Thomas Seropian at Follow The Way has just posted a complete list of links to his entries on a recent visit to Iran. On his return to Armenia I remember Thomas saying how much he enjoyed his visit, and especially the friendliness and hospitality of the people. Of course, there are problems and not least with the regime in place there, but when people talk about Iran as being part of an “Axis of Evil” let’s remember that its citizens are anything but.

Thomas tries to paint a truer picture in his last post. Reading all of this, I know I have to visit at some point.

[…] everyone kept telling my that Tehran is polluted, dirty, stressfull, grey, over-urbanized. You must risk your life to cross the street. But I expected something worse. I don’t know why. I found a certain “charm” in this modern chaos, all the highways, all this grandeur. And so much richness. These bazar full of jolliers. etc etc. And museums. And Nature. […]

I had the same feeling than in Esfahan, meeting smart and cultivated people. Perhaps (and I’m pretty sure) I met part of the intelligentsia from people of my age (i.e. 25/30 year old). They were all speaking good english, open-minded to what is happening outside their border (my host was reading Harry Potter), of course they were all against the islamic government, and aware of what could be done to improve their country situation. And as you can guess, lots of them want to escape the yoke of their leaders they call Homo Religius Capitalist. They are much more progressive than I would expect. More than Armenian people, probably because of this islamic regime.

And to finish, life indoor : as you may know, the Charia (islamic rule) is not applied in homes. So expect crazy times when you are invited by Iranian people When we arrived by night, and our 2 hosts were learning Salsa in front of their TV, watching videos from Youtube. Because it is of course forbidden to listen/dance/take salsa lessons. Some travellers I met in Esfahan told me they were boozing like hell during indoor party (alcohol probably brought by Armenian people)

The posts accompanied by many photographs are available here.