Impressions like ping pong balls bouncing into you after crossing the Iran border. Mosques are more quiet than in Turkey. There’s less rubbish. Children wave and smile to you. Women wrap themselves in scarves and chadors.
Welcome to Iran! do you need change? – in the hall of customs we’re accosted by black money market sellers. They don’t care about the bank office next door where the rates are really better. You think you can ignore them and go straight to the bank. Not on this border. Our cycling companion managed to exchange his money at a desk next to a row of phone boxes. They looked like bank office windows to him and the guy behind the desk like a bank employee. This is how they catch westerners who like to do things official.
After crossing the border we’re immediately greeted by the universal Hello hello! By now we heard it probably a million times. Iran is so isolated from foreigners that everybody desperately wants to communicate with them. It doesn’t matter that a conversation ends after two phrases with the succinct bye, and probably after the next question they forget where we’re from. In Iran the actual question matters less than communication. That’s why we got used to return the hello hello’s and wave and wave to honking cars. To Iranians foreigners are still exotic.
On the road we get a lot of attention. Invitations for a chat, a meal, a place to sleep, but most often for tea. A teapot of chai and a bowl of sugar cubes. An Iranian driver never leaves home without it. That, and a tent. The road is full of pick-nicking drivers and their families. Everybody drinks tea in the shadow of the tent, fresh smoke of a real barbecue and plenty of Iranian food. Life seems to be slower, people make all the time in the world for you and they really enjoy your company.
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Ispudziai kaip sokinejantys teniso kamuoliukai apiberia vos kirtus Irano siena. Nutyla mececiu sauksmas, zmones maziau siukslina, vaikai mojuoja ir sypsos, o moterys susisuka i skaras ir cadras. Welcome to Iran! hello hello! do you need change?,- apipuola juodosios rinkos prekeiviai valiuta, nors gretimai yra bankas ir siulo tikrai geresni kursa. Atrodo taip paprasta praejai pro sali, izingsniavai i banka ir gavai puiku sanderi, bet prekeiviai valiuta taves taip greitai nepaleis. Musu bendrakeleivis sugebejo issikeisti pinigus telefono budelej, nes jam tai primine banko langeli, o ten sedintis zmogus oficialu banko darbuotoja. Taip jie pagauna, oficialumo ieskancius vakariecius.
Vos tik isvaziavus is pasienio isgirstam magiskaji hello hello. Dabar tikriausiai jau girdeta koki milijona kartu. Visi labai nori kalbeti angliskai ir sveikina mus lyg uzstrige ploksteles nesibaigiancia fraze: how are you whats your name mister. Masinu signalai ir mojavimai vairuotojams tampa savotisku kasdieniu ritualu. Moteris ant dviracio iranieciams atrodo egzotiskai, mieste sulaukiu aplodismentu ir padrasinimu, kaimuose – atidaus spoksojimo.
Kelyje esam apsupti svelnaus vietiniu demesio. Mus vaisina arbuzu, dovanoja duonos gabala arba kviecia moja ateiti gerti arbatos, nes Irane niekas neiseina is namu be termoso pilno juodos arbatos ir saujos cukraus kubeliu. Pakeles nusetos ant kilimeliu sedinciu vairuotoju ir ju zmonu. Ilsisi nuo kaitros ka tik surestu palapiniu seseliuose, gurksnoja arbata ir valgo krepsiuose nesibaigiancias iraniskas gerybes. Gyvenimo tempas cia letesnis, zmones daugiau sypsosi ir megaujasi pravaziuojanciu keistuoliu – uzsienieciu kompanija.
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He offers more vodka. “Come on, I’ll show you the fish.” We step into the yard and gather around a bathtub with mullets. He takes one out and displays it.
THIS IS Alexander Osipov’s book stall at the 
It was time to push Alexander’s old idea forward. He showed the city postcards of book stalls along the Seine In Paris. If they attract tourists in great numbers and adds couleur locale there, why not in Tbilisi? Indeed it was a solid proposal and the city adopted the plan without objections.
