Iran Trip - Kuala lumpur to Tehran 28th - 30th April 2014

28th April 2014
We were at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 8.am. Had breakfast at Secret Recipe and then waited excitedly for the trip to Tehran with a connecting flight via Muscat, Oman.

the Flight tickets from Oman Airlines only costs us RM2,500 per person. The other airlines wanted to charge close to RM4000; probably because our enquiry was too last minute. Omar air came with inflight entertainment and i managed to watch 2 movies. The food they served were nice thought I only ate abit. Don't want to risk having a stomachache. There is something about being airborne that makes me want to fart non-stop.

Taking the connecting flight in Muscat, Oman. Didn't have time to explore the airport because our flight from Kuala Lumpur to Muscat was delayed 30 minutes; hence we had to rush for our next flight to Tehran. The airport is clean and modern. I dare say i have a bad case of stereotyping the Arabs. My bad....

I would have thought Oman is a strict Muslim country? no?

Finally, after a flight that seemed to stretch to 12 hours, we reached Tehran International Airport. Gawdddd..i hate long journeys....

Tehran is a clean, modern city, but the traffic is horrendous except on Fridays; their weekend off day. Try crossing their roads, the "Power of the Hand" does not work here. Each time we crossed their roads, i would be screaming my head off. At one point, i almost got knocked down but luckily he managed to brake...and then i gave him "The Eye"...My son said the guy feigned fear when i did that. I actually saw our taxi driver speeding when he saw a family trying to cross the road. It is like "see-who-is-faster"; a competition between drivers of vehicles vs pedestrians. In one day in Tehran, we saw 3 incidents : an accident between two cars, and accident between a car and a motorbike. The motorcyclist actually punched the car-driver several times through the window. But the mother of it all was when we saw two young policemen who caught two guys in the middle of a major road junction. ...right in the middle of the city! He took out his gun and wanted to shoot the "bad" guy; then he must have noticed hundreds of eyes watching him and quickly put away his gun. Then he handcuffed the bad guy and tried to put the guy across his motorbike as if the guy was a donkey! Unfortunately we couldn't watch any longer as the traffic lights turned green. Wow!! Iran really left me with an impression. 

One of the retail shops I saw on the way to our hotel.

Look! snowy mountain in the background! The weather was cool. We came here at the right time because it is still spring.

Our very comfortable 2-bedrooms apt-hotel; Venus Hotel, at RM420 per night.

Checking-in

Welcoming hotel..

Listening intensely to our main tour guide and friend, Mr Taheri

Celebrating my birthday with Penang Famous Curry Noodles....came all the way from Penang, Malaysia.

2-bedroom apt-hotel with kitchen, pots, cups,plates, 2 flat-screen tvs that only shows 2 English channels. we watched "friendzoned" practically every day while there.

Right after we messed up the apt-hotel with our clothes

The mater-bedroom is on the left while the 2 single-bed is on the right

Master-bedroom

the scenery taken from the kitchen window

Take note of the snowy mountain! Love it!

Breakfast included.

29th April 2014

Visiting the Saadabad Palace

The Saadabad Palace (Persian: کاخ سعدآباد‎) is a palace built by the Pahlavi dynasty of Iran in the Shemiran area of Tehran and currently official residence of the President of Iran.

The complex was first inhabited by Qajar monarchs and royal family in the 19th century. After an expansion of the compounds, Reza Shah lived there in the 1920s. And his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi moved there in the 1970s.

After the Iranian Revolution, the complex became a museum. However, the current presidential palace is located adjacent to the Sa'dabad compound.

Blowing the....hmm..weeds...

school children visiting the Palace

Cute schoolchildren visiting the palace

The original trees were cut down and replaced with new trees in the workers' enthusiasm to welcome Queen Elizabeth.

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Green Palace in which both Reza Khan and Mohammad Reza Shah lived in for a while. It is beautiful. You need to wear some sort of stocking which they will give so that their carpet would not be spoiled. Lotsa tiny mirrors laid on the wall. Mirrors depict a reflection of purity. Unfortunately we are forbidden from taking pictures.

Paintings by some famous guy.can't remember his name.

Lunch somewhere near Toshal Mountains. we had to turn back because the mountains for skiing was closed on that day. The cable cars were under repairs. Nice ambience. Cool place. Unfortunately cannot remember its name. 

 We went to the Tehran Bazaar but couldn't make up our minds on what to buy so we visited the Imam Khomeini Mosque. Our friend kept telling me that it would be cheaper to buy in Esfahan. Ok...as you said...

We prayed at the quaint mosque. It seems to be under repair. From outside it looked unkempt but inside it is beautiful. The female guard gave me the earthen stone mohr which the shiahs use when they prostrate.Initially i declined the stone but decided to use it. However, the stone kept sliding away from my forehead. Well, i was never good at pretenses. I asked if i could take one back but i guess the guard denied me. Actually i have no idea what she said.

Note the small earthern square on the carpet; it is called a mohr.

beautifully designed tiles.

we took our ablutions at the pool on the right.

30th April 2014

We visited Mount Tochal. Not many people there as it is not a public holiday nor weekends. Spoke to a group of germans. One thing about Iranians, they are a friendly lot; kept asking if we were from China or Japan. Had to introduced ourself as Malaysians, the country that an aeroplane disappeared into thin air.

the cable car

the hotel

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not good idea to just wear sandals on snow..

running up the rocks to escape from the cold snow

inside the warm cosy hotel lobby. hardly anyone around.

scenery of Tehran taken from above

the cable car station

had pizza and burger lunch with our guide and friend. Lunch costs us RM77 for 6 people.

ice-cream time. OK, we saw one of the cone fell and then the vendor put it back. Whoever is the unlucky person who bought that cone, i hope he/she won't fall sick eating that cone.

The guide didn't seem well, so after he left us at the Hotel, we sneaked out at almost dusk to see the Azadi Tower. Beautiful garden and the structure is awesome. reminded me of the malay ghost folklore of Hantu Galah. (A very tall ghost and you would only see his long legs)