Esfahan

 

Look at that bloody leg room! This is a VIP coach, the seats recline a good deal, there is infinite leg room (so much that it's hard to annoy the person in front of you by kicking their seat), they feed you snacks (lumps of sugar they call biscuits/juice), and other awesome shit. 300kms cost me $3.30. HOW is that a VIABLE BUSINESS???? Well it must be. Australia we are doing something wrong.

 

The bloke next to me conked out pretty hard and slept the whole way, respect man. How do you do that? Took me about 17minutes to adjust my inflatable neck pillow whose design needs revision (It squeezes the sides of your neck cutting off blood to your brain - unnecessary feature). He conked out pretty well but only after an exchange of some farsi. I'm getting better, can say quite a few things including but not limited to

• hello
• how are you
• excuse me/sorry/thanks/goodbye
• how much is it?
• my hovercraft is full of eels! (unfortunately I have not come across a situation where this is appropriate but I can't wait for one cuz that would mean that 1. I would have a hovercraft and 2. eel sashimi)

 

 

I went walkies and came across this giganticnormous (sic) ...open space thing, called Naqsh-e Jahan Imam Square. It's actually rectangular 512m x 163m. The book says "this immense space is the second-largest square on earth". IT'S NOT SQUARE (But I know what you mean book). Apparently only Tiananmen Sq in China is bigger. They used to play polo here (Iran invented polo apparently).

 

... Anyway it's beautiful. There are mosques on 3 sides, you can see one in the picture below. That long wall stretches down and under each little arch is a shop selling handicrafts. It's like that on all four sides creating a magnificent enclosure where families sit and picnic in the middle near the pools and fountains. Around the outside there are horse-drawn carriages where you pay the owner to 1. sit in his carriage 2. whip the horse so it goes round in rectangles in the summer heat. It's cruel and mean and there are probably some group of people who would complain and sign petitions against it but it makes for a very picturesque scene. The photo below actually had a horse go across the frame, you can see a ghostly shadow of it to the left.

 

 

 

As I took this photo some guy with a surgical mask on (first sign that buzzed my weirdo-alert-alarm W.A.A.) said something something "CHINNE" which means "Chinese". So I responded and said "Na Chinne, manaz Australia hastam". And then he took that as an invitation to come up to my face and start mouthing off complete paragraphs of farsi and when I didn't respond he would just stare at me blankly. Why doesn't the phrasebook have PISS OFF FFS I"M TAKING A PHOTO. So here's the photo.

 

 

 

In Australia, these are pests. In India, they're native. In Iran, they're pets. That's a life lesson in so many ways but I don't want to get too philosophiccooliciiclaal.

 

 

This area is famous for miniatures ceramics/pottery/stuff. If you look from far, they look absolutely beautiful and detailed.

 

But when you look closely...the charm wears off. Am I an asshole? They want a lot of money for these things.

 

 

 

More pictures of Esfahan tomorrow as I do more exploring.

 

I forgot to mention previously, back in Shiraz, I saw people selling really expensive grass cuttings/mulch. If I knew it was worth so much I wouldn't have dumped all of mine in the public park across the road. You can even see gum leaves in the middle at the bottom. See the blue bag has the umbrella sign meaning don't water it otherwise grass will start growing again.

 

 

Ok laters.