Mianeh, Nik Pay, Zanjan, Emidabad – in Iranian villages

Arpi — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 06:00:14 +0000

After Mianeh we rolled down into the bottom of the valley, then crossed two tunnels.
We saw an old stone bridge over the river bed with a collapsed middle.
There were unplastered clay houses with flat roofs by the road.
We arrived at a large open area, the other side of which was bordered by multicoloured stripy hills.
The different coloured rocks formed horizontal strata on the hills.
We stopped for lunch at one of the many roadside rest places.
On top of this we started a slight, but more than 100km long, uphill stretch.

After lunch we turned SE, which put us straight into the wind. On top of this we started a slight, but more than 100km long, uphill stretch. We are struggling with the wind and the uphill.
After the rest we put our shoulders into it for a last time, then at a place called Nik Pay turned down into the village.
Mehmet’s living room was a longish, appr. 30 square meters large room, covered in its entirety with carpets.
There was a gas lamp on the wall.
We ate dinner in the middle of the living room, they put down a cloth, and put a large dish of rice with sultanas and roast meat on it.
Lacking a mutual language, we said our thanks for our food with a „Merci”. They smiled, put their hands on their hearts and nodded. This probably meant „With pleasure, you’re welcome”.
We travelled on towards Zanjan, we decided to turn into the town and have a look.
We stopped at a roundabout in the centre of Zanjan.
We had a kebab in a little shop.
After lunch we got an invite by Mustafa for tea.
The girls of the family have also turned up.
The trucks have travelled in convoy.
We spent hours cycling uphill at 12-15km/hour, into the wind, surrounded by traffic.
We stopped at a roadside rest place.
We ate a kebab with rice.

The heat melted the asphalt under our bycicle tyres.
We saw a „shepherd” herding his cattle on a motorbike.

To the right behind us the Sun disappeared.
Almost at the same moment the Moon rose in front of us on the left.
Zita and Akram’s mother.
Girls and women.

Honeymoon Around the World » Zanjan

Mianeh, Nik Pay, Zanjan, Emidabad – in Iranian villages