Hitchhiking from Kashan to Yazd (6 September)

The Kashan hotel guy told me that the best way to get to my next destination, Yazd, was to grab a shared taxi out to the main north-south freeway and flag down a bus heading to Yazd from Tehran. This I did but when I got to the tollgates on the freeway I saw that 10-15 others had the same idea. In the first hour no less than 15 buses went straight past us, all full or uninterested. I decided to hitchhike and soon had roped in the toll collectors to ask the cars where they were going and whether they had space for me.

Finally a guy driving alone, Farazdah, agreed to take me…along with an off-duty soldier and a family of three. A little cramped we set off and soon Farazdah was burning up the excellent road between Kashan and Yazd. The landscape was dusty and mostly flat, flanked by the magnificent brown of the Zagros Mountains to the west and the odd military installation and village along the way. I tested out some Farsi phrases on Farazdah and the others who, politely and grinning, corrected my pronunciation and urged me on.

The mother peeled cucumbers for everyone and coated them in salt – actually really good when you are driving through the desert. After 2 hours we dropped them off and then the soldier too, who waved a thick wad of notes in Farazdah’s face who, in true Iranian taroef-style, refused to take money. I found out that Farazdah was heading to his family home in a village on the way to the border with Turkmenistan. This meant he had to drive 1-2 hours out of his way to drop me in Yazd but he refused to let me get out at the exit and insisted he take me all the way. He played some brilliant, uplifting girly anthem style techno, featuring the singer Nushafarin, and we bopped along for the final stretch of the trip.

Soon we were in Yazd and Farazdah insisted on taking me to the Jameh mosque. After a quick peek inside he dropped me at my destination, the Silk Road Hotel, a restored traditional house with huge courtyard, open roof with rooms along the sides and a restaurant with a great reputation. I decided on the dorm in the converted cellar and bid farewell to Farazdah. He refused 5 times to take any money despite going out of his way and driving me so far. Night fell and as I relaxed in the Silk Hotel courtyard with my fake beer, I gazed at the minarets of the Jameh mosque peeking over the top of the roof, the stunning blue tiles bathed in bright spotlights. Nice.