– 2014 Getting away to Middle East Dubai Iran 1 Month Trip
If we were not going to see this far away little village Palangan we won’t be going to Sanandaj. Palangan is famous for its location where it is sitting on the edge of the mountains. Every single house was made by yellow mud bricks in a shape of rectangle. The houses stand there silently with different heights for different houses.
We could not see any tourists in Sanandaj. Every local passing by would look at us for a long time until we were far away. They would say Ching Chang Chung when they saw Asians. It seemed that this phrase is the only phrase that Chinese can pronounce by them. People were excited when they saw us, some would say Hi to us, some would say Welcome to Iran/Welcome to Sanandaj, some would even give us candy/naan/tea.
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| Sanandaj city with a lots of shared taxi |
In Sanandaj we saw many Kurdish. You could easily recognize the males by their apparels. Long baggy trousers with a shirt tucked in, with a piece of cloth as belt and a pair of white knit shoes.
We did not go to a lot of places, mostly strolling around in the city. We visited naan making factory (Got a free piece)
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| He was making the dough into circular shapes |
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| He put the dough inside and made it flatten |
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| Naan, freshly made |
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| tables (takhte nard) making shop |
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| Different patterns of takhte nard |
We enjoyed grilled chicken and doogh.
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| Dessert, like egg pudding |
We also went to western Abidar National Park and walked to the top and enjoyed the whole scenery of Sanandaj with the snow mountains behind.
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| Snow mountains in Sanandaj |
We also visited museum Asef Mansion (IRR$50,000). It introduced the Kurdish’s dress and cloth and their daily lives. There was another museum but it was closed when we got there.
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| Asef Mansion |
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| Kurdish's daily life |
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| Kirdish's apparel |
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| Kurdish Women |
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| Bubbly children |
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| A mosque I think was special |
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| Beautiful ceiling |
The second day morning we went to Palangan. We needed to get to another city Kamyaran first with chicken bus, it took around one hour and forty-five minutes. The bus would only be departed if it was full. In the car we met a very nice guy. He is called Ragheb and he is a literature teacher. He taught in a very far away village, further away from Palangan. When we got out from the bus he asked us “May I help you?”
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| Kamyaran, Ragheb's back |
When he knew that we would like to go to Palangan, he instantly said that he was going that direction too and asked us to wait for his friend. His friend is also a teacher and he has a car. As a result we did not need a taxi to go there.
During the journey we talked with them, every time when they needed to go to that village, they needed to get from Sanandaj to Kamyaran then there. They even shared their naan with us, with cheese dip, super delicious.
It took around 1 hour to go to there. After arriving, Ragheb even walked down with us to the village to ask if there was any bus passing by and going back to Sanandaj. But the answer was no, we could only wait for passing car to give us a ride later. Ragheb said if we left tomorrow, his friend could drive us as they were leaving too.
Palangan gave me the feeling of silence. Ragheb said in fact there are other little villages which look similar to Palangan. The reason why only Palangan is famous because it is the one appears on the internet.
As it was winter and raining, the roads were crammed with mud. I could not imagine how the locals can walk in the mud right after they step out from their home. Maybe they already get used to it. There were a lot of staircases, whenever you wanted to go to other homes or other places you needed to walk up and walk down. I gasped when I was walking.
Here was far away from city, every air you breathe in was fresh smell of turd. There were many cows working. I believed apart from the mud there was a lot of shit mixing. The mud hills behind were the same color as the houses. It seemed the existence of the hills is because they want to make the houses more prominent. The houses had the same tone and shape, mostly rectangular. Window frames were blue/white in color mainly.
As we were not sure whether there would be cars passing by, we were worried while visiting the village. There was no sound of human and only for a few times we saw the locals walking. There was one family inviting us to have dinner with them. In fact I wanted to try, however, you needed to remember the characteristics in Iran is Taarof which I had been illustrated what was that in another blog entry “Weather, Culture, Language and Currency of Iran”. Thus we rejected the invitation. Here was a little bit small and it just took around 30 minutes to walk around.
Far from the city, no bustle, no modern entertainment, people like me would wonder how they live in this small village? From the point of view of people coming from the city, the life here cannot be called as life. But from their angle of view, this is the life. Perhaps they will love it when they experience the bustling city. Or perhaps they are sick of city’s life and thus here they are.
My Itinerary:
Dubai (1 day)-> Sharjah (Where the ferry was) -> 1. Bandar Abbas (1 day) -> 2. Kerman (1 day) -> 3. Bam (0.5 day) -> Kerman (1 day) -> 4. Yazd (2.5 days)-> 5. Kashan (Abyaneh , Maranjab) (3 days) -> 6. Tehran (2 days) -> 7. Sanandaj (Palangan) (2 days)-> 8. Kermanshah (2 days) -> 9. Isfahan (3 days) -> 10. Shiraz (3 days) -> 11. Bandar Abbas (2 days) -> Sharjah (Where we took the ferry)-> Dubai (0.5 day)
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