Persepolis

Early afternoon, I leave to walk over to another site with some ancient tombs. Three kids on a motorbike drive up next to me and start talking in Farsi. Somehow, I end up on their motorbike, and the kid in front drives like a maniac towards Marvdasht (~12km). Twice we negotiate roundabouts in the wrong direction and I realize that this 20 minute ride probably is much more dangerous than the 4 days I spent in Iraq. Once in Marvdasht, the trio gives me a tour of the city from the motorbike, of which I understand about nothing since it's all in Farsi. Then we drive to a residential area where their friends are hanging out outside a house. They're overexcited to see a westerner. They surround me, touching, dragging, poking. One of them puts a strawberry qalyan (water pipe) in my mouth and another invites me to his house for lunch. Eventually we get back on the motorbike and they take me to the minibus station. I try to pay for the ride, but they only allow me to pay for filling up the gas tank, which amounts to 9000 rials (90 US cents). Great experience!

Back in Shiraz I buy a ticket for a 15 hour nightbus to Tehran and do some sightseeing, but most things are closed since it's Friday (Islam day of prayer). A girl comes up to me on the street and invites me over to her house.. I can't recall ever receiving such an invitation back home (except for the prostitutes in downtown Oslo). I talk to Shirin again and she says she'll show me around town on Sunday. Oh! And she loves skiing and says she could take Monday off work and take me skiing north of Tehran. I love this country!

Me and Persepolis.

Persepolis.

Persepolis.

The kids who take me on the motorbike.

Minibus in Marvdasht.

Shiraz citadel.

Creating a billboard in Shiraz.