Iran - Kerman, Bam, Zahedan

IRAN 4

From Yazd we headed for Kerman. We were late leaving as usual (Andreas is never ready on time). However, we discovered that the new inner tubes that we had bought for the new tyres had been stolen - so annoying as there are no motorbikes here that they will fit. We still have two front and one rear left so will have to make do with them.

We finally arrived in Kerman at about 5 pm, when we were riding into Kerman a young lad on a scooter rode alongside Andreas, this turned out to be our pre-arranged host for our time in Kerman. Unfortunately, Andreas tried to run him off the road ! But eventually we stopped and he explained that he was Mr Reza's son and he would take us to meet his father and then to our free accomodation. As we have found elsewhere in Iran the hospitality is almost overwhelming, we were shown around Kerman and we even got to watch the Spiderman film in English ! .

The Iran pages are getting a bit long so I will keep it short, Kerman is very similar to Yazd, it is a brick and mud city, and like most of the other cities in Iran It has a large tiled Mosque, an interesting bazaar and teahouses, it is also very dusty, it also has its own Motocross track, where we watched Hussain Reza riding his 1986 CR250.

Drinking Tea in a traditional Teahouse in Kerman

We left Kerman and headed for Bam where we were expecting to meet up with Sean and Adrian, we stopped at a checkpoint on route and just after we left Sean and Adrian appeared in our mirrors, now we are five.

Meeting for the first time (when ever we stop a crowd of people appear out of nowhere)

Having found a hotel in Bam we swapped adventure stories and spent the evening chatting (and drinking). We all booked into a dormatory room for two nights, in order to make sure that we had a full day to check over the bikes. We had been advised that the run to the border could be unsafe and we did not wish any unecessary breakdowns or stoppages on the way. We toyed with the idea of a police escort for the last 150km but decided against it, so long as we rode during the day, we were told, eveything would be OK. We managed only a rushed visit to the Citadel at Bam, making it only 1/2 and hour before sunset. However it was a really impressive old city constructed from mud clad bricks which at one stage housed over 7000 people.

Andreas, Cliff, Jenny and Sean relaxing in Bam with a Belgium backpacker.

The Citadel at Bam at sunset.

The journey to the border was expected to go smoothly but the amount of time to leave Iran and enter Pakistan was anyones guess so the next morning we left at 8.30 - our earliest yet I believe !

As it was the route was safe with no hassles. It took around 2 hours to get out of Iran and another 2 to get into Pakistan - we finally booked into the Government rest house at the Pakistan border at around 7.30, where there was no electricity !!!