Μιας και έγινε αναφορά στις συνοριακές διαδικασίες, και στην προμήθεια καυσίμου στο Ιράν , ίσως η εμπειρία πριν από δεκαπέντε περίπου μέρες ενός τυπά που ταξιδεύει σόλο από Εδιμβούργο για Κατμαντού , σας φανεί χρήσιμη.........
the plan was simple. Get up early in the morning, just in case the border procedures take to much time, and get to Tabriz. Stay there for couple of days and then....well, i did not have a what-then-plan.
I got up just after 6am. breakfast was far from good, some bread, tea, jam. They call it continental. Thanks heaven I have saved some left overs from last night dinner.
Before me just 9 miles of turkish tarmac. Mt. Ararat on the left, hills on the right and the "gate to Islamic Republic of Iran" in front of me. I was thrilled. I did not know what to expect. How
will they react? will I have any troubles? will they let me in? what if they won't? are all my papers in order? all those questions were dancing in my mind. First things first. I have to leave
Turkey. I did not mention but i had some difficulties on the entry.
First you need to buy visa, then you go to buy bike insurance, then you go back to stamp new documents, then you go to stamp your visa and then another stamp for god knows what. It took me well over an hour to get to the country. Not so bad but could be better organized. All packed up with all stamps I got to last gate.
One of the soldiers spoke english so we chatted a bit. Another took my passport and vanished. "SIR!!!!, PROBLEM!!!" - i heard from the shed. I got there asking "what now??" . "10 euro" he says."What for?, I did pay everything and they let me go". "10 EURO!!" this time he yelled at me. "what the hell?" I jumped of the shed and run to the english speaking guy. The bribe-taker yelled again ."SIR, NO PROBLEM!YOU GO!!.
I am sitting at the desk in foreign nationalities office in Degubayazit. Guy behind the desk is looking for me in the computer for over 40 minutes now. "we have a problem sir, I cannot find youin our system.". This must be it...i thought. Well I have time, i let him look for another hour if i have to. I won't pay a penny. I do not have money for this purpose. I still got thousands of
miles to go. He found me eventually. another "50" stamps I a could face another challenge. Iranian Customs.
I turned out to be a great experience. I was asked to stop right behind the gate. I followed a soldier inside to a small room with 2 guys behind glass. There was a queue but i was kindly asked to come forward. Passport been stamped without any unnecessary questions. Now it was time for stamping my CdP. No problem whatsoever. CHassis number is here, registration here, that's my name. "can I have a go on your bike" - someone behind me asked. I turned around just to find a 7 feet and 200 pounds guy. He must have been big fish as everybody nod. "be my guest" i said being a wee scared that he may crash.
As everybody knows there is a limit of 125 cc for a motorbike in Iran. my 1150 seemed to be a big bike even for him. it was well over 35 Celsius but I was cold. He almost done awheelie. After 5 minutes of riding there and back he handed me back my keys and said "welcome to Iran". He teared off bottom of the page in CdP and went back inside.
There were 30 people from England and Australia waiting inside. They were on a bus trip from London to Sydney.some of them told me later in Tabriz, that they were far away from being happy. Theyhad problems with customs. Another bus from the same company did broke down last week in Iran and they abandoned it, leaving sorting out the bus for iranians. It took few hundreds euro and around 3 hours before they were given a go ahead. One guy who definately was a tour guid, said that If I do not know what I will be doing in Tabriz I can join them." just follow the bus. We will squeeze you in our hotel". - he said. "great. I will wait for you". I have spent 3 hours waiting for them, chatting, sharing cookies. They had an Iranian guy with them, Hossein.He was trying to do everything to speed the process of entry. He also promissed me that in Maku (5 km from border) he will help me purchase Petrol Cards which are necessary in Iran since January 2007. Without them getting petrol would be difficult. I can tell you now....it's Boll...s!
Finally we were on the way., There was one more thing. Getting insurance which is a must in iran. I know now that I could have done it without it. Noone ever asked me if I have it. "if you kill someone on the road , sir, just give one piece of this document to the policeman and you can continue"!"crazy" I thought.
Bus guys bought it first. And when I was buying mine they just FUC...OFF!!!they left me behind. It took me 20 minutes to sort out Insurance.Riding very fast to Maku I was hoping to meet them in this building in which they sell cards. I got lost, then I got tofar. I was approaching petrol station when I saw back of a big white bus. "shite!!!" My tank was empty. I was a little stressed. I was 5 km deep in Iran. To Tabrzi there was more than 240 km!!
I stopped on a petrol station.There were two guys on a wee moped. One of them offered me his help. He jumped on a back of my bike and we rode back to maku. I did buy petrol card for 500 000 rials(ca. 50 $). We got back to same garage. Full tank of petrol plus extra 5ltr for my friends. He was super happy.
Now a wee word of explanation. In 2006 there was no limit on fuel. 1 ltr of petrol was 4 pence!!!!From '07 everyne needs Petrol Cards issued by a goverment.It gives you right to put 100 litres a month with limit of 3 ltr a day!!Taxi and truck drivers got more.
Thank to this black market is groving fast. I will write about it next posts.So....PC 500 000 rialow and when getting petrol extra 1000 rials for every litre. It works out 6000 rials/ $1.10 per litre. Big difference.
I was speeding, i was trying to catch this bus. I did not know why. They obviously did not care. I got them after 1,5 hours.Iranian guy came to me appologizing. He said that he was trying to stop them but the other guy said that they are behind schedule and have to push. " I waited 3 hrs for you, you could not wait 10 min??" I give you one more chance - i said to myself.
I did follow the bus till tabriz. It was super dark when we got there. Riding at night in Iran is scary. and i mean VERY SCARY! people ride with no light on. You want to overtake, you look in a mirror....nothing behind you. You start the manouvre and then you are blind with full beam!he was all the time there.Everyone is speeding and riding with no rules whatsoever. Overtaking from the right, overtaking from the left, 5 cars on 3 lanes. A massacre!!i was tired when we stopped in front of a hotel. All tourist got their luggage and get in their rooms. I was left alone on my own again.Not one hasasked what am I going to do. They did not care. It was getting late and I knew that I have to find a ghotel. This one wanted 35 $ for one night. "no Thank You" - i wipped. Hossein suddenlyappeared. "you gonna like this one. It is not far away from here. I will stop a taxi and you will follow it to the hotel." And so he did. He handed me his bussiness card with something written on a reverse. Guy in a hotel smiled after he read that. Hotel did cost me 6 $ and I was more than happy. Whole big room for me, little fridge inside and a wee sink. Toilet was a shared one but that did not bother me. I did need time to adjust to squat toiletMoosa was his name. The hotel manager. Nice guy. He used to go to school with Hossein.I decided to stay 3 nights. It was a good choice. I spent the time wandering around time, speaking with locals which turned out to be very friendly. One guy has even offered me his car so I could drive through town!!i did refuse though. It was scary enough on two wheels.
I stopped on traffic lights. I had a wee drew map from Moosa. I got lost. 3 young guys stopped and started to chat with me. Students, they spoke good english.One of them went to a Kiosk and bought me a map of Tabriz, another has pulled out of his pocket a telephone card and let me phone my wife back in UK!They showed me around town.
This night there was a party in my house in Edinburgh. My wife phoned my room. It was great to talk to her and all my friends who were there. I felt home sick.
I was about to leave when telephone rang in a reception. This was Hossein,iranian guide. "what are your Plans Marcin?", " I dunno?I was thinking about going to Tehran!". "I have got a better plan.
Come visit me in my house in a small Village at the caspian see." "I am on my way!".
Το οδοιπορικό στο συνολό του .....
Υ.Γ. Uriah .....sorry, αλλά δεν βρήκα καμιά αναφορά από κανένα που να ΜΗΝ καβαλάει Μαστόδοντο, για να παραθέσω.........
Απάντηση με παράθεση
...μου το "κατέστρεψες" το ταξίδι!
,λογικά δουλεύουν όλοι οι χάρτες τύπου .img της Garmin αρκεί να είναι ξεκλείδωτοι 