Day 106 to Bojnurd, Iran, 126km, 8,714 to date, 351m up,  1009m end. 

Again a relatively easy day, especially as I now (and finally) appear to be on the mend, thanks to a anti-parasite drug called Tinidazol. A mosque on leaving town:

Iran continues to impress me.  Today at lunch we had several police cars show up.  After some initial checking, they then became very friendly, wanting to know where we were from, how we like Iran etc.,  The head guy with considerable care met each of us.  They stated several times, “…we are here to support you, please call on us if we can help in any way..”.  Not the normal exchange with police in distant lands.

Something I noticed today:  In all the “Stans”, I saw both very small farms/ranching, i.e. one person managing a small land plot and/or a small (3 or 4 animal) herd, and then there were the large “factory” farms.  In Iran, I’m seeing essentially none of the one-person farmers, almost all are larger factory farms. 

One of the towns I rode through today is the centre for dried fruits, spices and nuts - delivered by the truck load.  I bought some cashews and pistachios here:

Day 105 to Quchan Camp, Iran, 52km, 8,588 to date, 763m up,  1248m end. 

A good day, the morning was cool which made for the climbs being relatively easy.  Now into the land of very good pavement.  A short day as yesterday was quite long, a 9:00 pm dinner in the dark.

The road signs are all bi-lingual:

Changed money today, the Iranian currency unit is the Riel, the official rate is 31,500 Riel to 1USD.  The Black Market rate is 35,000, so for my $100US bill I received 3,500,000 Riel - good thing they have 500,000 Riel notes.

We are camped in a city park which is also a travellers camp site and the local picnic spot.  The word seems to be out as we have had a steady stream of locals coming by just to talk to us.  The image painted in the West definitely doesn’t balance with what I am meeting!  Good thing there is no booze in Iran, they were able to party most of the night without the help of booze.  This was at the top of the hill by the camp:

Day 104:  Because the border we were going to use to enter Iran is closed we were trucked some 100m back east to another crossing then again trucked another 150km to the intended “mosque Camp” in Iran.  So no riding today, which was a good thing for me - I think the new drugs I am taking are (slowly) having the hoped for effect - I’m getting tired of the continuous “toilet humour”.

The morning of our leaving Turkmenistan, the “Leader for Life” (previously a Dentist), announced a new law - all new cars coming into the country must be white - I guess this is an environmental initiative (easier to air-condition).

Not any pics from around  Ashgabat as the police were everywhere and wouldn't let us take pictures of anything.  Every building in town is new, fancy and white, e.g.:

The exit out of Turkmenistan was slow and painful, full checks of all bags etc., checked passports probably at least 6 times - and this is to exit the country.  We took a 1950's vintage bus from the customs check to the immigration check whilst getting out of Turkmenistan:

And into Iran, country #9 of 10 for the ride!  Our first view of Iran:

I am very impressed with Iran.  At the border, we had to walk carrying our bags about 100m across the “no man’s land”. We were welcomed by the Iranian border guards by them providing us with cakes and cold drinks!, served on a silver platter!  Processing all the paperwork, especially for the vehicles was going to take some time, so were were ushered into an air-conditioned Board/instruction room where a couple of the senior officials sat and talked with us.  Then more cakes and cold drinks, then tea.  As we were leaving, with lots of picture taking, all the riders were given bright yellow reflective vests.  Has anyone else every had tea, cakes and cold drinks served to them as part of a border crossing!

Enjoying our cakes and cold juice:

Our "waiting room":

Our 1st camp in Iran was at a Mosque/park - a bit rough, but did include reasonable toilet facilities (which I really care about).  It was a bit of a vacation spot in that there were many Iranians also camping there.  Many adults and kids would very politely come over, ask where we were from etc., As I had been previous told, Iran has a culture of being very hospitable to travellers and they are simply very curious about you - where are you coming from, why are you traveling by bicycle, etc.,

Another countryside pic:

This rock face seems to be a bit of a climbing wall - with a twist.  If you look carefully you will see a bivouac tent high on the rack face.  I was told by one of the locals it contains the remains of a famous Iranian climber - he asked to be laid to rest at the top of a rock face - he has been