Iran: the Northeast

Mashad is a very typical Iranian city, sprawling over a huge area with crazy traffic but with a well known center around the holy shrine thats fun to explore on foot. The holy shrine is definitely worth a visit, an enormous area with many mosques and madrassas and other beautiful sacred buildings…cameras are not allowed inside though. I stayed 2 nights in the city parked in a quite alley close to the center, in fact next to the governors office so I felt pretty safe. I stocked up on a few things and hoped to meet some other travellers to exchange travel information. However, that was of limited success, the only thing I learned was that vehicles have to be washed before entering Ashgabat in Turkmenistan. The mountains towards the border were scenic, quite green for a change and looked almost like SCOTLAND :-)…again.

After a pretty cold night, a top up of the diesel tanks, and quick rinse of the truck in a river (as all the locals do) I started the border crossing formalities at Bajgaran border.

Against all fearful expectations the Iranians were quite relaxed, very helpful and not bureaucratic at all…well, according to Iranian standards…

No diesel tax to pay, no weighing of the truck to see if I smuggle diesel, only a few curious looks in side and over I went.

Bajgaran is a smaller border with limited truck traffic and it was a Sunday, which I think helped as there was very little traffic from/to Turkmenistan (weekend there).

Again this time in Iran I only can praise the friendliness and hospitality of the Iranians! The frequent police checks on the road and the feeling of being watched are a bit of a nuisance sometimes but it really is a friendly and beautiful place to explore.