5pm, 12th February, 2009

I made it. Well at least onto the Trans-Asya Expressi train that is. From here, Kayseri (Turkey), it’s a 49+ hour journey to Tehran. Today turned out to be pretty cool. I managed to wakeup as planned @ 6.30 this morning, the bus from Goreme was only 30 mins behind schedule. When I got to Kayseri I a shuttle bus from the otogar took me to the wrong side of town. 3 kms walk later I made it to the train station, got a ticket (82 Turkish lira or thereabouts), met a french dude, Joel, who is also going to Tehran. For the remainder of the wait I was fortunate enough to be befriended by a bunch of Iranian emmigrants who were saying goodbye to their parents – they said the current regime in Iran isn’t too fond of the folks who are of Baha’i faith).

Should be an interesting trip.

4pm, 13th February, 2009

Last night I was lucky enough to meet Farbod, a funny guy from Tehran who just finished a trip with his wife to Istanbul, He tried to educate me on a little of Farsi and explain the difference between Shi’ah and Sunni Islam. He said that he likes to drink beer and that Iranian girls are far prettier than Turkish.

I woke up today and looked out the window to see snow that covered the ground to the horizon. Wow!

10 cups of tea later here we are in Tatvan. At some point here I think we and our train get onto a ferry that will take us across Lake Van to Van.

My cabin mate, Ali, seems like a really nice guy. From what I could understand he is involved in IT and has something to do with networks between Turkey-Iran-Azherbaijan.

Watched 2 excellent movies – “Zack & Miri make a porno” & “the curious case of benjamin button” – if u haven’t seen them make sure you do!

3am, 14th February, 2009

We arrived in Van and got onto the Iranian train. A bit of a difference. The trains are dressed with some nice Iranian upholstery and the staff seem to speak more English than the guys working on the Turkish train.
Today was cool. Met so many lovely folks. Pretty much everyone has been very friendly – asking about where I’m from, am i married, what did i study, what do i think of Iran and Iranian people, why am i visiting Iran, etc… I am really hoping this will carry on into Iran. Will see!
From what i have heard/read this seems to be the case.

Beware! Forget about all the xenophobic, anti-Iranian propaganda dominating the media. What they say about terrorism and your life being in danger in Iran is absolute hogwash (I have no idea what that word means, but I like the sound of it: hogwash…). If anything, all that Iranians can be accused of is excessive hospitality. So, when traveling to Iran, beware of innocent looking situations which could turn into the experience of your life. Kind of like walking into The Twilight Zone.

source: http://www.digitalroom.net/index2.html

Passport control – entering Iran was a far quicker than exiting Turkey. Smooth.

6.30pm, 14th February, 2009
Apparently 5-10mins from Tehran!
This has been an excellent adventure – recommend it to everyone!
Amazing countryside to see!

How I discovered this train? The man in seat 61 – http://www.seat61.com/Iran.htm

Now to see what Tehran has got in store…

8 Comments

• At Thu 19, February 2009, Lisa wrote:

  Im so jealous!!!!!!!!!! do you think i could fit in your backpack?

• At Thu 19, February 2009, Lisa wrote:

  really nice photos too

• At Fri 20, February 2009, Bart Verkoeijen wrote:

  I like the posting. Great that you kept a day-by-day log, so we can feel your excitement along the way. Much better than a review. Keep on going, have a lot of fun, and keep on virtually writing to us! :-)

• At Fri 20, February 2009, Adam wrote:

  @Lisa - haha! thanks! ummm, my bag is kinda full, but maybe when it gets warmer i'll chuck my jumper out and that might leave enough room?

  @Bart - cheers dude, am a little behind with my blog/pics so have some catching up to do. The net in Iran is pretty average, and no WIFI so far! help!

• At Fri 20, February 2009, Bart Verkoeijen wrote:

  Haha, back to the 56k era where you can plug your notebook in every widespread telephone jack. Who needs WiFi? ;-) Or get a super hi-tech advanced ultrasound satellite network connection. Down-link only, and you might never know (newsfact) if the Russians or Europeans crash into another satellite to break your connection... Modem over GSM/GPRS would be cheaper anyway.

  Or it's another good reason to go to an internet café and get a beer while surfing. Or.. er.. a malt beer? ;-)

  P.S. I really wonder if you have some insider facts on whether people in Iran brew their own liquor and if it tastes good. :-)

• At Sat 21, February 2009, warwick wrote:

  simply excellent!

  my few days in tehran were also full of excessive hospitality. it's wonderfull you can get around N see it all in Iran

  post some more stuff

  yeah it's a pity those septics and CNN post and report so much bullshit about these places

  enjoy and report!

• At Wed 16, June 2010, Travel Bucket List: Trans Asya Ekspresi | All Is Optional wrote:

  [...] Because my obsessive behaviour precedes me, here are some people who have already taken the journey: Crazy Guy on a Bike News from Above: the Trans-Asya Expressi [...]

• At Fri 10, June 2011, Travel Bucket List: Trans Asya Eskpresi | All Is Optional wrote:

  [...] behaviour precedes me, here are some people who have already taken the journey: Crazy Guy on a Bike News from Above: the Trans-Asya Expressi This entry was posted in Travel and tagged alternative travel, international travel, Iran, [...]

If all things go to plan I’ll be catching the first thing smoking (the Trans Asya Expressi train) from Kayseri (Turkey) to Tehran (Iran) – a 2 to 3 day journey over what should be some very interesting countryside.

I am currently in Goreme taking it easy and cheaply after covering a fair bit of ground the past few weeks. Not much happening here except for the occasional stroll to the local shop and some decent time playing around with my new camera and photoshop. So what’s the plan?

Well on Thursday (today = Monday) I will head to Kayseri early morning and hopefully be able to get at ticket on the Trans Asya Expressi train which begins its journey in Istanbul. The folks up at one of the tour places said it should be easy to get a ticket seeing as it is low season – fingers crossed. I have thought a lot about what route I will take and this is where I am at:

Kayseri-Tehran-Kashan-Esfahan-Yazd-Kerman-Shiraz-Bushehr-Tehran-Rasht-Tabriz-Turkey

If it goes smoothly and I have surplus time I might try fit a detour to Mashad out in the east to have a bit of a look.

The Lonely Planet Middle East book that Lisa got me (thankyou Smalls!) has come in very handy to get some ideas on what to see. Also a lot of time abusing google!
Hopefully my budget of €30 is well over what i need and sees me through the max 30 days I have!

My expectations of the weather are low (has been pretty shite in my travels over this part of the world so far!) but hopefully the excursion to the Persian Gulf will heat things up

Looking forward to meeting the Iranian folks, trying some new food and in general just some interesting adventures!

I hope i make that train!

Inspiration for today: Check out this amazing adventure 2 cool folks did – 15000kms! – Bremen to Seremban – http://noplanes.wordpress.com/

4 Comments

• At Thu 12, February 2009, Lisa wrote:

  you're welcome!

  think of all the cool Iranian friends you will make with fun Chuck Norris facts.

  I hope Iran is cool after all this!

• At Thu 12, February 2009, Adam wrote:

  for sure, but i just hope it doesn't scare/excite anyone too much.

  Chuck Norris has two speeds: walk and kill.

• At Thu 12, February 2009, Adam wrote:

  hey what's with the little flag next to your name? Did u somehow find ur self in the US?

• At Thu 26, February 2009, Lisa wrote:

  i dont know how that flag got there and how to get rid of it! i dont like being American :(

  Maybe its there by default cos Chuck is American?