VP, VP VI; Khuzestan Land of Date and Tulips II

Almost at the end of my stay here which passed way too fast, there is a wedding comin up about a two weeks after my departure, Iranian weddings are something to be experianced. Anyhow I have a 4 day excursion to the Northwest which would be the Azeri dominated part of Iran. Of course in the recent history of Iran Azerbaiejan is a place that has produced many figures that were important and in every event of last 100 years the people of this region have been in the forfront. In the Counstitutional Revolution, there were the Satar Khan, Baqer Khan and Yafrem Khan Armani (an Armenian from this region), Sheikh Mohammad Khibani was another man who rose up in the streets of Tabriz at the same time as Kochik Khan (Who fought under the command of Yafrem Khan during the Counstitutional War) in Gilan and Colonel Pesian in Khorasan against the the forceful hand of Qajars.
In the 1979 revolution, the demonstrations in Tabriz was one of the first events of involving actions by the masses. Recently Azeris have made some noise but the outcome of the riots that have been ignored in the Iranian media was not a progress but a shutdown of reformist paper.
In short in one of the leading papers called IRAN there was a cartoon which depictaed a Cockroach saying he doesn't know in Azeri to a boy speaking farsi. (The jokes over here gives the same steritype to Azeris as the European jokes give to the Polish) Also it is important to note that the Cartoonist (who is in jail now for insulting an ethnic group, I don't know if he is still in there) is an Azari himself. So there were news of some riots and the Supreme Leader that such acts of insensivities cannot be tolorated and them the judiciary moved in and closed the news paper and the whole thing went away by the World Cup.


Also its very important to note that Samad Behrangi the leftist teacher was from this region. His revolutionary stories such as "Little Black Fish" and "24 hours in sleep and awarness" (word by word translation, I don't know the English name despite reading it in English 2 years ago, some help is needed)
Until a new post, enjoy the following pics:





This is the door of the Jame Mosque of Khoramshar, which was used by the popular resistance as the ammo depot and command center.





The small border watch tower. Before the American atack on Iraq, the Iran-Iraq border was not touched by either side. In fear of another attack the Iranian government did not investe to remove the minefields. and Saddam was too busy invading Kuwait at first and then under seige for equippment (I do doubt he would remove them if he had the equippment though, see the Iranian Reason) The mine fields in the south are marked but not in the north they are not and hence mines claim many lifes in the kurdish area (the Kurds see crossing the border for smuggling goods as both both profitable and political but in the southern sections the economy is structured around Oil)





This is where Karron (the only river in Iran that is navigatable ny large ships) meets river Arvand or Shat-ol-Arab (river of the Arabs), The date palm are Iraq, this section would be controled by the British, 20 years after the end of Iran Iraq war one only has to look at the pictures above and imagine what the people of Iraq are gong through under the boots of the freedom spreading high school dropout of American Army. Saddam wanted to liberate Khuzestan's Arabs from the rule of the "Persians" (according to saddam there were three things that god shouldn't have created the Persians the Jews and the Fly) eventhough thArabs of Khoramshahr and Abadan fought his Army street by street, he countinued the war for 8 years. Now the Americans want to liberate the middle east even if they are being shout at to leave.

VP, VP V; Khuzestan Land of Date and Tulips

After a 10 hour ride in the bus I made it to Khuzestan against the advise of my parents and family members who served here during the war, the word of mouth (in absence of free press there are alot of mouths at work, some obviously rubbish, some definetly true but most of them somewhere in between exageration of events and sinical anti-systemic outbursts) has it that this land is lawless, the Arab minority is out to get the Fars majority, so they chase them out, and you can weapons at cheap prices for example an AK for $20 (According to Kerry the price in U.S. is $50).

None the less most of the thngs I heard turnned out to be false, and I came to see thing that I only heard once or twice. For Example, the Iranians who used to live in Iraq (because of the Shia Shrine and were forced out by Saddam after the America's first Perisan Gulf War, perhaps the most friendly people. The area seems to be liberal (Of course by Iranian Standards) place even compare to Shiraz, quite comparable to the north except that the people are not crooks like the people in Sari.





Khoramshar is my primary desdination, everyone knows what happend in Khoramshahr, it was the focal point of the surprise attack of the Iraqi Army. The local population resisted the Soviet equipped Iraqi Army with Molotof Cocktails and hunting rifles but they were pushed back to the Bridge over Karron (the picture above is taken from Khoramshahr side of Karoon looking to the Iseland of Abadan)








The Iraqi Graffiti: these two words are taken from Saddam Husseins declaration of war and it meaning it "Came to Stay"





The road from Ahvaz (provencial Capital) to Khoramshahr was the seen of the to major operation the first one Securing of the Beit-ol-moghadas (holy house refrence to Temple of Rocks) and teh second one was recapturing of Khoramshahr (Fathol-mobin)
TEh Operation Fathol-Mobin (exact meaning: undeniable victory) pushed back the Iraqi Army from the city.





18 years after the end of the war the scares of it are testiments to the heavy price that these people have made before and how they are neglected now.

VP, VP IV; Southern Comfort II and a reality check

After the demonstration affair we headed over to Vakil Baths and Bazzar in search of breakfast, The French had to nurture their stomach. In the Bazzar me and the Norwegian dude each purchased a Chafieh he got the Hammas brand and I got the red one which as I understand is used by the people of Jordan and the communist Palestinian groups. At this point the French stopped being the main attraction, a turn of events which they welcomed greatly (since the World Cup Final, 95% people uttered the word Zidane upon finding out that they are french followed by the speculations. In the caspian sea area it was not as annoying but after 4 weeks of hearing the name I was seeing Zidane in my freakin sleep, so imagine the French. After a little walk we headed to the resting place of Sa'adi.





Farsi language at one point enjoyed an abundance of poets, philosophers and scientist and I would not think any person would disagree that Sa'adi is in the top Ten. (Others being 1) Ferdowsi -who orchestrated rebirth of Farsi- 2)Hafez -My favorite, also from Shiraz -see below, 3)Mollana Jallaledin Balkhi -Also known as Rumi, whom is claimed by both Turkish and the Iranians eventhough he expelicity denied having such identities, 4) Omar Khaiam (whose poetry would appeal to atheists and materialist 5) Roodaki 6) Vahshi Bafghi 7) Parvin Etesami 8) Shahriar (Azari poet who has done poetry both in Turkish and Farsi 9) Nima 10) Sohrab. Obviously this list the best 11 in my opinion who has not read all their works but sporadic and unevenly.
As for sa'adi, he has 2 major works and in one of he concentraits on his travels around that time's Cultural world (India and the Islamic empire)





Unlike Sa'adi he did not leave shiraz at all, his poetry is quite illuminating and leaves its impression on the heart. My personnal favorate his influence on Goethe resulted in latter's creation of "East-




This is the visitor section of the complex which was thehome of Qavam one of the notables of Shiraz, who comes from a family that recieved their title from the Qajar kings. The buliding is owned by University of Shiraz.
He is father in law of Shams (one of the powerful sisters of last king) who is one the top ten Corrupt and incompetant figures of last 150 years of history (there are soo many who deserve to be in this personal list which explains the historical desent of the country) My top ten list actually a 150 person list and is to be Blogged later.
Nonetheless the house is very nice, very nice mirror works and the painting on the ceiling have recieved the attention that the country lacked.
Narenj is a sour orange. As I know it, after the Shiraz wine, is the second most welknown thng about Shiraz in Iran, some help from the Shirazi people would be greatly appretiated :).




This is the central balcony of the visitor section very nice and detailed work on the ceiling.





On the way from Narenjestan, we stopped to get a cold drink, The 13 year old kid was a very polite and friendly one. Behind me in the picture there were 4 kids playing and this one was just watching his stnd and opening the bottle for the passers by. I asked him if he is from Shiraz he said He was born here, I went on and inquired more. Basically he and his brother (the guy with the stand behind the younger kid) are sons of Afghan refugees. Their parent have lived in Iran for 30 years (since the Soviet invasion) the older kid is 27 and born in the Kurdish region (Kermanshah) he has been in Shiraz and this stand has been his job for the last 20 years. The Afghan refugees in Iran are denied access to public education (needless to say 99% cannot afford private either) they are the low wage labourers in construction and subject to be targeted for bribes and mistreatment of Authorities and the population. They cannot buy a house, go to public hospitals. these brothers are born in Iran, raised in Iran and ignored in Iran.
The older man told me with a bitterness; they say that they are brothers to the Moslems, but if I was Christian, a jew or an Armenian I would received better treatment I wish I was. This makes me apeculate that if Iranian Central Authority would weakened upon a stress, the such marginalized people would be direct target of Wahhabis and like of them. some of you may say, one form of Ultra-Islamism is not different than the other but I strongly disagree.
To a person whose brought up in the west, and their views are shaped by a certain anti-Iranianness, Iran may seem at the end of line of radicalism, perhaps only some scholars on Iran and some of the Iranians themselves know the actual pragmatic and two-faced-ness of Iranian system ( they mayshout death to America, and Mr. Rafsanjani may say "America is a paper-tiger" but they are quite willing to buy weapons from them (a truth about U.S. as well) they may accuse England of this and that (Which is to the most part true I should say) but they are quite willing to divid the profit of one of the major Goal mines with them 30 to Iran and 70 to UK.

Various Places, Various pics! III Southern Comfort

The third trip was southward first to Isfahan, where the french had gone the day before, then from there to Yazd and then to Shiraz where we would part ways one going westward to the huzestan, the province which bore the brunt of the Iran-Iraq war and the other two going back to Tehran to fly to India.


I skip the Isfahan trip for now and won't post more pictures from Yazd now (I have major technical difficulties with my MP3 player) and go strait to pictures from Shiraz, where the history is rich, the weather is agreeable (compare to both Tehran and Yazd) and the girls are pretty.





The Citidal of Karim Khan Zand in the dawn of Shiraz. The founder of Zand Dynesty, he has a very good reputation regardless of the political color of the person speaking of him. The only person I know that emitated hate toward him was Agha Mohhamad Khan the founder of Qajar dynesty who has a universal reputation of being a sychopathic and ruthless ruler. This place served as a his place of governance and residance.





The Nagsh-e-Rostam. This place is the burial site of four of the Achaemenians kings. Like most religions in Zoroasterian religion the dead body is dirty and since they have soil of the earth as one of the holy elements they actually leave the body on the surface and the body is basically recycled. and like most places Kings are treated differently even in their death so the body is placed in the half circular man made cave and the door of the tomb is covered by the a heavy stone.
From right to left, Tombs of Xerxes (Khashayarsha), Darius I (the great) father of Xerxes, Ardeshir deraz dast (Artaxerxes the far reacher (I) amd Darius II. The sasanid dynesty has made several ingravings comemorating events of their period just below the tombs of the Achaemenians kings. The Sassanids claim decendance form the Achaemenians and in this place they made their tribute to them in this fashion.
There is a memorial from Ilami perios (who ruled in a territory of today's south west Iran before the Persians) but a very insignificant Sassanid king has defaced the old memorial by making a new one exactly in the center of it.





Shapour the Great the second king of the Sassanid period holds Valerian's hand and Phillip the Arab kneel before him. This monument marks the dedeat of the Romans and their tributary state which was located around the northern edge of the Arabian Desert. Shapour was still in the mothers womb when his father died, his mother was his regent until he became mature (no age is known for his maturity)




Top section of a Takhte- Jamshid (Perspolis) Column. If you are wondering I did not climbed it, the middle section is gone so they are actually a little more than a man's height.





A reality Check, this small demonstration in Shiraz is a government sponsored (P.S. term=Encouraged) event. one of the French just walked into the crowd to take better pictures (WTF) and a bank clerk started talking to him. The man told him don't think all Shirazis are like this is just to show our objection to the Israeli actions. It doesn't make sense he was there to hear a guy who looked too much like AhmadiNezhad (lie Bush, he is getting better in his speaches as the time passe) but he is trying to say that majority of Shirazis are not here (which was true, the Demonstration was maybe two or three times the size of theones in San Diego on a Weekend) Anyhow we rushed to see Vakil Bazzar, Vail Bath and get some Breakfast.

Various Places, Various pics! II Northern Exposure

On their way to India, Olivier and Romain became my companions for the south caspian coast trip, (and later for Isfahan, Yazd2 and Shiraz) Very nice guys, we experianced a rocky start because of the locals in Farah Abad but as we went westward the trip became better. (To be explained later)





Sun set over Caspian Sea at Fereydon Kenar(We wanted o go to Khezershahr, but it is a private, all exclusive, all Khafan place so we went one city over)




The walk in the Forest of Sisangan after enjoying the warm waters of Caspain Sea (In Farsi the lake is actually named after the Khezers probably the Huns or Russians) we wanted to get some experiance of the nature of MAzandaran province but for 20 minutes we heard the road and after 20 minutes then we came to another road and after passing that and the fence that was to keep people and wild animals seperate we walked for another 30 minutes and finally came out under power line which made us give up on getting away from Humans and go back to the main road.




The road to Masoleh, the green forest make the mind wonder about the Fall.





We got to the little village that people that is relatively well known around the world. This has changed the village its a bit bigger, the walls are newer. at the at the local cafe we were surrounded by maily Russians, and flanked by a German couple and behind us was a very snobby English boy from Brighton. In the allies (its actually more correct to say in the stairs) we passed too many Koreans and Japanese. The crowding of the village has changed its looks, as Olivier put it everywhere they make the same mistake, people come to see something but then the point of interest is changed so much that people stop coming.

Various places, various pics!

I got back from Khuzestan border today at noon. I'm very lazy and don't want to write any thing at the moment so I post some of the pics and at the end of the week I will make more written posts. These are not the best photos that I took but they give a general idea of what I'vebeen doing. Enjoy.




An Alley, Yazd





walls of the old city at sunset, Yazd





Amir Chaghmagh Tekieh, Yazd





Oghab Koah (Eagle Mount)

Long time ... no post;

Hello people, I've been busy so there hasn't been a post in while, I just got back from a a trip along the southern Caspian Coast which was an experiance that got better as it went along (unlike my trip in Germany) A memorable in a unsavory kind of way beginning gradually became a rather pleasant beach experiance and a nice walk in the dense forst and the finally was in beatiful Masoleh where the hills are carpeted with green and the clouds spill over the tall mountais like foams of over heated milk.
I'm off to the south again a two night stop in Esfahan a one nighter in Yazd to finnish see things that were not seen and the off to Shiraz for pleasantness of the people (i'm not just saying it because my brother in law is from their) and then for a serious reality chack along the Iraqi borther from Khuzestan to Kurdestan and then back to Tehran.
Let me know what you want to see, and wish me and my two french travelmates a good one(Denis, they are cooler than you are ;)
I do a most of my writting about the north after I come back, still haven't finnished with the first Yazd post its gonna be a book, still in the first day and its two pages. Didn't have this luck when I had to write papers in Uni, always the minimum.
If you are wondering what I've would be doing if I were not in Iran at the moment I would tell you that
I would be in the
SDSU POLITICAL SCIENCE FACULTY TO DISCUSS ISRAEL, LEBANON, PALESTINE
CONFLICT
Teach-In Thursday, July 20 Is Free and Open to Public
Two Poli Sci profs and a ISCOR (I Score) Prof. go there by plain boat or on foot, you be a better person when you come out of it.
laters
Amir