On The Road

I decided to attempt to cross into Iran at the less frequented Esendere-Serou crossing. I couldn’t find out whether it was open for individual travelers with private vehicles but figured I should try. Good thing I did because this turned out to be very scenic drive through Kurdistan.

My I first stop was at Hosap castle

Mountains and more mountains all around with some bizarre landscapes thrown in.

There were some dodgy looking characters around smuggling fuel. Who can blame them with the price differential between the cheapest fuel in the world and the probably most expensive? The only serious military checkpoint was at the Yuksekova turn off. I was invited into the hut and one of the soldiers spoke English pretty well. I filled out a form and got the chair in front of the riffle rack. So I don’t think they felt threatened by me . I was stopped at another checkpoint but the guys just wanted to check out the bike. I declined an invitation for lunch.

At the border I drove past the waiting trucks and buses straight to the front. They only let a certain number of vehicles into the holding pen to processes them. It was a bit disorganized but my new found trucker friends gave me food, tea, and moved me along the various desks. After finishing the Turkish side I had to wait again in front of the Iranian gate. I killed the time sitting in the empty bus behind me. I studied the Iran map with the drivers over cold soft drinks. Once on the Iranian side the process was straight forward and the whole crossing only took 1.5 hours.

The Iranian side seemed markedly drier than Turkey.

I moved on to Orumiyeh, where I promptly got lost. A local rider guided me to my hotel which had elevator music and an English speaking manager, who was a goldmine of information. The room came with a free camel pack, forgotten by some biker more than a year ago.

After a shower I walked around for a while and had the Iranian version of pizza for dinner. If you think you can’t talk on a phone, hold a baby, eat, drive a taxi and shout for customers at the same time you haven’t been to Iran. I was very impressed by this guy.

I came about this roundabout statute of the Golden Boys

The manager of the Reza Hotel in Orumiyeh suggests that I visit Takht-e-Soleyman. I had never heard of the place but it sounds nice enough and wasn’t that far away. I had enough Iranian Rials left from my last visit to pay for the hotel and gas but I need to exchange some Euros before leaving town. The bazaar is across the street and I knew from my last visit that a money changer is usually nearby, which is the much faster option compared to banks. Well, that one was easy to spot!

With a map drawn by the hotel manager I find the gas station and my way out of the city easily.

I ride next to the Orumiyeh salt lake for a few kilometers.

I get gas once more in Miyandoab. I have a few phrases of Farsi written down and one is asking for the next gas station. I stop a teenager on a bike and he leads the way. I also learn what you do when you ride over one of the many hidden Iranian speed bumps: nothing, just hold on to your baseball cap! From Miyandoab it is a very scenic ride on a road with very little traffic. At some point there is a guy at the side of the road waving a little flag. I hit the breaks and discover that they just “tared” the road with what basically looks like some every thick oil. There is a dirt road right next to the road. Guess which one I take? That stuff would have been a very nasty mess.

I keep moving, admiring the views along the way

Before I left Turkey I downloaded the GPS coordinates of all the UNESCO World Heritage sites in Iran. Takht-e-Soleyman is one of them. Although I only have the Garmin World map for Iran it is easy to find, just heading in the general direction on the Zumo, using the paper map, and asking for directions quite often.

In the 3rd century Takht-e-Soleyman was the spiritual center of a then Zoroastrian Persia. Since then it has been modified and added to by the various powers occupying the area but today it is just ruins in a magnificent setting around a crater lake.

After having a stroll around the ruins I decide to stay for the night. I ride 4km back to climb Zendan-e-Soleyman, an about 100m conical mountain that sticks out like a tooth from the surrounding area. I just tried to kill some time and get a good look at Takht-e-Soleyman from a distance but once I reach the top I’m surprised to discover a huge pit. It is basically a hollow tooth. It won’t look good in a picture but is actually quite impressive to look at in person.

I pitch my tent just outside the ruins and I’m later joined by a German couple in a huge truck on their way back from India. The lone soldier guarding the site comes down for a chat and although his English is limited we have a good time. We tell him that we might attack the place in the middle of the night. So he better be ready.

It is a cold night (it’s above 2700m) and I get up for the sunset and climb a hill to have a look at Takht-e-Soleyman in the first light of the day.

When I come back to break down my campsite a group of pretty rowdy teenagers surrounds me. They all want me to start the bike, sit on it and keep touching everything on the bike. I have none of it and have my hands full stopping them from touching my stuff. They hang around for 30min, just to be followed by some better behaved Iranians. All this makes for a late start despite getting up so early.