(Daniel) After a cup of tea with the night porter I emptied out the Wolf. It was time to prep for departure, so I had got up earlier than usual, ready to take it to a car wash later for major disinfection.
On my return, Rowan and Gabby had woken up. The three of us walked across the road to The Marco Polo for breakfast. We met a group of Tehranis in there, one of whom was living in Oxford, and engaged in a long chat about politics, an understandably popular subject with Iranians. It turns out that they had experienced a similar desert trip the day before also, having driven to Garme, and then broken down in their Range Rover, which funnily enough I did see outside the police station whilst we were limping back from our adventure!
After this I returned to the Hotel to meet Bobek, we arranged to go to the carwash after lunch and then to call the mechanic to see if the trailer was ready. Over lunch Rowan, Gabby and I discussed the route for India, as it seems that we will have to drive from one side to the other, possibly doubling back several times, and then we have the dilemma of where to ship from, and then where to fly from. This was a long conversation, but basically ended in the same way as they usually do, we will try and get it all in, and see what happens on the ground! Nepal was in the balance, but we have opted to keep it for now.
After lunch Bobek and I drove through town together to a car wash. The labour for these is not as cheap in Iran, and I am generally paying around 6-7 dollars, this is expensive compared to 1-2 euros in most other countries after Austria! The wash took about an hour and a half, meanwhile Bobek and I took the opportunity to discuss his future plans.
A couple of days before we had mentioned the possibility of him joining us until Thailand, but he does not have a passport, and would need to sort this out first, then join us in Pakistan, or India. He really does want to come, but I fear that the paperwork will be too much, especially in this country, and in light of the fact that he had tried to claim asylum in another country before. I hope that he can fix this problem and join us, as Bobek has proved himself to be an amazing person, worthy of anyone’s assistance, he gives his all for anyone, and is very easy to spend time with. All of us agreed that it would be great if he could join us, and if anyone out there can help him, especially in this tricky time for Iran, please let me know.
After our chat, I gave Bobek a present of the silver necklace which I bought in Thailand some years ago, and never wear, at least it is worth something, and may help him in a tight spot one day, if not then it is a nice memento, and certainly looks better on him than on me! We then called the mechanic, who had finished the trailer, then drove back out to his workshop. After some adjustment the work was complete. The parts which I had bought the day before including two spares had come to $8, the repair work, which had probably been a couple of hours came to $7, any garages in the UK reading this, take note what real value-for-money looks like!
We returned then to The Silk Road, and dinner. It was Italian night, and everyone was talking about this Italian chef, the food was mediocre at best, and afterwards it emerged that the chef actually came from a village near Yazd! After dinner, Bobek took us for a walk in the alleys, and we ended at a beautiful tea house that used to be a baths. Sitting down in the picturesque underground courtyard, we had cardamom and cinnamon Darjeeling tea. It was a fitting end to our time in Yazd, and we walked home more than a little sad at the prospect of not seeing our friend Bobek again.
