Day 36 en route to Shiraz

Late getting going as usual: it's 7 am - we were all told to be ready at 7 am sharp - but it's clear we're not going anywhere soon - so sat on the bus - looking towards the crags. It's a 450 km drive to our next destination: Shiraz. I need some coffee - we've not had breakfast yet. Hopefully Simon - who is driving - will find a good place to stop for breakfast / services. Overall a bit fed up with Hot Rock: I do not agree that paying customers should have to get involved with so much 'fire fighting' on the truck maintenance front: the truck is in an appaling state (especially mechanically) because it has not been maintained, there seems to be no out of service maintenance - also why oh why decide to do all this fixing the truck up at an awesome climbing location? Basically the truck is not at all roadworthy and needs a lot of sorting out. Hot Rock lacks organisation and foresight - I mean why not take a few days out at a more appropriate location e.g. a commercial vehicle garage or something? Also, I do not like having the responsibility of doing the bins: Hot Rock is doing a lot of environmental dumping - I checked with the local police as to where to put the trash: they said to just leave it behind by the roadside - but just because the locals are okay with leaving bags of trash about the place doesn't mean we should do it. Very uncomfortable about this; I think we should take the trash out with us to a major city etc. I think my real dissapointment is that the Hot Rock concept is a brilliant idea and could really work, but - like any enterprise - needs the right people in charge; for example it is advertised as a climbing trip - yet there is not enough climbing. It needs a leader who is passionate about climbing...

1:45 pm - eventually we got going - several hours later we are at Naqsh-e Rustam, a smallish archaeological site about 12 km northwest of Persepolis. Very hot indeed. According to the signage, we have (amongst other things) four tombs belonging to Achaemenid kings are carved out of the rock face, dating from something like 500 BC. The relief pictured here shows the investiture relief of Ardashir I; apparently the carved inscription (I am not clear where exactly this inscription is though) bears the oldest known use of the word 'Iran' etymology of 'Iran' .

Day 35 Near Esfahan

Beginning to not like this trip...good parts are the climbing; meeting local people in different places (e.g. yesterday, Simon, T and I wandered across a few hundred yards to some sort of ambulance station - by the main road. The place was a sort of single story semi-temporary building - we just tapped on the window to see if there was anyone in. (T had been across earlier in the day I think - but their shift had changed and so the current people there had no idea who we were or anything - very welcoming though) - we spent thirty minutes talking in very broken English). Weather is very good obviously, and above all I love the climbing. But then there are the bad things: in particular the Hot Rock organisation, or lack of it! Lack of food - it's not realistic to survive on a dollar a day - and I pay Hot Rock about $40 a day to be here! Lots of petty annoyances too - no bin bags for rubbish; as in most groups, some people do all the work...blah blah blah.

Did a fantastic climb - up the centre of the crag: 5 pitches, the final pitch laybacking up an overhanging arete (moving left); then steep / overhanging climbing all the way to the top. Lots of bolts on the overhanging bits (old aid?). Given 5.10b. Called Kongereh Route. Climbed with Tia. This really is a fantastic crag - but I suspect not that special in terms of the rock available in Iran. Chatted to local Iranian climbers on into the evening - got one guy to write the route names down in my diary:

Day 34 Near Esfahan

Cook duty: have to prepare breakfast for fifteen; revoluted eggs and bread. Lots of truck activity (fixing things up etc) - but I don't want to get involved. I've made a curry for this evening: it can cook slowly on the remains of the fire during the day - a sneaky plan to allow me to get some climbing in. All I need do is cook some rice this evening. Certain people will whinge if they get supper late - but I am here to climb first and foremost. At 1 pm Lianna will allow Simon and I to climb - until then we are on truck security - a bit daft since there are six or seven others just messing about all day on the truck anyhow. So few people have people skills, despite being people? She also had the audacity to complain that the supper was a 'bit late last night' - well, perhaps she could cook every now and then!

It's certainly an impressive cliff - a bit under 200 metres high - takes three abseils to get off (down the centre of the face). What's really nice is that there are a number of really obvious lines. The routes are typically four pitches. Camping about 200 metres from the cliff - in a desert - rocky type place. Have my eye on the route to the right. Not too hot here - it's dry with a reasonable breeze from time to time. [Yesterday's route is the left hand route shown above.] Climbed the route on the right hand side of the crag. It's called Hamedanian, graded at 5.10b/c. The top pitch was fantastic - straight up a fairly steep wall, even overhanging in parts - fingery but good holds. Four pitches in total, I'd say 5a 5b 5b 5c+. Good chimney on pitch two.

Day 33 Esfahan

3:15 pm and on the bus awaiting departure for some local climbing crag - unfortunately I have to do the supper tonight - this is typical of Hot Rock: there's precious little climbing on the trip as it is, but despite there being a number of non-climbers, I and Simon have been tasked with tonight's supper (and tomorrow's too) - when we are at a climbing venue. Really annoying. Anyway went to some local supermarket and bought some bits to cook up: the shop had a truly odd selection of food and non-food - rows and rows of giant cans of cucumbers for example. One problem is that all the prices are labelled in Farsi; they look like this:

Given I have a crazy small budget (1 dollar per day per person for one supper and one breakfast), I needed to try and not spend too much. A difficult task when I couldn't read any of the prices. After about an hour I had 3 kg of cheese in my trolley and nothing else. Fortunately, things improved and I bought enough stuff for macaroni cheese and tuna (for tonight) and some sort of black-eyed bean curry for the next night. Two big trays of eggs and some bread will do the breakfasts. I reasoned that the tuna was on offer - there was a big pile of tuna tins.

11:45 pm - in my tent, camped out below the climbing crag: it's only about 25 km from Esfahan; apparently the crag is known locally as Police Station Wall - probably due to its vicinity to the police station. Like much of the Iranian rock it is simply massive - in particular stretches a long way to the left and right of where we're camped. Did a great climb of great quality - the left hand corner, it's given 5.9+ and is bolted. Simon led all three pitches - a bit polished (limestone) on the first pitch, then fine. Felt much better to be climbing again. The route is called Sepehr 1 - see Day 35 for the Iranian spelling of the route names.

Day 32 Esfahan

Esfahan, about 340 km south of Tehran. Sight seeing with Simon: after messing about trying to find a post office (for me), we wandered down to the older part of the city from where we are staying, finding ourselves in Naghsh-e Jahan Square - reputedly one of the biggest squares in the world; just off the square are Shah mosque (pictured) and Sheikh Lotfollah mosque, both huge and both intricately tiled. The large scale use of blue decorative ceramics is memorable. We pretty much had these places to ourselves. The dome structures have (not surprisingly) interesting acoustics: you can stand right under the dome - I got about three echos per second - I guess that makes sense - the dome of the Shah mosque is an amazing 50 or so metres above the floor, and sound propagates at about 300 metres per second. Spent several hours getting lost (and having lunch: sort of haggis in flat bread with lots of fresh basil leaves) in the Grand Bazaar - by far the biggest bazaar I have visited - very convoluted and very easy to get lost in: one part looking very much like another. We seemed to keep arriving back at Jamé mosque [this is one of Iran's oldest mosques]. Eventually made it back to the square - wherein I did find a post office.

After going back to the hostel to meet up with the others a group of us went back to the old part of the city for supper. A subgroup (T, Simon and I) then went off to look at the city at night - a lot of it looks even more beautiful at night - the illumination being a lot less harsh than the high-up Iranian sun. Of particular note are the numerous illuminated bridges across the Zayandeh Rud river, particular the Khaju bridge which has two sets of arches, one above the other - we crossed over this, taking the upper tier [dates from 17th century]. We spent quite a bit of time chatting to locals - young Iranians students mostly: we seem to be instantly recognisable as English (actually English, Irish and Scottish). Students told me that dancing was not allowed (unless married) - dancing on the lower tier of the Khaju bridge was discrete - but stops if police arrive. Also amazing to see large numbers of people all sat along the embankments, both sides of the river, enjoying themselves: picnics. Young and old - way past midnight too.

Day 31 Tehran

Stuck by the road in Tehran - we are waiting for Henry to get his Pakistan visa. Cannot help feeling that this whole trip is pretty badly organised, and getting worse by the day. Anyway it means we get a second day in Tehran; Simon and I saw an interesting thing today: the former US embassy: clearly now not an embassy, rather a potent focal point for the enmity between Iran and the US. I pulled myself up onto the wall and peeped through a hole in the security fencing: grounds and gardens well maintained...but I am not sure what the building is used for now, but I suspect that the former US embassy building is now used by Iran's government. Apparently, taking pictures of the embassy, including the outside walls is illegal. The former embassy covers a surprisingly large amount of land.

About midnight: we eventually left Tehran around the middle of the afternoon (got lost - after a good hour we were driving back past the point we set off from!); a long drive through much arid, desert landscape. Staying at a hostel in the city of Esfahan (استان اصفهان), the old Persian capital. Rice and chicken for supper. Tomorrow is set aside for site seeing; then (hopefully) climbing the next day, for a couple of days.

Day 30 Tehran

7 am Polur Federation Camp. Plan for today: Tehran by bus: I need to get some dollars converted to Iranian currency and buy a new mobile phone, so I can get in touch with the outside world. My nose is incredibly sunburnt - looks like I've been punched in the face! Anyway, at last I've had a good night's sleep: a proper bed (bunk - I always opt for the top one where available - the risk of falling out in the night is far outweighed by the risk of being fallen on(!)). View out of the window here: Damavand - shrouded top in clouds; other 'hills'; nearer by, small heaps of dry earth (like on a building site); some dogs (wild(ish)? and black); old oil drums; a pile of bricks; plants typical of dry places (with spiky thorns / leaves). Birds singing. By the way, lost my Guadalajara base ball cap yesterday - got a ride down the last few miles of road in the back of a pickup truck - incredibly bumpy, so anyway need a new cap from Tehran.


9:40 am - somewhere on the outskirts of Tehran - sat in the back of a taxi - Simon is trying to change some dollars into Rials - so (amongst other things) we can pay the taxi fare. Seems inordinately difficult to change dollars into Rials - don't really understand why the driver won't take the dollars anyhow. In the end we had to try three different banks. And this is Tehran. 9:35 am and Simon and the taxi driver are still in the latest bank - surely this is a good sign? At least this bank is actually open. Lots of signs for Bic pens, writing with cheap pens must be big in Iran. Still on the outskirts of the city: there is a noticeable smog thing going on down the road: a sort of yellow and grey cloud: guess this is where Tehran proper is located. Spent much time traipsing about the city proper (bus in to downtown Tehran from taxi drop off point). Used taxis, walking and metro to get around; lots of street vendors. Bought a mobile. Eventually found the Azadi tower (or برج آزادی) - difficult to get to because of the traffic: in particular trying to get across six lanes of traffic is a nightmare - to get to Azadi Square, where the tower is located. Looks a bit unfinished - but apparently it was inaugurated way back in 1971. Bus back to Polur - a real convoluted effort - culminating in the driver overshooting Polur by several km and Simon and I having to hitch back along the road, arriving back at the Federation Camp pretty late.