Bandar - Bam - Kerman - Shiraz

Half way through my stay in Iran now, and it's quite pleasant, if not what I'd expected or hoped for. Communication is incredibly difficult since not many people speak English and all the signs are in Farsi. Communicating via hand gestures has proven more difficult than in other countries - e.g. today it took 10 mins for the bus driver to realise that I wanted to know when the bus was leaving, when I was pointing at my watch then the bus...

People are generally friendly, although I do pick up bad vibes from a lot of the unemployed, uneducated youth who seem to sit around various streets doing nothing. I haven't really experienced the culture of hospitality that I'd read about, and the tea culture is something that seems on the margins of everyday life. Oddly enough, the friendliest people I've met in Iran have been Afghan.

The journey from Bandar-e Abbas to Bam cost me $2, on the lowest class of bus which broke down in the middle of a desert. The driver had worked for Iran Oil during the Shah's reign and could speak English. However, he was now forced to drive a bus for political reasons. Most of the other passengers were Baluchis heading to the Afghan border town of Zahedan (famous for two things: guns, drugs and fundamentalist Islam). Despite the lack of English, some of them let me know what they thought of Europe and European values. The highlight of the trip was when the bus stopped by a heard of goats in the desert. Half the passengers got off and started catching goats and stuffing them into the bus luggage compartment.

Bam was fascinating. The city looks like the earthquake had happenned yesterday, not 15 months ago. Everything is in ruins. I spent the whole day there walking around talking to people and taking photos. Most were incredibly friendly and wanted to tell me about their lives despite limited English. I stayed at Akbar's Guest House. The owner is a very distinguished retired English teacher and it was interesting to talk to him. The only other foreigner there was Koji (from Japan), who'd come in from Pakistan. We've ended up travelling together since.

Kerman was a disaster. We got dropped off on the outskirts of town, then stumbled around trying to get our bearings. All of our questions about street/park names were met with: "Mr! Mr! Taxi!?" Ended up finding the hotel after 2 hours. They wouldn't take us : "We're full." Bullshit - you just don't want to take foreigners. 3 hotels later, we walked through the bazaar, caught a bus to the bus station and went to Shiraz.

Now relaxing in Shiraz. Great city - fragrant gardens, sunny weather, educated, friendly people. The mausoleums here are amazing: the interiors are shimerring mosaic of mirrors that really does your head in. We even got shown areas usually only open for muslims. Today we went to Persopolis. Absolutely worth the effort : the ruins are some of the most spectacular I've ever seen - up there with Efez. Tomorrow, I'll head to the countryside in the hope of hanging out with some nomads, then heading to Yazd.