The "Other" Iran- The road to Iran, a long road!

Mashad, Iran

August 2012

Myself, Reza and Behnaz at Vali's homestay in Mashad.

Well here we are! IRAN! The Axis of evil! The ancient Persia! Wow, I cannot believe I made it.

I have been here for a few days now, celebrating Eid here in Mashhad  one of Iran's most conservative and holy cities. I have had a shock wave of experience and to be honest with you, Iran is NOTHING like what I expected. But before I get going on my experience so far in Iran, I need to explain what prompted me to come here and the pain staking process it took to finally get in, even up to the last minute.

Growing up in Vancouver I had a number of Persian friends, including the likes of Amir, Sanaz and Sherry. These three were the first Persians I met after I transferred from Catholic to public school. They were some of the nicest people and a very handsome people, and I thought to myself, and in the back of my mind I always wondered about Persians and what made them so unique. Not quite European, not quite South Asia, and not quite Middle eastern, just something completely different.

I went to University and my curiosity continued....

Round the World Fellas, Istanbul 2007. Myself, Ali, Rob and Tyler.

Five years ago, the spring of 2007 I undertook a trip with the University of Calgary. It was a trip around the world, where we visited 9 different countries and received class credit while travelling. It was an incredible experience and lay the foundation for the future travels that have taken place since. While travelling on the trip their were six of us fellas. Tyler, Vince, Jordan, Rob, Ali and myself. Ali hails from Iran and I had the pleasure of getting to know him on this trip.Ali and I shared a room together in Egypt and he would get up routinely to pray just before sunrise. This level of devotion inspired me, that together with Ali's kindness and fantastic outlook on travel and life planted the final inception, I NEED TO GO TO IRAN!

Ali and I five years ago in Hong Kong. Where the Iran idea really came alive!

So after that trip I began to travel more, and Iran has always been in the back of my mind. Ali moved back recently and when I discovered this and began to make the game plan for between the lines of Asia, I emailed him and we began to figure out how I could get to Iran.

Round the world fellas in Luxor Egypt. Where all my travels began.

I applied for a VISA, and after almost two months as the Embassy here in Canada, the REJECTED ME! I was outraged, as I was leaving only a few days later for North Korea and the trip was set in motion. I was furious, but Ali encouraged me not to give up and there is a few other ways. One other option was to fly down to Dubai, hop over to Kish Island (Iran's free trade zone and the only place you can go without a visa, and apply their for an onward transit VISA). I toiled over this for the first couple months of the trip. Then when I was in Kolkata a fantastic American gal named Sinead Harris told me about how while she was in Delhi with an Australian guy he had got his VISA there, through an online company with the help of a tour operation named Shafi.

Jenny and Sinead. The two ladies that helped bring the Iran Visa  process back to life

 I thought, hmmmmmmmmm, well why not give it a try! And I did! I met with Shafi, explained to him my situation and he said, "ahhhh apply online, this is the site and 'Inshallah' you will get your VISA".

I applied online, but it would take a couple days for my transfer payments to go through, as in Iran, all foreign bank transactions are under sanction, especially since I have a Canadian bank account. So you have to wire the money to Turkey, then they wire it to Iran, then they apply to the ministry of foreign affairs and you get your VISA! What a process. I boarded a bus to Kashmir for nearly two days, so I was out of email contact and the Iran Visa company sent me numerous emails freaking out about not receiving my payment, I thought I was done for, and my travel partner Jenny had to see my disappointment and frustration. But I have to give her credit, she kept me pepped up and told me not to give up, if it is meant for me to go to Iran, I will get there.

A few days later while in Manali India, I finally got my online VISA code, to apply at the embassy in Islamabad! I was set, or at least I thought so!

I arrived in Islamabad, and the Iran embassy, which Ironically is right beside the USA embassy(who would of thought?), were just flat out jerks, or at least the Pakistani guys at the front desk. They would not let me inside and repeatedly said "PLEASE WAIT", god I hate that term, especially with regards to VISA applications. They told me they had not received my confirmation code and that I should come back later. So I said screw it, went to Karachi and emailed IranVisa.com to resend the code. They did, I returned on the tuesday and they had my code, but this time "magically" they needed my finger prints done. So I had to go to the Islamabad police station and get those done. I was told it could take a week to process, so I greased a few palms and had everything done in less than 30 minutes. How things go from one week to thirty minutes is beyond me, but at this moment I was not there to analyze Pakistani corruption, I was just there to get the VISA. I returned the next day, submitted all my documents, they said I could pay 50 dollars and have it in three days or 80 dollars and have it in the afternoon. I gave him 80 dollars worth of Rupees and had my VISA in three hours. I was OVER JOYED! And boarded a bus that night headed for Northern Pakistan.

This has to have been the longest and most painful VISA procedure in the history of man, but I now know for future trips how to go about the Iran VISA, so hopefully I will not have the same problems as this previous adventure.

A few weeks later as I was leaving Afghanistan across the border I was of course the only non Afghan or Persian at the border. The border police stopped me and escorted me into a room. I have to say of all the interrogations and arrests I have had overseas, this was to be the most pleasant.  The Persians made me breakfast, tea and welcomed me to Iran. They asked me a series of questions about myself, my occupation, who my friend Ali was, where I was going in Iran and how long I intended to be here. But they were the nicest guys in the world in the process. For example, during on the question periods while I was answering the man said, "I am so sorry I forgot to offer you sugar with your tea, can you wait one minute while I get it for you", lol. I was in shock by this level of hospitality, by some of the strictest border security guards in the world. After the whole question period was done they told me they had no record of my VISA from Pakistan and that I would have to go back to Afghanistan. I nearly crapped my pants at this thought, and I pleaded with them to fax or call Pakistan, they did, and served me another cup of Chai while we waited for a response. They got it, said I was free to go. My translator, a young man from Tabriz hugged me and said, "I love Canada and you are a fine man Mr. William, I wish you well here in Iran". He then arranged me onward  transport to Mashad!

So here I am in Mashad. I shall publish the next series of my experience here. But I thought it was important to note the difficulty of getting into Iran. But despite all of this, patience is a virtue, that I am sure of now. For even with all these difficulties what waits for those in Iran is pure magic and the hospitality I received by the border security services was only the beginning.

Shrine of Imam Reza, during Eid festival. Mashad, Iran.

A special thanks to all those that I forgot to mention that helped make this whole process a success. Iran is a gem to be discovered and I cannot wait to share my experiences with all of you. Thank you so much!

Welcome to Iran!

Cheers,

William