Chai in my cup. The taste: hot water again. I saw some yasmin green tea in the bazar, which I might buy.
I walked 8 hours straight through this huge city. The traffic is the 2nd- worst I've seen. 1=Bangkok 3=Rome. When I want to cross, I just start walking and hope for the best; brakes screeching....so I'm still good.
Visited the National Museum of Iran, with a marvellous collection of ceramics, pottery, exhibits from Persepolis, I saw bone tools from the 8th millennium B.C., and lots of further archelogical finds.
On to the Golestan Palace, which was build by the Quajar ruler Nasser al-Din Shah. Beautiful gardens with fountains and flocks of green parraqueets(?). Several small musea are housed here, which we saw all. We visited the livingquarters of Nasser al- Din and it was out of a fairytale from 1000- and one nights: walls and ceilings covered with mirror-mosaiques and large
beautiful ornated mirrors, huge christall chandeliers. All sparkling and glittering. On the outside of all of those buildings were mosaics with flowers, animals and so on. Some young people were restoring a wall where a lot had been damaged by time. They repainted the missing parts with watercolors after they had filled the missing parts with gypsum. I chatted a while with a girl;
she was still learning to be a restaurator. Very friendly.
Back to the bazar where I found the Oriental rug- sellers; concentrated in
about 10 streets: stacks and stacks of beautful rugs. No, I didn't buy one ( as yet). On this bazar it's not just, some shops with candy or some with toys; but always a whole quarter of the same merchandise. Not just 2 packets of something, but hundreds. It seems that the merchants from the bazar are a big economical force in Iran, as a lot of merchandise passes its gate. They
have great power, in the past and these days. I bought dried dates, abricots, plums and peanuts for the journey.
Iran has a lot of young people who are highly educated, but no job. 70 % of the population is 25 years old or less. That's the tragedy of the Middle-east these days. Women go to University as well; they're covered up and wear veils, so they can.
And the very young try to scratch a living as well. I saw a tiny boy being ordered to crawl in these huge garbagecans, in order to search for plastic bottles.
It's a male society. Men troup together and are affectionate with each other; I find that touching to see. They kiss each other when they meet.
The women are more distant, in public. But when I sit next to them, we
always have a chat and lots of friendly smiles.
Tomorrow I'll go to the north; 12 hours in the bus. I don't think internet will be easy there, but we'll see.
