Finally the desert, in Fahraj, Iran
Feb 17 2015, 9.30 am
We are sitting on the cold roadside along the Silk Road Hotel, waiting for Masoud of the Fahreddinn that offered to take us to Fahraj. The german girls are staying another day, we will meet them again in Shiraz. We are right in the middle of our trip.
10.50 am. At the end we asked the hotel to call Masoud, and he sent us a driver. We could have gone to Fahraj by bus, but it seemed offensive not to take the lift. He did offer it.
The roads out of town have 2 or 3 lanes on each direction, even though there’s not much traffic, and between the two directions there are about 50 meters, so it’s difficult to see accidents here (they do have the habit to spend a long time on the opposite lane when they overtake); they can do it, there’s a lot of space, there’s the desert around.
Between a town and the other, the desert. Only near the towns, where water arrives through the qonat (a water system that apparently is quite expensive, so they’re trying to substitute it), there are trees and some cultivation. Everything else is sand, rocks and some bush.
1.20 pm Haven’t seen Mr. Masoud yet. I’m starting to think we will never see him. His factotum has arrived, he’s making some tea. We are relaxing and waiting that for the heat to go down a bit.
Bahadur told us that a few months ago a “Luca” passed by: he’s touring the world on a vespa. You can follow him on ilgirodelmondoa80allora.com. That sounds so cool! I would also love to do something similar. Italy-Turkey on a motorbike would be enough for me.
7.23 pm. Bahadur is making dinner. He truly does everything here. He took us to the desert for a safari, we had tea and homemade grappa on the dunes, and smoked from a water pipe.
Bahadur told us that some of his friends would like to move abroad; but he talks to foreigners quite often, and knows that life abroad is not as shiny as you might think, he’s got a girlfriend and so he’s ok, he goes to the desert with his grappa so he can drink alcool when he likes; he’s happy with his life.
Before going to the desert we walked around Fahraj; the mosque was built 1400 years ago, it’s one of the oldest in Iran, and it’s made of sun-cooked bricks. The old part of Fahraj is made of sand and clay, like Yazd.
The local restaurant at 7.15 pm was closed, so Bahadur cooked some spaghetti for us.
Over-cooked spaghetti with very oily sauce made of mushrooms, meat and tomato. And baked in the oven. A bit heavy for a dinner, but not bad.
