Alexine’s heartbreaking story

Alexine’s heartbreaking story

Alexine's heartbreaking story

We left the islands, and the humidity behind and moved along the beautiful coast and later over high mountains inland again. 

Mosquitos and a pink lake

While staying at the Persian Gulf the monstrous insects, also known as mosquitos, couldn’t find our blood through the sweat that was dripping down. I’m sure the landing on our bodies was very slippery. This night they made up for it. From sweating in the humid climate of the Persian Gulf to be eaten alive at the Iranian Pink lake. You can imagine it was a loooong night and tiresome night. 

Pink lake!

But before going to bed and having the buzzing destroy or otherwise peaceful night we did have a good stroll on the pink lake of Iran. A huge lake that is actually a salt lake, thus white, and only for a couple of months it turns pink. Just like Tuz Golu in Turkey and many other lakes this lake turns pink due to algae. Algae that flamingos like to eat and giving them their pink colour. We did see a pink lake, maybe not as pink as we liked but it definitely was pink. And we saw flamingos, hundreds of them. Flying away from us. Unfortunately for us we couldn’t get close because however pink the lake looked, underneath the surface it was dark black mud that made its appearance when a Yuri stepped through. 

So far our pink lake adventure because we had an appointment with Volkswagenlover Razul. Who not only is a lover of Volkswagen but also has five of them himself and a workshop! 

Alexine, Volkswagen T2

Alexine was built in 1976 in Germany. Milene bought her in 2015 from a Frenchman who had used the van as a surferbus travelling from the Netherlands to France and back. 

Before the big journey we travelled around Europe in Alexine, never going really far. Before the trip we refurbished her inside and had her painted into the beautiful colour she is today. As her engine was fine we didn’t really do anything to her engine. Her tires seemed fine too and well, we thought we were ready for the big trip. 

Being overly organised is boring right? 

Shiraz Volkswagen Club

We arrived at Razul and were immediately impressed by the vans he owns. Besides a beautiful T2 he also owns an amazing T1! If anyone could check upon Alexine this was our man! A maintenance check every now and then is a necessity, especially when you’re driving an oldtimer. 

So, after saying hello, drinking a tea and checking out all the gems of his workshop we started to check on Alexine. Soon enough we found things that needed fixing – of course. Nothing special, just adding some lubricant, some grease to the suspension and new screws to the cv joints that we’ve changed a couple of times already. The rest of Alexine’s bottom looked quite good, which made us some proud parents, uhh owners!

But the same as with humans, it’s the heart that matters most. And the kindest and strongest of hearts can break once you get to a certain age. And unfortunately, for us, that’s where Alexine showed some really worrying cracks. Despite all the love and care we’ve given her, her heart was broken… She never had a thorough check before the journey and all the adventure, the challenging roads, scorching heat and long drives gave her a heart infarct. So it’s time to take care of her, and with that we mean really.

Thus, as a surgeon Razul went to work. Taking her heart apart piece by piece. And of course we helped. Like little kids we kept asking Razul “What’s this?” “Why are you doing this?” “Why is that broken?” And Razul answered every question with the patience of a caring father. Together we opened her heart, checked every bit and cleaned it all. Besides Razul also his son Reza helped out. A young eager to learn man who learns English and wants to become an electrician. He loves series such as Game of Thrones and has some chicks he takes care of in his room. Whenever he is not studying he is helping his dad fixing Volkswagens. He himself drives a VW gulf, to the disappointment of his father. And then there is Azam, the mother of Reza and wife of Razul. Azam is an incredible cook, caring woman and incredible seamstress. She sews the interiors of Volkswagens that Razul refurbishes and teaches sewing in school. 

For a while this home became our home. We shared meals, sweat and worry. Laughed, worked and almost cried together. Yeah, not all went well. Alexine showed some really troublesome heart injuries. Two cylinders need to be replaced, crankshaft bearings are worn and valve heads were broken. These three major problems could cause major problems for our journey. Luckily we were just in time, unlucky for us it takes time to fix these things. 

So we were put up to the question of sending our broken parts to Isfahan for a fix or use parts of an old engine from a Volkswagen T2 that hasn’t been on the road of years and won’t anytime soon anyway. We decided to check the other engine and take things we need from that engine. But, the costs… now our hearts started to hurt, and our wallet. The engine belonged to an American who wanted the top prize. Lost in translation and not really sure what other option we would have (having it fixed in Isfahan would cost the same they said) we decided to buy the engine. Whatever we need to do to fix Alexine, she’s worth anything. 

Heart surgery

So there we were, in a VW workshop in between Shiraz and the pink lake ready to undergo a heart surgery. Well, Alexine was, Razul being the surgeon and we being the assistants. The good thing about this all is that we learned so much from Alexine, we now know exactly what the engine looks like in and outside. We know what can happen, how to resolve it and the names of every part. But of course, once you find something you keep finding other stuff. So we kept changing rubbers, caskets, cables.

After a couple of days of working – with the occasional visit of some of Razul friends who were curious about the Dutch that almost destroyed their van, we fixed the engine. Alexine had a new heart, well knew… kind of like the monster – or beauty – of Frankenstein. We fixed the alarm lights, changed the break fluid and repaired one of the breaks. We even had time to install an extra oil carter in the hope that she would stay cool a little longer. And FINALLY(!!) we’re able to fix the oil leak. Three days of working in the workshop and Alexine was ready to hit the road. Which we did, to Shiraz, to change her tires.

15 years of loyal service

The tires we’ve been driving on since The Netherlands are already 15 years old. That’s a bit too old for tires. It’s like walking on the same shoes (every time you walk) for 15 years without ever fixing them. Quite a long time right? So we needed new ones. Our precious tires were 175 but the shop didn’t have those. He did have 205. A bit wider than we had, but that only sounded good to us. The wider, the more grip. We said goodbye to our loyal and awesome tires and welcomed our new tires. New tires ready for some crazy adventures.

After the tire change Razul took us to one of his friends who kept a small museum of old knickknacks above his car workshop. From everything related to cars to ancient guns, cameras and music instruments.

And that, our dear readers, was the end of fixing Alexine! It feels like Alexine had been in a huge accident, but this accident took 7 months and many kilometers. But she’s fixed now. Still some little bruises that we can’t fix now and need to check regularly but for the most part she is fixed. This time to explore Shiraz and Persepolis! But that’s for another blog 😘

Love, Milene & Yuri

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Iranian island life

Iranian island life

Iranian island life

Iran is a country of many. Many people (80 million +), many rules and many landscapes. From the wet and green North to the dry and hot East. From colourful and crowded cities to humid and empty islands. 

Arrival on Qeshm Island

From now on we travel off season in Iran. High season has officially ended by the 30th of May making us one of the very few insane travellers heading South. Not only are the shops closed during the hot hours of the day, which apparently is from 3am to 5pm. Also all the touristy shops that you’ll find alongside the beaches are deserted and the women with the beautiful masks, very known for this area, are nowhere to be find. Or the women are but the masks are not worn anymore. Another tourist trap. 

Anyway, we made it – after some bureaucratic nonsense, being; paying for four copies of our passports, waiting for nothing really, copying our carnet de passage and so on, as if it’s a border crossing, we finally were on the boat to Qeshm island. The biggest Iranian island in the Persian Gulf. Had to wait another hour in the heat on the deck of the ship. In Iran they don’t know timetables, when the boat is full they depart. And even-though our boat was more full than Alexine is, they could fit three more cars on the boat. In the meanwhile we were waiting on deck without airco while everyone kept their hot engines running to enjoy their airco and laugh at us while overheating – I’m sure of that.

What heaven on Qeshm island looks like

It took us 1.5 hours to arrive on Qeshm island. But there we were, island life! As it’s off season and it’s hot life is nowhere to be found on the island. It looks like the entire place is deserted. No human, not even a fly is seen during the day. No shops open, no campsites or lodges where we can cool down, nothing! After what felt like hours we finally found heaven. I’m sure heaven looks like this; coolness welcomes us when entering, rows of canned food, sweets, chocolate. Ice cream in the fridge and there it is; Heineken 0%! We have died in the Qeshm humidity and arrived in heaven! 

We decided to spend our afternoon in the supermarket, acting like we couldn’t make our choice about how many Heinekens we would bring to justify our overstay here. And we are not huge fans of Heineken, I mean there are over 900(!!) breweries in The Netherlands and Heineken might be the most famous but definitely not the best. However, after months of bad juicy 0% “beers” drinking a good Heineken 0% is a blessing. And now we sound like alcoholics, which we are not, but we do love an ice cold beer. Or water. Cause my oh my do we drink a lot a lot of water. Luckily water is found at any mosque (ice cold as well) and even at some other places they put taps where you can refill your waterbottle. There are also rain water tanks built everywhere on the island. Beautiful architecture where rainwater is kept, as the islands communities depend on these as a primary source of drinking water. However, rainwater is only as clean as it’s container and when we looked inside one we could find plastic bags, bottles and lots of death insects in the reservoirs. So, understandably we just enjoyed the architecture of these impressive buildings and had our cans filled with ice cold water from the mosques. 

After our delighted overstay at the supermarket we found shade at a tiny tree at the beach. Here we decided to wait out the heat by reading a book, relax and drink our first Heineken, because we couldn’t wait. 

Travelling together

A couple of hours later we were joined by our lovely fellow travel companions Joni & Anton who we’ve been travelling with on and off since our arrival in Iran. We always said we wouldn’t be able to travel with another couple for very long because of the differences of routes, interests and wanting to be alone. However, sometimes you meet people that you get along with so well, you even plan to meet each other here and there. Joni & Anton are definitely those travellers we enjoy spending time with rather than saying goodbye. For now we’ve only explored cities together, this time we would be in nature. Cooking together, hiking together, swimming together. Laughing about the differences in our languages, learning from each other (they are very creative people, making handicraft with ceramics and wood. Their interest in things is endless, from history to language and handicraft to my love for caravanserais. Their positivity and curiosity is inspiring and contagious.

So, you can imagine we spend the rest of our time on Qeshm together, even though they wanted to leave on multiple occasions (because of the heat not because of us) we had so much fun. We hiked a canyon and were given a shower by a local who burried his shampoo and other treasures in the gorge for him to take a shower himself. We then went to explore the longest salt cave in the world, which was beautiful! Afterwards we had an ice cold dip in the sea in bikini (sssssht) and made a fire at night (as if it wasn’t warm enough). We had coffee and speculaas together, also sweat together and talked on our walki talkis while driving in our vans.

We went to Hengam island for a dive and stayed the night at wonderful Alaleh. Were stalked by the police while snorkelling and almost crashed with a tuktuk. So much fun in a couple of days it’s almost indescribable. When we think of Iran we certainly think of the heat, of the hospitality of Iranians, of the beautiful architecture and the incredible landscapes. But we also think of Joni & Anton, with whom we had so much fun. And you can understand from my writing that Qeshm was the end of our adventure together. While we continued island hopping to Hormuz they moved to Shiraz and more North. While we are driving East they are driving back home. All good things come to an end, a temporarily one because there are over 1500 breweries in both our countries combined 😉

So far our ‘love letter’ to our funloving explorers. Back to Qeshm island. After being in nature and surrounded by nothing but razor sharp rocks and seawater full with beautiful turtles, we headed to Qeshm city where it was even more humid than before. Here we found heaven again, not in a supermarket but in a cafe that resembled a pub, or at least came closest to what we call a pub. With music suiting our taste (system of a down, led zeppelin, Metallica), good food and pool table. At night we cheated on Alexine and booked a room in a hotel. Taking a shower after more than a week was quite welcome, sleeping in airco a necessity. 

A visit to Hormuz island

Time to visit the island of rainbow colours, of no cars and almost no tourists. It was hot, hot and hot. But we managed to get the boat to Hormuz, find ourselves a hostel and rent a motorbike to explore the island. We got to see rainbow mountains, a red beach, a saffron valley that definitely inspired the Wizard of Oz stories and marvelled at the most colourful cave we have ever seen! We drove alongside mountains as white as snow, but instead being salt. Had problems with finding a gasstation thus run out of gas but luckily found a very nice gentleman offering us 1.5 liter of gasoline from his own motorcycle without wanting our money. Taarof or hospitality? We still don’t recognise the difference so we accepted his gesture and thanked him multiple times.

In the evening we drank a beer with the only other tourist on the island Valentine from France who backpacks without using a plane. We have met quite a few travellers on our route East who travel without wanting to use airplanes. A good development we think. It’s not only better for the planet but also for truly immersing into a culture and exploring and understanding it. Taking a bus, meeting people, spending money locally. For us it exists of getting gasoline at places so remote people wonder from which alien planet we come from, meeting people while picknicking or staying overnight at places we thought remote but are bustling with people at night and being waved at while on the road. Even when we have to stop for Alexine to cool down people offer us food, water and help. And that’s the thing with travelling overland, you meet people, see places really and take it slow. Hopping from airport to airport, seeing the insight of too many planes and spend hours in duty free shops is just not doing the trick. But it does get you to places quickly and with the small amount of time we have to explore places it’s easy and convenient to take the plane. 

On Hormuz we met another guy. From Austria, who travels from Austria to Australia overland. By means of public transport and hitchhiking. Australia was once New Holland, when the Dutch conquered, killed and savages the island. However, I never realised the similarity between the names of Austria and Australia. Of course in their own language there is no similarity (Ostreich and Australia) so did the British, when they took over savaging the largest island of the world, see a resemblance? I have never been to Australia so can’t compare. Well, for this Austrian traveller it doesn’t matter, he has a goal and no end date. 

We also have a goal, and an end date. But we’re either going to surpass the end date or fail to achieve our goal, that being China. As China is still closed due to Corona, or dictatorship, we probably won’t reach our final destination. But, as many smart people before us said, it’s not the destination that matters but the journey. And that journey is in full swing. On Hormuz island at the moment, enjoying a nice falafel bread with a nice breeze as desert. Alright alright and an ice cream. 

We stayed on the island for one day, and that’s enough. You get to see the most beautiful spots and get to relax during the day because it’s too hot to do anything anyway. 

The next day we said sweaty island life goodbye to continue our sweaty lifestyle, with the only shower being in the salty water in the sea and for me even with my clothes on, on the mainland of Iran. We drove quite a while to arrive at one of our most beautiful wild camping spots in Iran. One where we had the beach to ourselves (and it’s waste), swam with turtles and stingrays and had a fabulous sunset where only the waves made a sound that the mountains swallowed in silence. 

 Love, Milene & Yuri

Some photos

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Peshawar, buddha and ditching the police

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I’m sitting in the forest with a view on the mountains while in the distance I hear drums. For the first time in a very long time Yuri put on his sweater and I wear my hair loose without feeling too hot.

The Pakistani escort service

The Pakistani escort service

You would think by now we would have gotten rid of the Pakistani escort service. Well … read about it here.

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Adobe cities

Adobe cities

Adobe Cities

Before travelling to Iran I mainly knew Adobe from the computer programs I edit my photos with. Adobe Photoshop and Bridge. But here in Iran Adobe got a totally different meaning. Ancient cities like Yazd and Bam are built out of adobe, deserted castles are constructed from it and mainly Adobe sites have claimed a UNESCO status. We have wandered through the hot Adobe alleys of Yazd, marvelled at the ancient and deserted adobe castle of Keshit and wowed in Bam by seeing the rebuilding of Adobe after an earthquake partly destroyed the ancient city. 

Made of mud

In Yazd we also visited the oldest adobe hotel the world has known. And it’s beautiful! The walls, the buildings, the way it looks. Amazing. On the other hand; it’s not much more than houses and castles and walls made of mud, and we’ve seen plenty of those. So what makes Adobe so appealing to the eye? I don’t know, maybe because it just looks like buildings from a fairytale, it’s looks so smooth as if it’s changing forms when you touch it. 

Inside the homes it’s cool while outside the sun tries to break in. Without any luck, cause the walls of the buildings are as tick as the skin of a politician, however, rain does change the buildings. Therefore by no surprise one finds Adobe buildings mainly in countries where rain is often more a dream than reality. 

What is Adobe?

In Spanish the word ‘adobe’ translate to ‘mudbrick’. It’s essentially a dried mud brick and used in acient buildings which are made of tightly compacted sand, clay and straw or grass mixed with moisture. These are formed into bricks and naturally dried or baked in the sun. 

Although the word is often used to describe an architectural style “adobe architecture”, it is actually a building material. The strength and resilience of Adobe vary with its water content: too much water weakens the brick.

The ruins of Keshit

Bam and Yazd are very well preserved and the castle of Rayen as well. However, the village of Keshit has had its struggles over time is more a ruin than any of the other places. Nonetheless this is wear our hearts pounded harder than anywhere else. Was it the palmtrees surround the village? The fact that we were alone there? Or that it came as a total surprise driving for hours in the desert where rocks made up for the lack of trees and mirrages on the road were more common than a bypasser. Or maybe it was as simple as the fact that we didn’t have to pay an entrance fee, travelling the world doesn’t make us less Dutch 😉

Anyway, Keshit, a city in ruins thanks to time and humans neglecting to take care of it and Bam, a city half in ruins where UNESCO is rebuilding the city as if it’s new. Same Adobe but the difference couldn’t be bigger. 

BAM, a city of mud

Its amazing to walk through the now deserted street of the ancient city of Bam. Walk where hundreds of merchants once walked. Selling their goods on the small bazar, walking through the tiny alleys in search of a pub to find that one special item. I imagine a dragons egg or a phoenix feather. Its not a big city like Persepolis or Baalbek in Lebanon. But big enough to be of importance with a castle so impressive people must have feared it’s inhabitant. Or maybe not, maybe they were as amazed by its grandeur as we are today. Knowing no fear of visiting and touching its walls, walking through the gates as if the owner is a good friend. My mind goes into as many directions as did the travellers of old age. While walking the streets of Bam I wonder how it once looked, with the people who have left this earth a long time ago. Would it be smelly here? Noisy? Dirty? As were the North – Western cities back in the days. Where poverty was plenty, food a luxury and sickness thrives. But those were cold and wet cities like Amsterdam and London. What about a city built near the hottest place on earth.

As Western as I am, I imagine great looking people with sun darkened skin and bright eyes. With turbans of light colours that highlights their skin tones and long dresses that move with the wind. I imagine people selling carpets, trading goods, gossiping. Children running around, women chatting while doing laundry, men talking business in the busy bazar. While walking through the narrow alleys I almost hear them shout about their goods, smell their spices, see what they see.

Where the buildings speak UNESCO

But none of it is left besides the buildings. And those buildings speak UNESCO. “Probably the main Jewish house”, “the father of Iman built this school”, “there is a holly place inside the mosque for BAM people”. UNESCO requires these information boards but doesn’t scrutinise the quality of its content. So we stroll through yet another UNESCO site wondering if this is the best that can happen to a site of historical importance. Getting the UNESCO label; a stamp of historical, cultural or social approval. Which means UNESCO decides whatever happens, how the renovation is going, what is allowed and what not, how to preserve a site and apparently the quantity, not quality, of information boards. That, like Petra in Jordan, a site is full with shops selling the same things and offering animal abusive rides on donkeys or camels is out of the hands of UNESCO apparently. In Bam no such rides can be found – luckily – however the shops, in high season, are selling goods that have nothing to do with the cultural significance of the site or area but more with the ignorance of tourists travelling to such a place. In Petra it’s shawls, bags and knick knacks that are so called handmade by the Bedouin tribe but the ‘made in China’ tag reveals their true descent. 

Anyway, long story short, Bam would be the last Adobe city we visited. For a while at least. It’s time to sweat at the Persian Gulf! 

Love, Milene & Yuri

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I’m sitting in the forest with a view on the mountains while in the distance I hear drums. For the first time in a very long time Yuri put on his sweater and I wear my hair loose without feeling too hot.

The Pakistani escort service

The Pakistani escort service

You would think by now we would have gotten rid of the Pakistani escort service. Well … read about it here.

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An oasis in the desert

An oasis in the desert

On oasis in the desert

I never understood why people looked beyond the atmosphere of planet earth, why Armstrong and Aldrin sat foot on the moon in the first place, why people longed to become astronauts. Why would you look at other planets while you haven’t discovered your own planet fully. Why wanting to find extraterrestrials life while we don’t even understand life on Earth? It’s not me, I’m the one with both feet on earth, exploring this planet one place at a time. And this time it brought us to the hottest place on the planet. Kind of looks like Mars so even for the landscapes you don’t have to go beyond our blue sky. 

A night in the desert

And a blue sky means the sun will burn the landscape below and no ozon layer saves us from the heat. So it means, we arrive late in the Lut desert, right before sunset and just in time to pick a good spot, get out our virgin mojito and sit back. And that’s all we do. Enjoying the scenery, the silence, the tiny breeze that cools us down a bit. And then the stars appear and thats the closest I get to see the balls of gas that light our sky at night. Of course we wait for stars to fall and leave a string of light so we can do a wish. A wish that only comes true when we out effort in making it come true. But, it’s a nice idea that making a wish after seeing a fallen star (or blowing all birthday candles at once) it’ll come true no matter the effort. So I guess, I have a lot of work to do, as we saw many fallen stars, thus made many wishes… 

Dasht-e Lūt

Lūt Desert, Persian Dasht-e Lūt, is a desert in east Iran. In the east rises a great massif of dunes and sand, while in the west an extensive area of high ridges is separated by wind-swept corridors.

In its lowest, salt-filled depression—less than 300 metre above sea level—the summer heat and low humidity are believed to be unsurpassed anywhere. It’s here where they recorded the hottest place on earth: 71 degrees Celcius!

The desert is so extraordinary and unique that it is inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage.

Problems in the desert

After a while we decided to call it a night as we would wake up early the next day to watch the sunrise. Sun is life, as is water. And while there is no escaping the sun in the desert, the latter is harder to find, or impossible to find. We brought 20 liters with us, thinking it would be enough. What do you think?

First, sunrise. We hiked atop the highest kalout, natural phenomenons sculptured by erosion, we could find. There it was, another day had begun. The more the sun rose the smaller the shadows and the warmer the sand. Making life in the desert unbearable from 7am till far after dawn. Nonetheless we stayed a while longer to inhale the landscape until the dust made us choke and the heat took our breath away.

While getting our asses as far away from Earths hottest place (71 degrees Celsius have been measured here) a flat tire made us stay a little longer. In 20 minutes, with a lot of cursing and draining our water supply we were on the road again. Not far because I’m Shahdad we hope to change our tire. Or fix it. But it’s Friday, which is a holy day in Iran and also a day that most things are closed. Also in Shahdad, a town at the border of the desert, where any other day is also considered a Friday when summer started. Luckily someone knew someone and that someone had a key to a shop where we could repair our tire. Which we did. Changing a tire is a lot quicker than fixing one. It took us two hours in total to get our tire fixed. Which meant: the heat is out. And so we’re we.

Taking it slow gets a new meaning

Taking it slow, very slow, with multiple – make it many – stops along the way. Alexine taking the meaning of slow travel very serious and overheating quicker than a mosquito flying into fire we had to take our time. Unfortunately the road we took wasn’t as spectacular as we hoped it would be. From village to village through an uninteresting valley cleared of forests and used only for cultivation of fruits. When we we happy to made it onto a pass we had another steep climb in front of us. And when we were relieved watching the road descent we soon saw it go up again. And then with 1.5 more hour to go the tarmac road resolved into a dirt road. Giving ‘taking it slow’ another meaning. 1.5 hour became three, luckily this time the landscape was worth taking it slow. From brown mountains to bright red, yellow and white ones. From boring villages to true oasis with palmtrees, cute little houses and happy kids waving us goodbye while stunting on their motorcycles. 

It didn’t take long before we entered the desert plane, there where the only thing you see is the heat above the tarmac road. No trees, no humans, no end in sight. Just desolation. It became so hot we even had trouble seeing clearly, the UV filters of our cheap sunglasses put to the test (and failing as I later felt in my eyes).

The road went ever on and on and we could see as far as the next hill. After which we hoped to see our destination for the day but were instead surprised by another mirage of nothingness and heat in which we thought we saw palmtrees and houses made of mud. But after the umpteenth hill we finally saw an oasis of date palmtrees, of an ancient village made out of mud houses and of children as young as 10 on motorcycles. “Are we seeing this clearly?”, after rubbing our eyes a couple of times we agreed, this must be Keshit! 

The oasis named Keshit

The closer we got to Keshit, the more speechless we got. This picturesque and foregone city of Keshit made all the troubles of earlier evaporated with the heath. The energy flowed back into our bodies, unlike the water that got down to 5 liters already. The ancient village might be worth the troubles but it doesn’t offer water. Wrong!

Behind the ancient village of Keshit lies the modern village of Keshit. A village of date palmtrees, of qanats that run through the village like a vein through our body, and of people who own shops where they sell water. Saved by the oasis we decided to stay not one but two nights here. And we did that in style, between the palm trees. In the day we cooled down in the river that flows to the village and at night we ate ice cream at the roundabout which happens the be the place where everything happens. Everything being; men chatting, children playing and boys driving motorcycles. Women weren’t seen at the roundabout. Instead they were outside each other’s homes, gossiping I presume. 

That continued until late at night but long before the last call we made it back to our quiet spot in between the palmtrees next to the river and under a blanket of more stars than we could count. I can’t imagine people wanting to live on another planet if this is right here, on ours. And as long as we didn’t find a way to understand the songs of birds in the morning, I have no desire to talk to an alien. Although, maybe the songs of birds sounds so beautiful because we don’t know the words. Just like a language you don’t understand so the only thing you hear is the melody the people speak with. Once you know the meaning the melody disappears, however beautiful the language. Maybe that’s the reason I never really got to learn French. It sounds much more romantic without knowing it’s meaning. 

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Peshawar, buddha and ditching the police

Peshawar, buddha and ditching the police

I’m sitting in the forest with a view on the mountains while in the distance I hear drums. For the first time in a very long time Yuri put on his sweater and I wear my hair loose without feeling too hot.

The Pakistani escort service

The Pakistani escort service

You would think by now we would have gotten rid of the Pakistani escort service. Well … read about it here.

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Arabian Nights in Persia

Arabian Nights in Persia

Arabian nights in Persia

In the middle of the desert a building rises up like a mirage. The walls tall reaching for the stars, the entrance big to welcome a caravan with a thousand camels and the road leads into a courtyard wide enough to fit many travellers and merchants alike. We have arrived at the caravanserai where we will stay for the night. Not in one of the rooms as they haven’t been used for maybe a hundred years. But in our van, in the middle of the courtyard.

The magic of a caravanserai

It is hot, but the shade inside the caravanserai is pure blizz. However, at the moment I am sitting on top of the caravanserai where the wind blows over the top just hard enough to cool me down a bit. Long shadows arise while the sun is setting and the mountains in the distance stand tall yet never grow. Birds are singing and even an owl shows her magnificent wings. Footsteps of foxes and goats are seen around the caravanserai and stories of a deadly scorpion are shared. 

We do not know yet what the night will bring but this moment, on our Persian carpet on top of the caravanserai is pure happiness. While the wind blows more fierce than before it takes words of happiness and gratefulness with it. The only things that’s left are indescribably emotions and feelings left unspoken. And it’s okay. While the connection with the outside world is fading the being here and now has returned. One hand on the ground and the other holding a book. No distractions, except for nature whose disturbance is ever welcome.  

The importance of a caravanserai

Caravanserais, large guest houses for travelling merchants and their caravans, were dispersed along the land routes of the Silk Roads. Found extensively from Turkey to China, caravanserai provided not only food and shelter but also an opportunity for merchants and others travelling to exchange goods, access local markets and meet and interact with people from across the vast regions encompassed by the Silk Roads. By offering such an intercultural environment, caravanserai were important sites for the exchange of material culture, languages and ideas.

*Source: UNESCO

On top of the caravanserai

The caravanserai has been inviting visitors for many many years and still does his job well. Providing shelter, shadow and serenity. A place where one can rest, without being disturbed by modern times. By to do lists and notifications. By postings on social media and the business of the city. The chaos of modern life feels as far away as the nearest town. 

This must be it. How Aladdin felt in ‘Arabian Nights’ and Ibn Battuta after a long day of hiking in the blistering sun. While they sat on top of the caravanserai watching over the desert where the land merges with the sky on the horizon. 

Grains of sand in my hair, salt on my broken lips, dirty feet. No shower, no toilet, no shame. Travelling is romantic yet smelly. Sweat washed away by the wind, water too precious to have a shower with. Desert life, travel life, van life. It’s all about letting go of what is thought to be normal nowadays, about finding your inner animal, the human who could live in the wild.

Happiness in the desert

Because a hot shower, proper toilet and clean feet don’t contribute to happiness. Sunsets, clear skies and fallen stars do. Mountains, deserts and ancient buildings do. Exploring, adventure, action do. Alright alright, writing a blog and reading the reactions of friends, families and even strangers makes us happy as well. But all should be in balance. 

Back to this ancient caravanserai I’m sitting atop. A gem on the Silk Road and a gem today. In the middle of the desert a place to take a breath, to enjoy the sunset and the Milky Way at night. A place to read a book, not the news. To check the surroundings and get excited about tiny animals that crawl around. A place to put your carpet on top and marvel over the incredible view and the road that leads nowhere and everywhere at the same time. 

It’s getting more windy now which feels great but also means not to many stars will be visible tonight due to the sand in the sky. Well, I guess we have to stay another night! 

Another day at the caravanserai

Wow, things unexpectedly changed. For the better I would say. While enjoying the sunset some cars and a motorbike arrived at the caravanserai. Long story short, we were invited to dinner, had nice chats and enjoyed a campfire. The guys are from Varzaneh and come here to ride their bikes through the desert and mountains. They often sleep at this caravanserai. So instead of being with the two of us, we were surrounded by old friends (the Belgians arrived a night before we did) and new friends. 

This morning we woke up early to have breakfast and head to the mountains for a hike. Not all things go as planned and after we had breakfast with our new friends, fixed our exhaust pipe (it got lose) and cleaned Alexine it was already too hot to have a hike so instead we had a short drive.

When we came back to the caravanserai everyone was gone. So we enjoyed some alone time, catched up on some editing, read a book (I’m reading a really good and fun one about the Silk Road) and watched the birds (incl an owl) that call this caravanserai their home. 

During lunch time two cyclists entered the caravanserai. It happened to be Bob, a Belgian cyclist we met in Isfahan a couple of days ago, and his friend Mostafa. We had a nice lunch and chat and wished them well because they had another 60km to go. 

And back to the quietness of the desert again. Really there is nothing but beautiful emptiness here. The wind blows fiercely through my hair. Yeah, my hair! There is nothing but mountains and desert sand around us so besides not having internet, I also don’t have a headscarf that prevents my head from cooling down. What we do have are flies. Everywhere! Even the wind doesn’t stop them from crawling around. They don’t take lunch breaks, and love sitting around for dinner time. If one animal in Iran explores the true meaning of taarof it is the flies. Other than that we’re having the time of our life’s here. 

Far away from towns, people and internet. And that happened to be just what we needed. A break, some time off, freedom to the max! Because you ain’t really free if you have a to do list right? Our Belgian friends always say “moeten is dwang” which translates to “a must do is an undesirable force” and means ‘if you MUST do something, it’s by force not by will’. And I totally get that. Of course, there are things we must do; breathe, drink, eat, sleep. But all other ‘musts’ are forced upon you. Either by yourself or someone else.  

Deep thoughts 😉

While I’m getting stuck into what I must and mustn’t do, the shining sun turns into a million shining stars. We drink our IPA (Iran Pale Ale – 0%) on the roof of the caravanserai one last time. Tomorrow we will be heading to Yazd to extend our visa, visit a carpet weaver and be mesmerised by the first airconditioners the world has known! And they look a lot better than the ones we have now.

Stay tuned!

Love, Milene & Yuri

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Iranian cities

Iranian cities

Iranian cities

Not sure if you noticed but I’ve been skipping writing about the cities we’ve visited. While I’m writing this sentence we have been exploring Tehran, Kashan and Isfahan and I can’t seem to wrap my head around all we’ve witnessed. Or maybe I can but I can’t seem to find the words for all the impressions, the chaos and the overwhelming people. So, I guess I’ll talk about the three of them in this post shortly.

Tehran

After the damage done on Alexine and the horrible fixing we moved to Tehran. The capital of Iran, with 14 million people during the day and 5 million people during night time. Or so we heard. 

We decided Alexine was damaged enough already so skipped driving into the chaotic city where people turn into absurd human beings while behind the steering wheel. So, we parked next to our beloved Belgian friends on the parking lot of the Khomeini shrine. Truth be told, we didn’t enter the shrine. For multiple reason, if you’re interested do send us an email and we’ll elaborate on it. Moving on.

The following days we explored the city, one cafe at the time and in between some of the palaces. The shah definitely loved himself, as rooms were full with a million tiny mirrors. It’s like having millions of iPhones hanging on your wall in selfie mode. Waaaaaay to much for our taste. We also visited the grand bazar of Tehran where we had saffron tea at the smallest tea house of the world. It wasn’t really a tea house, more a tea counter where you could order your take away tea. But it was fun. 

After visiting more cafes we went to an area, Darband, where many Iranians come to enjoy some dining out. It was more an attraction park than a relaxing place but we enjoyed the schnitzel. Having spend a couple of days, a lot of money and many footsteps in Tehran it was time to move on. 

Via some Caravanserai to the next city, Kashan!

Kashan

A lot smaller but also a lot nicer than Tehran. Kashan is a small city but was once an important hub on the Silk Road. Merchants came here to trade their goods, carpets where sold, ideas exchanged and friendships made. Nowadays Kashan is a city that many tourists skip, unrightfully so. It’s a magnificent city with impressive buildings. From the oldest walled garden of the country to architectural highlights of traditional houses. Then there is the bazar with the most impressive inner courtyards and a caravanserai. 

However, despite the small cute alleys and friendly but not too overwhelming people of Kashan one needs to know that during lunch hours (also the hottest time of the day) everything is closed. Not just restaurants and cafes but even the bazar!! We of course didn’t know so we’re a bit lost. But apparently getting lost is what is needed when discovering new places. 

“Never to get lost is not to live, not to know how to get lost brings you to destruction, and somewhere in the terra incognita in between lies a life of discovery” – Rebecca Solnit, A field guide to getting lost. 

In Kashan we stayed at another parking lot where the shower was just a tube from which water poured down. We need nothing more. After two nights of fun, again with our Belgian travel companions and one night with the French couple we met a while ago, we decided it was time to leave. This time, a famous city was our destination. Also known as ‘half of the world’, we were bound for Isfahan.

Isfahan

With a detour, via a caravanserai (what else?) and a mountain road that we almost couldn’t get over as we got stuck in some sand, we arrived at Abynayeh. The road to the small village was amazing! Probably more impressive than the village itself which felt more like an on purpose touristy village, where all that was authentic was fake. It seemed. But to get here we almost got stuck on a steep mountain slope with no way out. It’s was also quite the dirt road, where stones and sand made up the way. But we managed to get to the village. Not entirely without cuts and bruises as I suddenly got sick. So while Yuri explored the village I turned my stomach inside out. Not the best of days, so let’s skip it and move forward. 

Cause you’re really here to read more about Isfahan right? Well it’s hard to describe Isfahan in a couple of sentences but I’ll give it a try.

Isfahan is intense. The buildings are marvellous, colourful, incredible. The streets crowded, big and small. Tiny alleys make sure you get lost while big avenues are filled with fast food restaurants and food trucks. The squares are empty when the sun is out, but turn into wonderful sceneries at sundown. The people loving, kind and sometimes a bit too much. They’re very curious, ask many questions and all invite you for a cup of tea. Iranian people are very concerned with how we perceive them, what we think of them and what’s spoken of Iran in the news. They truly hope we get back home telling everyone they’re not terrorists but friendly people. And they truly are!

And Isfahan is an amazing city. It has been the capital of Iran twice and that’s visible in the grandeur of the largest square on earth; Naqsh-e Jahan Square officially Meidan Imam Khomeini also known as the Shah Square prior to 1979.

Isfahan doesn’t have the palaces Tehran has, but it does have everything a capital city needs. An amazing bazar where you easily get lost in awe, the squares that are filled with people when planet Earth is cooled down, a boulevard alongside a river that apparently only flows three times a year due to a dam further up stream. It has churches, mosques and synagogues. Hotels, traditional houses and hostels. It has restaurants, cafes and tea houses. Even everyday food trucks. It has universities, museums and live music. It has everything one needs and more. 

We absolutely loved our time in Isfahan. Attended a Volkswagen club gathering (where we met many great people), had our van fixed and were interviewed by the lovely Shakiba. Shakiba works at Markevel, which is the travel agency that helped us get our visa. She is such an inspiring enthusiastic young lady, we were glad to meet her in real life and have a delicious cappuccino at one of the amazing cafes.

But all things come to an end and it was time to let go of the chaos and find some peace and quiet in the desert nearby. Sand dunes and caravanserai it is! 

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Love, Milene & Yuri

Check our latest blogs

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I’m sitting in the forest with a view on the mountains while in the distance I hear drums. For the first time in a very long time Yuri put on his sweater and I wear my hair loose without feeling too hot.

The Pakistani escort service

The Pakistani escort service

You would think by now we would have gotten rid of the Pakistani escort service. Well … read about it here.

We're also on Instagram!

check it out