Wednesday 7 May 2014

Cycling through Clouds of Central Asia: An Official Start, but not to the Mountains

فMay 7, 2014

Iranians are always late for their appointments--even when outside Iran. We were supposed to officially start our trip at 10 am from the Iranian embassy in Dushanbe, but the ambassador was late. We were taken in and had a couple of interviews with different news agencies. The atmosphere was very friendly. We made a lot jokes about traveling, food, and what not. The ambassador was a very friendly guy. In the interviews there was no talk of politics--nothing. 

We were seen off in a traditional way with some water being poured on the ground behind us when we set off. 

By the time we were done, it was 1 pm and very hot. We decided to hit the road at 5 am tomorrow instead of sweating ourselves to diarrhea. 

We then went to a restaurant and had so,e sort of soup, called Porch, same pronunciation as the Italian car.  

Below is a URL of the news of our departure: 
http://www5.irna.ir/html/1393/13930217/81155154.htm

Another one:

http://www.entekhab.ir/fa/mobile/160192




















9 comments:

  1. You are now two dudes on bike!

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  2. Hey buddy
    Hope all is going well, got a bit worried when not seeing an update for some time. We will be here for the news of the journey and will enjoy your stories of the Middle Earth
    Take care
    Hamid

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  3. Hey Mansour,
    Awesome pics! Love the idea of starting out from the Embassy. Safe travels.
    Best,
    Janet

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  4. Finally I am writing: best wishes, lick, delight and go easy on that left shoulder.
    Peace from Canadians too!

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  6. Good luck on your project. The gods are favorable and you enjoy the ride. I am the father of Raimon.

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  7. Hi Mansour,

    Finally, found my way to your blog.
    Love the picture where you're being interviewed.
    And the "porch" soup looks like "borscht" in the picture. Did it have beets and cabage in it?

    Ksenia

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  8. Here is checking in on you again Mansour. Got the photos you sent and showed them a bunch of people in the office. No one recognized you right away. Who would believe that you are that fine clean cut Professor that walks the halls of our fine educational institution.

    Stay safe and enjoy yourself. We do miss you.

    Jessie

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  9. What an amazing blog you have, Sir=) I want to say that I totally agree with Jessie's comment: it is indeed extremely interesting part of yours, which is usually well hidden under a suit and a tie (just like Superman's identity). I wish you all the best in your trips, and please, keep posting new stories.

    Vladimir.

    P.S.: the soup is called "borscht", but "t" there is not pronounceable =)

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