Day 38 Shiraz

8:55 am. Went with Simon to drop the truck off at the welders - they are going to weld the new seats in place. Waiting for Nescafe - without sugar (this seemingly simple request is generally ignored) - in street cafe in downtown Shiraz. (Nescafe instant coffee (which I normally regard as disgusting) is seen by the Iranians as the height of luxury - I guess because it's Western.) We have been told to be back at the hostel for some sort of conflab with Hot Rock leadership. 10:20 am - we had the meeting - trouble getting Indian visas for T and others - fortunately I ignored Hot Rock's advice and got mine back in London before setting off on the trip. (We were told there was no need to get Indian visas - we could pick them up en route. But in my experience from other fields it's best to do whatever you can as soon as you can - things always go wrong - some sort of entropy thing.) The main problem is that T doesn't even have her passport - it's with Henry up in Tehran - he's meant to be getting the visa sorted out up there. Presumably T cannot leave Iran until she's got her passport back! We also discussed the transit through Pakistan to Islamabad, from the Iranian border. Have lost my mobile - simply cannot find the thing - had it this morning - suspect stolen. 4:15 pm just had lunch - chicken kebab and rice. Have bought another mobile, about $35, plus SIM card and top-up etc. A basic model (complete with Farsi lettering) - but seems to work. Really annoying - buying mobile phones is one of the most tedius things one can get involved in - in any country, let alone Iran!

7:20 pm. Sat on the truck - for a prompt 6 pm departure(!) Have Silk Road map and Dostoyevsky to read - we are planning to drive through the night to Bam - and I probably won't get much sleep in the back of the truck.

11:59 pm - we have just bought 400 litres of diesel - for a grand total of $7 - that's about 1 pence per litre. Not sure how the Iranian economy functions.