All About Kish

3/26:

Today is the day that we all head to Kish. I’m sitting here at the airport right now, waiting for my flight to take off. Well, actually, we’re still waiting to board the plane, I hear the weather in Kish may be a problem for us, but I don’t know for sure. I’m no weather man, that is for sure! We’ll be there for about four days and then we’ll return to Shiraz. First things first: I need to take a shower when I arrive and then I need to purchase a new digital camera, as my (now) piece of crap Nikon broke last night. The stupid lens locked up on me. I guess this is the garbage you get when you pay big bucks for something that was made for $.3 an hour by children in China. What crap! I’m only buying a Canon or Sony from here on out, and I won’t buy unless it says “Made in Japan” on it. I mentioned taking a shower because the hot water at my grandmother’s house for some reason does not work anymore. I don’t know, it was after 11pm last night and I tried to take as shower, but the water was ice cold. Oh well. Next update will likely be tonight from the apartment in Kish!

So after a brief flight delay, we boarded the plane where we were joined by my uncle Ali, who works for Aseman Airlines here in Iran as an airplane engineer. It was pretty sweet, since for a 40-45 minute flight, we were still served a meal onboard. My uncle even came up to us a bunch of times to ask us if we wanted extra food, ect. The looks on the other passengers’ faces was priceless! We were getting all of this special treatment, it was pretty cool.

Once we got here, we took a taxi to the apartment that we’re staying in. We ate lunch, took a nap, and then went out to the indoor bazaars only to find that they were closed at the time. We then decided to go see the underground city of Kariz. This city is over 2,000 years old! We took a tour of the place and then toward the end of the tour, we saw a performance by a guy who makes music from his throat. It sounds like he’s playing a flute, but its just him and his microphone. I was very fascinated with this.

When we were finished with the tour, we proceeded back to the bazaars, called Paradise and Paradise II. My cousins bought a bunch of stuff, I bought some cologne, a Swiss watch, and a new digital camera. We ate dinner at the bazaar and then came back to the apartment around 10pm or so.

My older cousin and I decided once we had all settled down that he and I wanted to go out to the beach. We took a taxi there and when out by the water, took our shoes off, rolled up our pant-legs and stepped into the tropical water. Our intention was to watch the moon rise but we were late. Even still, it was really fun. We stayed there for about an hour or so before we decided we would like to go for a few rounds of bowling. The only problem with that was since its still the beginning of the Persian New Year, Kish is extremely crowded. We waited in line for about 20 minutes before we decided it’d be better to come back at another time.

On our way out, we saw that there was a police van outside the bowling alley trying to restrain some guy for harassing some women. This was pretty funny. We walked across the street and bought some fruit juice before heading home. We started walking home before opting to just take a taxi, this time an illegal one!

3/27:

Today we went out and saw a lot of the historical locations across the island of Kish. We hopped into a taxi in the morning and ended up hiring the guy to be our driver for the duration of our stay here. His name is Aghah Sadeghian, which is like saying Mr. Sadeghian. Sadeghian means “honest” in Farsi. This man from the get go was just an all around nice guy, especially compared to the rest of the grumpy drivers we’ve had thus far. This guy offered his services to us, to take us around, show us the island, and to be our driver for our stay here. We simply wanted a ride. Our intention was to go to the Dolphin Park for the late morning show, but it was sold out. So we went to the old water reservoir and the ancient city that is located near the water. It was there that we learned that the likes of Persian poet Sa’di and even Marco Polo himself had once graced the island of Kish. It was here that Marco Polo discovered the starting point of the “Silk Road,” the trade route between the Middle East and China. We then went and took some photos by the water.

Now the morning dolphin show was sold out, so our cab driver went on his own merit and through one of his connections, bought us four tickets to the afternoon show. We offered to pay him extra for the tickets, but he refused! Anyways, the Dolphin Park also is a zoo, which showcases many birds and animals. The dolphin show itself showcased a seal, two elephant seals, and four dolphins. All in all, it was really great show and I enjoyed it very much!

After we left the Dolphin Park, we went and had dinner at a nice little Persian restaurant here and then we came home, only to go back out down to the beach to rent bicycles. Well, there was a long wait for bicycles so we opted to rent motorized bikes. These were electric powered mini motorcycles. On one stretch of road I managed to get mine up to about 35 mph. It was the first time I’ve ridden a motorized bike like that. These things pick up pretty quick and are fun once you get the hang of it. I was obviously too big in proportion to comfortably drive the thing, but I managed and had fun anyway. After we were done, we took a cab home and called it a night.

3/28:

Today wasn’t much of a lively day, compared to our first two days here on the island. The reason is that we didn’t make reservations to go jet skiing or scuba diving prior to coming here, and since it’s still the Persian New Year right now, this place is incredibly crowded. Other than the historical sites we saw yesterday and the scuba diving and jet skiing I mentioned earlier, the only other thing to do here is shop. In that regard, it is a lot like America here. They have all of the same shops you’d see at a local mall in the US. My 15 year old cousin came here primarily to shop, on her parents’ money. I’ll hold my thoughts on that one there so as not to offend anyone. My thing is, most of the stuff we see here for sale can be bought in Shiraz, since Shiraz has become very much westernized in its own regard. The main difference is Shiraz is still primarily known for its rich history, not its designer shops!

Anyways, we went bowling this morning! This was the second time I’ve had a chance to bowl during my stay here in Iran. I went with my dad and my older cousin, we left the 15 year old (who is a girl and loves to shop), and my grandmother at home. I love them both, as they are family, however they both tend to complain about things way too much. My grandmother seems to think that everywhere she goes should be just like Shiraz, and the reality is that its not. We had a great time bowling though, since it was just us three guys. We came home for lunch and a long nap, and then, we went to dinner upon waking up. Afterwards, we went shopping again! Now, I managed to buy some Armani cologne yesterday for about $35, which is incredibly cheap. I’ll be going back to that shop that I went to last night again before we leave to pick up the two other Armani cologne products they have because you just can’t find it that cheap anywhere. In the malls we were at tonight I went around and priced the same cologne I bought yesterday and these places were much more expensive. All of these places wanted around $50 for the same stuff, but offered bootleg versions for about $15. I couldn’t believe the price differences here! I bought the same, real cologne for $35 and just down the street they are asking $50 for it! Anyways, I’m at home now with my dad, waiting for my cousins and grandmother to get home so I can get some sleep before we return to Shiraz tomorrow night.

3/29:

Today was our last day in Kish. We didn’t do a whole lot. My father and I went out to the two main malls, or bazaars as everyone calls them here, in search of some more cologne for me and just to kill some time. We ate lunch at the mall and came home for a bit. Around 5:30 our friend, the cab driver picked us up and took us to the site of the sunken Greek ship that has been here for over 40 years. Apparently, people flock to this location every evening, not just to see the ship, but also for the amazing view of the sunset that one can see from this side of the island. We watched the sunset, which was breathtaking to say the least, and that’s despite the fact that the sky was a little cloudy. Afterwards we headed home to finish packing up and head out to the airport. Our flight was supposed to leave at 10:15 pm. It got initially delayed to 11:40 pm and finally 1 am. We still are unclear of why the delay occurred but either way, I’m glad to be back in Shiraz now. I’ll have pictures up soon.