3^rd October Bam, Iran

A day of waiting.

I spent the day roaming around the city. I visited the ancient ruins of the old city. The old city was considered to be one of the greatest architectural marvels of the ancient world. The world’s largest mud and clay city. The old city had been abandoned centuries ago after a war so savage and barbaric that the inhabitants were unable to bring themselves to return. The old city was pulverised by the earthquake….. It is now being restored, nobody will ever live there but the place is remarkable. With a footprint of 1km * 1km, 15 metre high walls with a huge citadel rising from the middle of the city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Austrian lads returned; 1 became3. An hour or so later another biker pitched up… Jerome a Dutch guy, resident in Dubai. Another few hours later his mate Stephen from Scotland arrived; 3 became 5.

Stephen is travelling from Perth Scotland to Perth Austrailiia on a Triumph Tiger 1050. He has already covered 12000km.

We agreed to travel onto the Iranian border together. I decided to ride out of the city to buy Benzene Super (Best quality Petrol available in Iran) I got to the station 15km from the guest house to discover they had none. I filled up on regular Benzene….. which is ropey. I headed back to Bam and unknowingly took a wrong turn…. I hit a roundabout that seemed familiar and followed a mental map. I should have realised I was in the wrong place as soon as ended up on dirt trails.

The police found me and held onto me. It was clear they were going to organise an escort to the guesthouse. In the meantime one of the cops sat on my bike and rode off (uninvited…) What can you do when 2 guys with a Kalashnikov and handguns take a fancy to you bike. ….. I wasn’t very impressed  or comfortable with this. They cops then started escorting me…. It felt all wrong so I stopped dead. They reveresd back to me…. There was some shouting and then it dawned on me that I might not even be in the city of Bam… which in fact I wasn’t. I had exited the highway a town before Bam…….

That night we had a meal together, swapped stories and relaxed before the ride to the Iran : Pakistan Border.

My Iranian dates...........