(Daniel) Excited at the prospect of another desert adventure, I woke the others, and took breakfast at the hotel early. We met Bobek as arranged, and began the drive to Yazd 350km away.
On the way we stopped at the same abandoned caravansary that Bobek, Saumon, Abed and I had discovered on the way back from Garme, We walked around the ruins, inhabited only by goats, making plans to turn the ruins into a huge luxury hotel. The journey to Yazd was smooth, with two more stops. At the first, in the desert, I saw an amazing lizard that disguised itself as a scorpion. The second was at an ice house, an ice storage cleverly designed to keep ice frozen for many months during the hot weather, this was situated in a small village just outside the city of Yazd.
Arriving in Yazd, we found it to be the most amazing place. The old quarter is actually the second oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, and has over 2000 years of history. The huge Mosques were breathtaking. For now we are going to check out some hotels and then go to Bobeks workplace to see the views from the roof of his shop.
(Later) – When we arrived in Yazd with Bobek, we travelled to his work, and met a local Guide who invited us to stay in the desert with a group of around 15 Tehranis. We accepted and went off to buy food, drink and supplies. I still had some Cognac and Grappa from the last trip to the desert, and the others claimed to have wine and spirits also.
The trip began poorly, as we drove to the guides house, and waited while he and the others took ages to get ready. Meanwhile I found three huge logs and strapped them to the Wolf for firewood. When everyone was finally ready, we headed off into the desert.
The fun and games didn’t stop there, as the guide made us stop several times along the way to collect 150 litres of water, and then get fuel. We finally made it to the area at about 10.00pm, and drove for 10km along the road, looking for a way into the desert. Of course I could have driven in anywhere, but the other cars were not able to drive off road, and so they required a track to get in. Eventually we turned around and went back to the start of the road, where the lead car pulled up outside an amazing caravansary. This place is very famous in Iran, and has been restored to it’s former glory. I asked the guide why we had stopped here, and he was very evasive, but basically said that we would be staying there tonight.
It was obvious that this guy was struggling to organise his plan, and we certainly weren’t going to stay here. I told him that we could find a way through to the desert from where we were, and could camp out nearby. He really didn’t want to, and it looked as though we were going to go off alone. But all the Tehranis came to me and said that they wanted to camp too, and that if we set up they would come along. I drove around to the back of an abandoned mud building, and set up the trailer tent and roof tent to protect us from the wind. Most of the Tehrani guys and girls came with us straight away, and a few stayed with the guide.
Rowan started to prepare the two chickens which he had bought and the others got the fire going. After we laid out seats and the table, got the music going and some drinks distributed the party really got started, everyone else, including the guide came to join us. Even the three Belugis who worked in the place came over, complete with their own CD, Lets Party 4, an Iranian version!
At midnight we wished Gabby a happy birthday, and then drank and partied around the fire until early the next morning. Everyone kept coming over and thanking us for saving the day. This was their holiday, and it nearly got ruined by poor organisation. As we have been living like this, it’s no problem to set up a serious camp with everything that you could need for a great party, and I look forward to getting to more touristy places so that we can do this again. I crashed out at around 4 while some of the others, including Rowan and Gabbs stayed up to watch the moon set. Before I went to bed, everyone was so drunk that they were falling into each other and having a really great time.
It is funny that even with the strict rules, people still find a way to enjoy life just as much. They just have to be a bit more careful how, where and when they do it!
Distance driven 450km