Travel with me to Iran#2 Tehran 我的伊朗之行之德黑兰

Before we went Iran, Andy already has been to Iran twice, the first time is on 2008, just finished at the iran-iraq war soon. He took train from Istanbul to Tehran. But in that time he knew nothing about Iran, whole world has a prejudice against the Middle East, in our mind, the middle east is all about islamic and war.

In the long train journey from Turkey to Iran totally subverted Andy's impression of iranians, on the train iranians are so generous, enthusiastic, they all shared their food, after nightfall, all the people were seething on the train, they were dancing and drinking whole the night, women didn't wear headscarves, they also indulge theirself as the men.

（Tehran is a artistic city, we went Iranian director rememberer of Abbas Kiarostami's exhibition.
There are a lof of good Iranian movies, such as 《taste of cherry》《where is my friend's home》《And lifes goes on》
Majid Majide' movies 《the color of paradise》《children of heaven》
And Abbas' student works 《 a separate 》
You can talk about those films with Iranians, those Iranian film all their proud.
伊朗是一座很具艺术性的城市，我们去参观了已故伊朗导演阿巴斯的展览，一直很爱伊朗电影，何处是我朋友的家，小鞋子，樱桃的滋味，一次别离，天堂的颜色，如果遇到伊朗朋友聊他们的电影是一个很好的话题切入点。）

But after entered the territory of Iran, the women putted their headscarves on, and they stopped laughing, dancing, and drinking. Andy made a few friends on the train, Farid is one of them, he is a professional traveler, he was cycling to many countries. After that time meeting, he invited andi to go to his home. And he also went to Switzerland to visit us. We also met in this Iran trip.

When we arrived in Tehran was already midnight. We shared a taxi with a European couples. The hostel we went that Andy already lived there in ten years ago, its the most famous backpackers hostel in Tehran, although is already worn out, but there are just two backpackers' hostel in Tehran, one is we have been called "Mashhad hostel" , another one is "seven hostel".

In the morning looked out from Mashhad hostel.

Because there is almost no any competition in hostels market, hostels are not really cheap and bad quality, i advice you guys sleep by couchsurfing, because most Iranian people who live in cities, generally they have a very cosy home.

(In a cafe where is near to Tehran university, there were a lesbian couple, they are so beautiful. I think Persian girls have really good looking.)

When Andy saw that still so small and inconspicuous facade of the hostel, he felt ten years has passed and no any change in this hostel, and indoor decoration is the same, after ten years, except the wall is older, comments book is thicker message board, full of backpackers's experience. Beside that, nothing was changed, hostel facilities are very old and blankets are not really clean.

We met a lot of experience traveler in that hostel. A chinese girl who went Afghanistan, she found a local police being with her all the time and protected her, she said the day she left, the only youth hostel in capital city of Afghanistan was attacked by terrorist, many employees and foreigner guest passed by.
We also met a middle age French woman who has been to many countries in Africa and many Asia countries such as three times india and two time Pakistan, Nepal and China.
Iran is a perfect place for backpacking, you will meet many interesting people, Iranian and travelers.

There are many bookstores around Tehran university.

在从土耳其到伊朗漫长的火车之旅中直接颠覆了他对伊朗人的印象，火车上的伊朗人举止大方，热情洋溢，他们乐于分享食物，入夜后，火车上一片沸腾，他们彻夜纵歌跳舞喝酒，女性没有戴头巾，她们与男人们一起放纵自己的天性。但一旦进入伊朗境内，女人们又戴上了头巾，男人们收起了酒杯。安迪在火车上结交了几个挚友，其中的Farid在当时打几份工，经常出国旅行，并且跟安迪说他也想要周游世界的愿望，四年后，他带着她的女友到欧洲骑行，到瑞士的时候我们接待了他们，那是我第一次接触伊朗人，他们身上有一种意大利人的热情不拘小节易相处，又有东方人的细腻。

抵达德黑兰已是半夜，我们与一对德国西班牙情侣一同拼车到安迪十年前便住过的著名屌丝背包客客栈，安迪看到依然狭小的门面和不起眼的招牌一直感慨十年已过这里并没有一丝变化，而室内装潢更是一成不变，经过了十年，除了墙体更加陈旧，留言簿又厚了许多并充满风霜外，一切都没有变化，客栈设施非常陈旧，被褥都是毛毯，看上去也并不是十分洁净。但是前台的妻子是一个中国人，非常友善乐于助人，她每天都会和一些中国客人在天台的厨房上做中国菜，对受不了伊朗菜的中国人来说是一种慰藉。