I noticed that there isn't too much info about Iran in this forum so I thought I could contribute with my experiences even though my trip took place in September 2012.
Prepare for a pretty long post.
Background.
After been reading so much bad and negative stuff about Iran in Western media. I decided to go and look myself how Iran and Persian people really are. I've always been interested about getting under the skin in different cultures so I figured Iran was a interesting place to check out. I had no idea what would be waiting for me
Visas.
Very easy for me. I just printed out the visa application and filled it in and gave it to a friend in Helsinki who took it to the Iranian embassy. Four days later it was ready for a cost of 45€.
Getting in.
Depends where you are coming from. The easy way is flying in from Moscow or Istanbul. But maybe the most popular way for travellers is to take a bus from somewhere in Turkey. Buses departs daily all the way from Istanbul to Tabriz in Western Iran. It takes about 25 hours and costs about 50-60€.
However, MY way to enter was a little bit more unique since I took a bus from Erbil in Iraq.
It was a lot of hassle and nobody spoke English and I didn't even know if I was on the right bus before we came to the border. The border itself was in the middle of the desert containing of just a few steel barracks and high steel fences. The immigration process was chaotic but quite straight forward. I had to wait almost three hours at the border before the Iranian border guards had checked every inch of the bus. There were so many vehicles coming and going so I needed to stay focused all the time so I didn't miss my bus.
Well, after a lot of waiting I finally got my Iranian stamp and I had entered Iran.
Woo-fucking hoo.
And yes, they didn't even check my bags which annoyed me a lot. I threw away 2 litres of strong booze on the Iraqi side in fear of Iranian border guards would find it.
Damn.
Well, after the border the trip continued to some village not far away.There they had me to get out of the bus with my bags and I didn't know what the fuck was going on, after some body language sessions they explained that a taxi will take me to the city called Umria. The taxi driver gave me one of the scariest rides in my life.
The driving culture in Iran is by far the worst I've seen in any countries. Such things as overtaking when driving uphill is standard.
Anyway. At the bus station in Umria I had some problems to change money into Iranian rials and even more problems to find a bus to Tabriz.
After all the hassle I got on the bus to Tabriz. I got a lot of attention there, Iranian girls where giggling and everybody was giving me smiles and high fives.
At midnight I finally arrived to Tabriz where my CS host where waiting for me.
I'm not usually a big fan of CS but in countries like Iran it's very convenient to begin your trip with.
Money. No ATM's are working for international bankcards due to the economic sanctions. You need to bring cash and remember to ONLY exchange your money with black market guys. If you go to a bank you will get 50% less for your dollars or euros. However these black market guys never tried to rip me off. Instead they almost competed with each other to buy my euros since the rial was very unstable at the moment.
Costs.
In September 2012 the rial was collapsing. Everything was ridiculously cheap.
Black market exchangers were fighting to but my euros.
Example
Hotel for 15€
Tasty meal for 1€
Pack of smokes 0,50€
Transportation so cheap so it doesn't even count.
But, I admit I'm no expert in this category since people were offering me places to stay and offered me food everywhere. I think I hardly spent 200€ during my month in Iran.
Transportation.
I only used buses and taxis. VIP buses in Iran is of high quality, the country that can maybe compete in comfort is Turkey. The buses are very cheap and comfortable, it's almost like flying business class. They have a waitress who's serving you cold drinks and snacks. I recall I payed 3-5€ for a 8-10 hour bustrip.
In cities shared black taxis are the way to go, for those who are familiar how people do in Russia it's almost the same thing in Iran. You just go to the side of the street and raise your hand and somebody will pull over. These shared taxis are very cheap but it's difficult to use them if you don't speak Farsi or have a Iranian friend with you. Normal taxis are also available. They are also cheap and drivers never tried to rip me off. Communication is the only problem.
People.
Hands down the most friendliest and most hospital people I've ever met in the 53 countries I've been in. The myth and stereotype about fanatic Muslims couldn't be more far from the truth. In fact I didn't meet really anyone who was religious.
They are just regular johns like in any other country.
Iranian people loves Americans and Europeans, they regard themselves also as a Western country and not as an Middle Eastern. They just have fucked up a Islamic regime controlling their country. Iranians really dislike Arabs. And they are looking down on Afghan's and Pakistanis. I didn't hear anyone saying anything bad about Israel or Jews, but many people are very afraid that Israel will attack them.
The English level is sparingly good since people are highly educated, especially girls. I was stopped all the time by random people who wanted to speak English and they are really good. Especially the youth. They are clever people and they are well aware about what's happening in the world even if the government is trying their best to keep them isolated.
Another memorable thing is that Couchsurfing is very popular in Iran, and it's strange that the website is not even blocked because hosting foreigners is illegal.
First I was intending to use CS but later I discovered it's not even necessary. You just have to shop in a city with your bag and people will come to you and invite you to be their guest or for dinner. This will definitely happen. Girls will also invite you, which was an surprise to me.
Girls.
Persian women has a reputation to be very pretty. It's indeed true but I think that's exaggerated. Plastic surgeries are cheap and therefore also very common. Especially nose surgeries are popular since the face is the only visible part of their body so that's why all focus is put on the face.
Iranian girls are also one of the biggest consumers of cosmetics in the world. For my taste they are using it way too much.
Their attitude is quite exotic and flirty, as a tall white guy I was approached all the time. They are very interested of speaking with foreigners and apparently also to tease them.
A few times when I was sitting in park and chatting with some girl the police officers with green uniforms showed up. These are the guys who are watching the women that they dress right and etc.
They usually call the girl over and ask who you are, and what's your relationship, if you have touched each other and if her parents are aware of this meeting and so on.
Another time a girl invited me to her place and I was caught by surprise and asked her if she's living alone.
- No, I'm living with my father.
- But will he think it's OK if I'm coming over to your place?
- Yeah, no problem. He'll be glad to meet you.
And true it was, the father met me and he treated me very respectfully.
However, then we went inside her room, which was right next to the living room.
Immediately she threw away her scarf, her shirt, until she was dressed in a very tight tank top and ultra short jeans shorts. Her boobs was almost exp loading out of that top and I got a rock hard boner. However. Nothing happened, this was just one big Iranian teasing show from the beginning to the end. She knew I was horny and she knew we couldn't do anything with her father next to us and she played me accordingly, I tried to get in her pants with every move but her resistance was too strong. We smoked some opium and then I went out with a pair of aching blue balls.
I didn't get my Iranian flag, but I got the Japanese flag as a surprise bonus.
Alcohol
Everything is illegal, consuming, selling,bars etc. But there are some ways to find booze for thirsty men,
You need to go to a bazaar or a shop and find where the Jewish businessmen are. They usually sits on some moonshine that they happily sell to foreigners.
It's also possible to ask some youngsters and they maybe can get you some homemade wine, but that usually taste like shit but it will get you drunk.
If you're lucky you can also find some contraband whisky that's smuggled in from Dubai, but that's expensive as hell.
The alcohol laws are strict to say the least.
One of my friends in Tehran had a bottle of Johnny Walker in his bag when the police stopped him. They took him to jail, had him sit for 5 days and on the last day they called over his mother and all his sisters to watch him being whipped by two officers.
Drugs.
This surprise me a lot. Since alcohol use is banned many people use other drugs.
People smoke opium like chimneys. A lot of people are addicted to opium in Iran.
My first host in Iran was quite a memorable experience.
First of all it was a girl. We met in the street and we went to her flat. She took off her scarf and we sat down in the sofa and chitchatted and then she asked.
- Do you smoke?
- You mean cigarettes?
- Well yeah, but do you smoke something else?
- Weed?
- hmf. Have you ever tried opium?
- No.
- Wanna try?
- Yeah, why not?
Then some of her friends came over and we sat down in the kitchen and smoking opium and drinking tea for about 5-6 House and we had a good time.
Before finishing the night she asked: So do you think we are terrorists?
Great first day in Iran.
However, weed and opium is widely available.
90 % of the times I got invited to a house we smoked opium.
Good I didn't spend more than four weeks in Iran because I think was getting addicted of opium.
Food.
Iranian cuisine is tasty. If you're a vegetarian or a vegan you'll get no sympathy in Iran. A lot of kebabs and tasty rice and meat dishes are widely available.
Chicken,beef and camel mostly.
Iranians are crazy about sweets, and it almost fucked my stomach up. They offer sweet cakes, donuts and a stuff to you all the time.
An ice cream or milkshake will cost you maybe 0,30€ from a street vendor.
Nightlife.
There are no clubs or bars in Iran. So the nightlife is limited to two options.
Sitting at cafes and smoking shisha and drinking tea which is a giant sausage fest because there are only guys out. The second option is to get some friends and be invited to a private party in some flat. There everything can happen because people can't let loose outside. Only in cars or in their homes.
Notable things.
- Parks are super clean without any dogshit. Dogs are illegal in Iran.
- Women hang out in groups in public, in other Islamic countries you hardly see any women in the streets.
- Parabol antennas are illegal, if you're looking on rooftops you can see all kinds of creative ways of hiding parabols.
- Women are more educated than men.
- Men need to serve 24 months in the army before to be able to apply for a passport.
- Many people are not even Muslims.
- Turkish is as widely spoken as Farsi but Farsi is the only official language.
- You can't see any American, European or Japanese or Korean products because of the economic sanctions. If you still see something, it's contraband from Dubai.
- 99% of the cars are old Peugeot's.
- Guys are not allowed to wear shorts in public.
Conclusion.
All in all I had a great time in Iran. I didn't get laid but chasing pussy wasn't the main reason for me going to Iran. I learned a lot of stuff and met some cool people which I'm having contact with still today. It definitely enriched my travels and my life.
Places I visited. I try to keep it short, ask me if you want more detailed or specific information about these places.
Tabriz. In the Northeast Iran, pretty nice city but nothing really special. People who live in Tabriz are famous for their whiter skin and they are regarded as the most beautiful people in Iran.
Tehran.
A gigantic monster hellhole of concrete. What I remember most of Tehran is there is almost nothing green there, only concrete and asphalt. The traffic is the most dangerous and relentless I've ever seen. I can assure you it's worse than India and Pakistan. The drivers don't respect green light or pedestrians and they drive fast as fuck. Crossing a roads in Tehran is like playing Russian roulette.
Iran has 25000 death victims from traffic every year.
Isfahan.
This is a cool city with a lot of very oldschool buildings and stuff to check out. If you're into old buildings this city's gigantic mosques will blow you away.
Shiraz.
This is perhaps the coolest one in Iran. Nice and pretty city with a lot of parks and oldschool buildings. Has maybe the most things to see. From this place I also took a daytrip to the famous Persepolis, massive but stillI found it disappointing.
Yazd.
This was in the middle of the desert, hot as hell. Here CS'd for free at a nice hotel.
But boring place, the mosques really started to make me tired. But I enjoyed a lot of camel steak here. Delicious.
Kerman.
I can't recommend coming to Kerman, I went here to check out the Dah e Lut desert. One of the hottest places on earth. The city itself is just plain boring. A lot of old buildings and monuments but at this point I couldn't care less.
Zahedan.
Last stop before crossing the border to Pakistan.
Here is actually foreigners not allowed on the street because somebody claim it's too dangerous. However I bumped into some locals who drove me around and showed the city and took me to some shisha places where we could chill out in peace.
Any further questions, feel free to ask.
![[Image: attachment.jpg16406]](https://rooshvforum.network/attachments/attachment.jpg16406)
Outside the former American Embassy in Tehran
Prepare for a pretty long post.
Background.
After been reading so much bad and negative stuff about Iran in Western media. I decided to go and look myself how Iran and Persian people really are. I've always been interested about getting under the skin in different cultures so I figured Iran was a interesting place to check out. I had no idea what would be waiting for me
Visas.
Very easy for me. I just printed out the visa application and filled it in and gave it to a friend in Helsinki who took it to the Iranian embassy. Four days later it was ready for a cost of 45€.
Getting in.
Depends where you are coming from. The easy way is flying in from Moscow or Istanbul. But maybe the most popular way for travellers is to take a bus from somewhere in Turkey. Buses departs daily all the way from Istanbul to Tabriz in Western Iran. It takes about 25 hours and costs about 50-60€.
However, MY way to enter was a little bit more unique since I took a bus from Erbil in Iraq.
It was a lot of hassle and nobody spoke English and I didn't even know if I was on the right bus before we came to the border. The border itself was in the middle of the desert containing of just a few steel barracks and high steel fences. The immigration process was chaotic but quite straight forward. I had to wait almost three hours at the border before the Iranian border guards had checked every inch of the bus. There were so many vehicles coming and going so I needed to stay focused all the time so I didn't miss my bus.
Well, after a lot of waiting I finally got my Iranian stamp and I had entered Iran.
Woo-fucking hoo.
And yes, they didn't even check my bags which annoyed me a lot. I threw away 2 litres of strong booze on the Iraqi side in fear of Iranian border guards would find it.
Damn.
Well, after the border the trip continued to some village not far away.There they had me to get out of the bus with my bags and I didn't know what the fuck was going on, after some body language sessions they explained that a taxi will take me to the city called Umria. The taxi driver gave me one of the scariest rides in my life.
The driving culture in Iran is by far the worst I've seen in any countries. Such things as overtaking when driving uphill is standard.
Anyway. At the bus station in Umria I had some problems to change money into Iranian rials and even more problems to find a bus to Tabriz.
After all the hassle I got on the bus to Tabriz. I got a lot of attention there, Iranian girls where giggling and everybody was giving me smiles and high fives.
At midnight I finally arrived to Tabriz where my CS host where waiting for me.
I'm not usually a big fan of CS but in countries like Iran it's very convenient to begin your trip with.
Money. No ATM's are working for international bankcards due to the economic sanctions. You need to bring cash and remember to ONLY exchange your money with black market guys. If you go to a bank you will get 50% less for your dollars or euros. However these black market guys never tried to rip me off. Instead they almost competed with each other to buy my euros since the rial was very unstable at the moment.
Costs.
In September 2012 the rial was collapsing. Everything was ridiculously cheap.
Black market exchangers were fighting to but my euros.
Example
Hotel for 15€
Tasty meal for 1€
Pack of smokes 0,50€
Transportation so cheap so it doesn't even count.
But, I admit I'm no expert in this category since people were offering me places to stay and offered me food everywhere. I think I hardly spent 200€ during my month in Iran.
Transportation.
I only used buses and taxis. VIP buses in Iran is of high quality, the country that can maybe compete in comfort is Turkey. The buses are very cheap and comfortable, it's almost like flying business class. They have a waitress who's serving you cold drinks and snacks. I recall I payed 3-5€ for a 8-10 hour bustrip.
In cities shared black taxis are the way to go, for those who are familiar how people do in Russia it's almost the same thing in Iran. You just go to the side of the street and raise your hand and somebody will pull over. These shared taxis are very cheap but it's difficult to use them if you don't speak Farsi or have a Iranian friend with you. Normal taxis are also available. They are also cheap and drivers never tried to rip me off. Communication is the only problem.
People.
Hands down the most friendliest and most hospital people I've ever met in the 53 countries I've been in. The myth and stereotype about fanatic Muslims couldn't be more far from the truth. In fact I didn't meet really anyone who was religious.
They are just regular johns like in any other country.
Iranian people loves Americans and Europeans, they regard themselves also as a Western country and not as an Middle Eastern. They just have fucked up a Islamic regime controlling their country. Iranians really dislike Arabs. And they are looking down on Afghan's and Pakistanis. I didn't hear anyone saying anything bad about Israel or Jews, but many people are very afraid that Israel will attack them.
The English level is sparingly good since people are highly educated, especially girls. I was stopped all the time by random people who wanted to speak English and they are really good. Especially the youth. They are clever people and they are well aware about what's happening in the world even if the government is trying their best to keep them isolated.
Another memorable thing is that Couchsurfing is very popular in Iran, and it's strange that the website is not even blocked because hosting foreigners is illegal.
First I was intending to use CS but later I discovered it's not even necessary. You just have to shop in a city with your bag and people will come to you and invite you to be their guest or for dinner. This will definitely happen. Girls will also invite you, which was an surprise to me.
Girls.
Persian women has a reputation to be very pretty. It's indeed true but I think that's exaggerated. Plastic surgeries are cheap and therefore also very common. Especially nose surgeries are popular since the face is the only visible part of their body so that's why all focus is put on the face.
Iranian girls are also one of the biggest consumers of cosmetics in the world. For my taste they are using it way too much.
Their attitude is quite exotic and flirty, as a tall white guy I was approached all the time. They are very interested of speaking with foreigners and apparently also to tease them.
A few times when I was sitting in park and chatting with some girl the police officers with green uniforms showed up. These are the guys who are watching the women that they dress right and etc.
They usually call the girl over and ask who you are, and what's your relationship, if you have touched each other and if her parents are aware of this meeting and so on.
Another time a girl invited me to her place and I was caught by surprise and asked her if she's living alone.
- No, I'm living with my father.
- But will he think it's OK if I'm coming over to your place?
- Yeah, no problem. He'll be glad to meet you.
And true it was, the father met me and he treated me very respectfully.
However, then we went inside her room, which was right next to the living room.
Immediately she threw away her scarf, her shirt, until she was dressed in a very tight tank top and ultra short jeans shorts. Her boobs was almost exp loading out of that top and I got a rock hard boner. However. Nothing happened, this was just one big Iranian teasing show from the beginning to the end. She knew I was horny and she knew we couldn't do anything with her father next to us and she played me accordingly, I tried to get in her pants with every move but her resistance was too strong. We smoked some opium and then I went out with a pair of aching blue balls.
I didn't get my Iranian flag, but I got the Japanese flag as a surprise bonus.
Alcohol
Everything is illegal, consuming, selling,bars etc. But there are some ways to find booze for thirsty men,
You need to go to a bazaar or a shop and find where the Jewish businessmen are. They usually sits on some moonshine that they happily sell to foreigners.
It's also possible to ask some youngsters and they maybe can get you some homemade wine, but that usually taste like shit but it will get you drunk.
If you're lucky you can also find some contraband whisky that's smuggled in from Dubai, but that's expensive as hell.
The alcohol laws are strict to say the least.
One of my friends in Tehran had a bottle of Johnny Walker in his bag when the police stopped him. They took him to jail, had him sit for 5 days and on the last day they called over his mother and all his sisters to watch him being whipped by two officers.
Drugs.
This surprise me a lot. Since alcohol use is banned many people use other drugs.
People smoke opium like chimneys. A lot of people are addicted to opium in Iran.
My first host in Iran was quite a memorable experience.
First of all it was a girl. We met in the street and we went to her flat. She took off her scarf and we sat down in the sofa and chitchatted and then she asked.
- Do you smoke?
- You mean cigarettes?
- Well yeah, but do you smoke something else?
- Weed?
- hmf. Have you ever tried opium?
- No.
- Wanna try?
- Yeah, why not?
Then some of her friends came over and we sat down in the kitchen and smoking opium and drinking tea for about 5-6 House and we had a good time.
Before finishing the night she asked: So do you think we are terrorists?
Great first day in Iran.
However, weed and opium is widely available.
90 % of the times I got invited to a house we smoked opium.
Good I didn't spend more than four weeks in Iran because I think was getting addicted of opium.
Food.
Iranian cuisine is tasty. If you're a vegetarian or a vegan you'll get no sympathy in Iran. A lot of kebabs and tasty rice and meat dishes are widely available.
Chicken,beef and camel mostly.
Iranians are crazy about sweets, and it almost fucked my stomach up. They offer sweet cakes, donuts and a stuff to you all the time.
An ice cream or milkshake will cost you maybe 0,30€ from a street vendor.
Nightlife.
There are no clubs or bars in Iran. So the nightlife is limited to two options.
Sitting at cafes and smoking shisha and drinking tea which is a giant sausage fest because there are only guys out. The second option is to get some friends and be invited to a private party in some flat. There everything can happen because people can't let loose outside. Only in cars or in their homes.
Notable things.
- Parks are super clean without any dogshit. Dogs are illegal in Iran.
- Women hang out in groups in public, in other Islamic countries you hardly see any women in the streets.
- Parabol antennas are illegal, if you're looking on rooftops you can see all kinds of creative ways of hiding parabols.
- Women are more educated than men.
- Men need to serve 24 months in the army before to be able to apply for a passport.
- Many people are not even Muslims.
- Turkish is as widely spoken as Farsi but Farsi is the only official language.
- You can't see any American, European or Japanese or Korean products because of the economic sanctions. If you still see something, it's contraband from Dubai.
- 99% of the cars are old Peugeot's.
- Guys are not allowed to wear shorts in public.
Conclusion.
All in all I had a great time in Iran. I didn't get laid but chasing pussy wasn't the main reason for me going to Iran. I learned a lot of stuff and met some cool people which I'm having contact with still today. It definitely enriched my travels and my life.
Places I visited. I try to keep it short, ask me if you want more detailed or specific information about these places.
Tabriz. In the Northeast Iran, pretty nice city but nothing really special. People who live in Tabriz are famous for their whiter skin and they are regarded as the most beautiful people in Iran.
Tehran.
A gigantic monster hellhole of concrete. What I remember most of Tehran is there is almost nothing green there, only concrete and asphalt. The traffic is the most dangerous and relentless I've ever seen. I can assure you it's worse than India and Pakistan. The drivers don't respect green light or pedestrians and they drive fast as fuck. Crossing a roads in Tehran is like playing Russian roulette.
Iran has 25000 death victims from traffic every year.
Isfahan.
This is a cool city with a lot of very oldschool buildings and stuff to check out. If you're into old buildings this city's gigantic mosques will blow you away.
Shiraz.
This is perhaps the coolest one in Iran. Nice and pretty city with a lot of parks and oldschool buildings. Has maybe the most things to see. From this place I also took a daytrip to the famous Persepolis, massive but stillI found it disappointing.
Yazd.
This was in the middle of the desert, hot as hell. Here CS'd for free at a nice hotel.
But boring place, the mosques really started to make me tired. But I enjoyed a lot of camel steak here. Delicious.
Kerman.
I can't recommend coming to Kerman, I went here to check out the Dah e Lut desert. One of the hottest places on earth. The city itself is just plain boring. A lot of old buildings and monuments but at this point I couldn't care less.
Zahedan.
Last stop before crossing the border to Pakistan.
Here is actually foreigners not allowed on the street because somebody claim it's too dangerous. However I bumped into some locals who drove me around and showed the city and took me to some shisha places where we could chill out in peace.
Any further questions, feel free to ask.
Outside the former American Embassy in Tehran