A whirlwind of landscapes, climate and people

You may want to put the kettle on and make a cup of tea for this one… you could be here awhile.

Shemshak to Chalus

Well it’s been another eventful few days with a vast distance covered in between. I headed off from Shemshak on Saturday 12th August and made my way north to Chalus on the Caspian Sea. The ride down the Alborz Mountains was nothing less than spectacular! I had to contend with some pretty wild terrain on the first section as I zigzagged down the mountain. The road was closed due to numerous rock and landfalls and the maintenance crew were chipping away slowly at restoring It in time for the ski season. At first I was hesitant because you don’t know whether you’ll end up getting blocked or not. Gravity sure helps going downhill, but it’s a different matter with 40+ kgs of luggage struggling back up when obstacles need to be ridden over.

After my successful descent, I joined the main road from Tehran to Chalus. Ali had warned me that it is crazy busy all the time and that it is just a stream of slow moving traffic winding it’s way up and down the mountains. For example, he said that without traffic it is 2-3 hours, but often on weekends it takes people 24 hours to get to Chalus! Apparently, people have to pull over on the side of the road and sleep, have meals, smoke shisha, basically have parties… I was like “What on earth??? Why would anyone go to Chalus at all!” Sure enough the traffic was exactly like that! Even on their “Monday” (Saturday) after the weekend. I still couldn’t believe it. And so with the joy of two wheels I was able to safely weave my way through and significantly reduce my travel time.

At one stage I stopped to take photos and the traffic coming the other way was so slow people could actually have a brief conversation with me out of their car windows. I found this to be hilarious. I’ve never witnessed anything like it. And there’s no escape. It is a winding road around the mountains overlooking the river below. There are many eating establishments on the side of the road along the way, so people stop and relax and I guess enjoy the journey for what it is!

Having only left at 4:30pm I was cruising into Chalus at about 8:30pm and for the first time I hadn’t booked a hotel ahead. I made my way 15 mins past Chalus to a very nice looking hotel. (Even that took longer than expected with some nonsense directions from locals.) By the time I worked out where I was going the gps had me on some dead end dirt road and I was eager to get back to the highway. Unfortunately, the hotel was booked. “NO I DON’T SPEAK ENGLISH! WE HAVE NO ROOM!” The caps are for a reason. I think it was anguish more than anger. So I managed to get on the phone and secure a very nice place back in Chalus and at 9:30pm I’d arrived at what was a most welcome and very lovely hotel. Being on the coast meant it was muggy and hot and as always I was sweating profusely in my offload jacket (usual routine). I slept like a king that night and realised there was nothing I wanted to see in Chalus (the impression on the ride in wasn’t that great) so I decided to punch on the next morning. I did stop to take a photo of the Caspian Sea, but I’m sure there must be a million better vantage points. Basically, there are buildings right up to the water so you end up with these tiny pockets where people can pull up and wade into the water and they are basically awful. So I’ll reserve judgement for now.

Chalus to Gorgan

A relatively straightforward ride was on the cards and I’d wisely booked ahead this time. Gorgan was quite a pretty city I thought. Lots of parks and some beautiful night lighting along the streets. My accommodation reminded me of my backpacking days. The room was pretty shabby with a sheet (yes only one) that probably never gets changed, a share squat toilet (I’ve never been to one that doesn’t stink) and no air conditioning. Almost forgot to mention the guesthouse added the charm of cockroaches as roommates. I was given a choice of rooms: swelter now or swelter in the morning when the sun rises. I decided on the latter. I did love the people though. One of the owner’s/manager’s who lived onsite could speak a little English and happily relayed his love of our old Aussie tv show “Skippy”. He even did the kangaroo sounds. A number of people now have mentioned Skippy to me and they all loved it. I’m presuming this was 30 years ago. Even Ali remembers it. This guy at the guesthouse also had all sorts of advice for my bike too, but I had to explain that I had it covered. I don’t think he realised technology had moved on in the last couple of decades.

Keen for some good food, I did my usual trick of typing “cafe” into google Maps and the nearest decent looking one was 4kms away even though I seemed to be in the centre of town. Before grabbing a taxi, I took a stroll and found the most beautiful park with many locals enjoying everything it had to offer. A couple of old gentlemen (who spoke no word of English) invited me to their park bench and there began a most convivial chat whereby I managed to explain my nationality, my means of travel (with photos) and my love of Iran. I bade farewell after a group selfie and literally 30 metres away I got yet another park bench invitation! I couldn’t believe it. These people are just so lovely. Again, not much communication, but genuine and mutual well wishes.

Gorgan to Golestan National Park (Totli Tamak village)

I woke the next day in a sweaty lather. Didn’t realise I was getting a sauna as part of the package deal. Bargain. Headed off for the Turkmen Ecolodge. I was quite excited about this place. Had read about it and saw their website and was planning two days at this traditional style guesthouse in a Turkmen Village called Totli Tamak right on the edge of the Golestan National Park. (North East Iran about 100kms from the Turkmenistan border.) Run by an Iranian (Kamran) who had spent most of his adult life in the US and his lovely wife Farouk from Tehran, the Ecolodge was and is the very first and only one of its kind in Iran. Kamran had started a number of programs including the guesthouse and trekking for tourists, nature school for local village kids and other programs aimed at sustainability. Kamran and Farouk were able to relay so many incredible stories of the bureaucracy in setting up their businesses (took years to, in the end, get a six month licence!), the crazy, frustrating and heart warming dealings with the villagers and the impact on the local village kids and their confidence and ability to better present themselves and engage with others outside the village. Already Kamran employs 30 odd staff across the different programs (not necessarily full time depending on seasonality) and it certainly gives new skills and income to communities in one of the poorer rural regions of Iran.

From the moment I arrived, a sense of tranquility swept over me. And so I began my visit with a massive afternoon nap. The rooms in the earthen lodging are modest and bare. Sleeping is on a thin mattress on the rug covered floor and meals are on the patio seated or sprawled on a rug. None of this seems out of place though. On the contrary the whole experience feels “right”. By the time I woke, the bike parked outside the Ecolodge had gotten a lot of attention from the locals. The local boys were itching to ask me questions about it so I strolled outside with Kamran so he could interpret. At first, shyness struck them, but once that first question rolled in, a hundred others soon followed… along with the obligatory photo opps. How many ccs? How fast does it go? How many gears? What gears can you do wheelies in? How many litres is the fuel tank? How far can you go? How much does it cost? Where are you riding? Where are you from? Where is the bike from? The kids were great. They didn’t want their motorbikes in the photo because they thought they looked bad next to mine, but I insisted and said I loved them and that I wished I had a motorbike when I was a kid. One of the men commented that he was given a 250cc bike to patrol the national park. He thought he was the king on that big bike until he saw mine! We laughed and I said, well most people can’t outride a 250cc including me so I’m sure you still are the king!

The next day involved exquisite meals, a 2 hour walk around the edge of Golestan (I couldn’t do the full scale trek as permits need to be obtained 2-3 weeks in advance for proper trekking and don’t even ask Kamran about the paperwork involved after a trek – it’s like a police report for a series of felonies) and of course another solid and restful nap.

Side note: It’s not until you get somewhere where you can truly relax does the body really unwind. It’s then that you realise just how much constant stress you are under. You never notice it at the time, but afterwards, could be days, could be weeks, you just really want to sleep. I think with riding, traffic, language barriers, engine heat management, navigation, where to stay, what to do, how much does this cost, how is my budget and so forth, it kind of just builds up. It’s never too much at all, but it’s there. So if the time comes for a break – then I’ll gladly take it!

I learned so much during my short stay with Kamran and Farouk. Whilst I was there, there was great excitement in the village because town gas supply was coming. No more gas cylinders. And so each household was building a small brick column to house the meter and connecting up pipes to their houses in readiness for the install and official connection. In the short time I was there, Kamran had more hilarious stories about debates with the locals about where the meters should go: where they were supposed to or where some of the villagers thought they should go. Kamran managed to convince them, where they were supposed to go made the most sense.

Like the world over, the drain of young people from villages to cities is a big threat for the small communities (the village has 120 residents). What’s more, is that in spite of the perceived opportunities that exist in the cities, many young people get taken advantage of because they lack the “street smarts”. Part of Kamran’s personal mission is to help those that do take the big step to be prepared and be able to represent themselves successfully wherever they are. I think he has already made significant inroads in this respect.

The next morning (Wednesday) I would head off back West. I had planned to continue this post, but as you know by now, I’m not good at brevity. Until then, adieu.