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Iran Welcomes Us

PHOTOS: If you want to see the photo’s full-size, click the photo, it isolates to a new page and click it once again.  Use browser’s “back” to return to blog.
CURRENT LOCATION:  Upper right corner is my Delorme inReach Explorer satellite tracks provided by SPOTwalla.  When activated, it provides a real time track of my travels.  The tab “All-Star Motorcycle Circus & E” opens for more options.  “Adjustments” enables the viewer to select more days of the tracks.

The tracks are archived back to my arrival in Heidelberg, April 16.

Use the zoom slider on the left to open up the map to see our entire route. The two tabs in the upper right “Map/Satellite” switches the map illustration with satellite photos.

GlobeRiders has it’s own BLOG “Silk Road Adventure 2015 LiveJournal!”  There is a complete description of the excursion, rider bios, updates of the ride, and an active satellite location link.
Day 17, Tue, May 19, 2015

Start Location:  Baku, Azerbaijan

End Location:   Astara, Iran

Distance:          325 km 202 miles)

Hotel/Pension:   Hotel Espinas, Rasht-Astara Road, Astara, Iran

Money Conversion:

Iranian Rial: $1 USD = 28,349 Rial or Rial 1 = $0.000035 USD

I forgot to mention that after dinner last night we met with a Baku Motorcycle Club.  Not much was known about this event so some canceled out. We went by bus which to a street corner and were then escorted by 2 Harley’s to a residential section in the hills of Baku.
It turns out it was the Baku HOG chapter (Harley Owners Group).  They have their own HOG Club House!!!!!  I’m talking about a 3-story stone building totally dedicated to Harley-Davidson.  Huge garden patio where we sat at a long table – a total of 30.  The house has an indoor swimming pool, huge kitchen, business office, and several huge rooms for meetings and entertaining guest.  Upstairs … guest bedrooms for visiting HOG friends!!
The HOG members are the movers and shakers of Baku.  The main guy owns the Baku TV station.  His brother is an Azerbaijan war hero revered by all.  He was the voice of Azerbaijan freedom and was killed in action.
When I got back to the room, my 2 cans of chain spray were waiting for me.  The independent Motorcycle shop delivered them and would not take any payment!  The hospitality shown to us GlobeRiders by the Azerbaijani was truly amazing.

The owner of the small moto shop delivered 2 chain lube spray cans to the hotel. He would not accept any payment.

Here are some photos of our typical breakfasts.

Fruits, cheeses, dried meats and yogurt

Bread of all shapes and sizes.

Farmers were harvesting strawberries and selling them on the roadside.

Kurt, John and Ian enjoying fresh strawberries!

This is where they bought the strawberries - a roadside stand.

At the Azerbaijan/Iran border it took from 10AM till 5PM!

We were at this border processing station for 2 hours getting passport getting fingerprinted and interviewed by Iranian TV and a number of other photographers.

An organized tour really make border crossing easy.  Instead of each one of us going from window to window for exiting Azerbaijan and repeating for entering Iran, GlobeRiders took care of everything in a batch process.  Yes, the wait was long but in the end, we were given our insurance, “get out of jail” letter, met our new Iran local, Yuriy Kim, who has been at the Iran border pre-processing our entry, and we ride to the hotel exhausted!
Iran road traffic is really crazy.  80% is OK, 15% is caution, and 5% is terror.  We are all on heightening alert for the occasional crazed driver who will force you out of your lane.  It’s happened a dozen time already.
Every time we stop we are surrounded by friendly Iranians.

First because large motorcycles are forbidden in Iran.  The largest moto here is 250cc.  GlobeRiders had to get a special permit to allow our motos to pass through the country.

Second – we are foreigners in very strange dress.  I have not seen an Iranian wearing a motorcycle helmet.

Men yell at us from sidewalk, scooters, motorcycles, cars, corners as we ride by.  Now for the first time, Iranian females talk to us.  Asking if they can take our photo.  In casual conversation with A few English speaking Iranians, they make it a point to say Iranians love Americans, but our governments have problems.

Tomorrow we ride to Rasht, Iran.

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