The Great Satan

I'm a bit tired after having spent the last three days on night buses, so it feels good to be back in Tehran and with Ali. After a shower, shave and some haleem (Persian wheat breakfast -- great!) I'm ready to hit the town again. Ali's working so I'm on my own. As usual, I get a lot of attention on the street. Two Iranians give me their phone numbers; one offers to take me to his house in northern Iran where we can go water skiing and the other wants to take me on a city tour on his motorcycle.

The Nest of Spies (former US embassy) is the highlight of the day, covered in murals testifying to the evil of the Great Satan (USA) and how it will be defeated. Photography is strictly prohibited here, so I have to hide behind some trees on the opposite side of the street, which explains the bad quality of the photos.

In the evening I reunite with Ali and his friend Arash and we go to a really cool qalyan place, then we have dinner and cruise the city in Arash's car listening to underground Persian pop at maximum volume :) Underground means music influenced by the Great Satan, and/or about illegal topics (which is kind of hard to avoid here).

I also spend some time online trying to figure out what to do with the last week of my vacation. Since I've been freezing every single day of my vacation so far, I'm thinking some place warm, tropical, where I can just relax on the beach with a good book. The choice is obvious: Haiti. I leave on Dec 28.

Mountains north of Tehran.

Iranian version of the statue of liberty.

How to defy the Great Satan...

Ali and me smoking mint qalyan.

The qalyan place.

Tehran, Iran