanbul. We spent our last few days sightseeing, cleaned our bikes and everything else, got some bike boxes, packed up and then it was off in a shuttle to the airport. Just 35 hrs till we are back in NZ.
Nearly 14 months on the road, 17000 kilometres cycled. An amazing adventure from start to finish.
Now looking forward to NZ, the trees, the grass, the water, the mountains and more importantly our family and friends. Thanks to everyone for joining us through our blog, the messages, comments, emails and encouragement to keep it going was just what I needed.
So thats it, its a Wrap.
Imagine all the people... Living in a world of peace...  Unfortunately still a dream

Not just the Magnificent Sights of Esfahan, Iran

We spent a couple of days in Yazd, we were both actually really tired, so didn't roar around too much, just wandered about and took in the main sights. Although the riding the last week was not difficult, no big hills, the atmosphere here is very drying and harsh. The days are short so we were pushing ourselves a bit to get where we needed to be. And we feel like we have been on the go for weeks.
We took a bus to Esfahan, the 'jewel in the crown' must see city of Iran. From my observations the bus drivers seem to think cruise control is auto pilot and having a hand on the steering wheel optional! This driver spent the entire 5 hr trip, eating, including an entire bag of sunflower seeds which involved removing the husk on every single one with his teeth first... drinking, pouring many cups of tea from a flask which took 2 hands, smoking, talking on his phone and searching the internet... at the same time as overtaking massive trucks! We had a fantastic view of it all from seats 1 and 2.
We arranged to stay with warm showers hosts Rusool and Nasibe, a young couple who lived in Najafabad a smaller city 30 km out. We had good instructions from Rusool on how to get there but I was a bit concerned because the bus didn't get in till 3.45 and to get to their place by dark would be a mission. Turned out it was built up completely all the way between the two cities which slowed us down even more as we negotiated the traffic, the buses taxis and cars pulling in and out all the time, manic drivers, tooting at everything, speeding between judder bars and bouncing over them. Plus everyone slowing down to talk to us, swapping lanes to get closer, disrupting everyone behind them. We are surprised we didn't cause an accident. It's hard to describe being amongst this kind of traffic, you kind of get swept along in the chaos and really have to have your wits about you. Iran has the worst driving stats in the world, some 22000 deaths per year. Yet their roads are pretty good. The highways are almost all 2 lanes or more each way with wide open spaces between traffic going either way. Sometimes you can't see the road or traffic going the other way.
Anyway to continue we found a friend along the way, a couple on a motorbike carrying their young child and many shopping bags. They called up Rusool to confirm the meeting place and we followed them the final 10 km as it got dark.
Just as we stopped a car slowed down and someone handed Trevor some fresh bread out of their car window. Suddenly there was mayhem and we were surrounded by policemen, (2 cars of them) and lots of people. I noticed our motorbike friends quickly disappeared before we had a chance to say thank-you. At the same time Rusool arrived and introduced himself and thankfully quietly sorted everything out. Apparently the policemen took exception to our (NZ) flag believing it to be from the UK - there's been issues here with the UK in the past -  and they didn't want us to have it on our bike. Even after they were told it was the NZ flag, which they said they had no problem with, they still told us to fold up our flag. So of course we did. Perhaps showing us their power... And they have plenty of that here. Hmm - Time to get rid of the Union Jack...
We continued, the crowd dispersed, turned out our motorbikes buddies had been watching from a distance so we got to say thanks and goodbye and finally arrived at the sanctuary of Rusool and Nasibe's home. Phew.
We ended up staying a week and thoroughly enjoyed being immersed in Iranian life. We extended our visa at the consulate in Esfahan, (no problem) so we could stay longer in Iran if we wanted and to take away the pressure of having to be out by day 30. We enjoyed the company of Rusool and Nasibe, it was interesting to consider that our daughter and Nasibe are the same age and to think about the many similarities and differences in their lives so far.
There is actually far too much to say about this week in a blog.  It is one of the most memorable weeks on our trip. When you consider visiting a country, you research it and figure out the things you want to see. You are mostly rewarded for the effort it takes to visit. Many people on tours just get to see the sights and are content with that.
We loved Esfahan, as some of our photos show (But Google it if you want the best pictures) It has tree lined boulevards, lovely gardens and important Islamic buildings.  Big bridges over the river, which had no water in it until our last day when a damn was opened and the water trickled down. We visited the massive Naqsh-e Jahan Square, the original cities centrepiece. It is surrounded by beautiful buildings, Rusool and Nasibe took us to the Masjed-e Shah, a mosque completely covered inside by blue tile mosaics. Built in the early 1600s it is still stunning.
Then onto Mashed-e Jameh, it is also one of the most beautiful mosques we have seen.
Palaces, gardens, the bazaar, the Armenian quarter, we saw a lot but not everything.
But even better than all of that is having the opportunity to share in the lives of the people who live here. Sharing in a bbq meal with 8 young people, watching as they did everything from scratch,  collecting the branches to burn even making the skewers for the kebabs all the while laughing and chatting in Farsi, including us in it all, well into the late night.  Wandering under the Pol-e Si-o-Seh bridge in the evening, listening to the locals take turns to sing. Jumping up and down laughing at the precise spot that creates an echo when being shown around some of these massive creations. The meals we had with such welcoming people, different members of the family inviting us each night. The thoughtfulness, the surprise birthday cake and gift for Trevor. The cup of tea and biscuits with the bank teller, standing at the counter, before we paid for our extra visa. The conversations, the friendship, the respect people have for each other regardless of their nationality, where they come from or their religious beliefs.
The interesting chat with the elderly gentleman walking down the street about life before the revolution, his family, his genuine interest in our life. His life views on morality!
The Iranian people (rightly) feel very misrepresented in the eyes of the western world, quick to dispel any lingering terrorist label. But as we told them, we are here,  it is not us you need to convince!
The government on the other hand is a different story and not one I intend to talk about in this forum.  The only thing I will say is that almost every Iranian person who talked to us, (and we never asked the questions) volunteered their thoughts and said religion and politics should not be mixed and living in an undemocratic country without freedom is truly awful at times. And they have no idea how or if it could (ever) be changed.