In November 2018 I visited Iran with my husband and son. We took flight from Mumbai to Shiraj with a stop over of 5 hours at Sharjah.On reaching Shiraj we took a taxi to our hostel room, Taha Hostel which was located in the narrow lanes of Shiraj. Our host Mr. Neema welcomed us with the refreshing Irani Chay (Tea) and some sweets and dates.
We opted for a private room which was specious with a twin bed and a single bed with all basic needs taken Care of and beautifully decorated.
After freshening up we decided to take stroll around the place. Every narrow lanes are clean and tidy. Streets are broad and though the traffic is easy going still follows the traffic rules. The people are very warm , friendly and welcoming. We had Haleem a minced meat delicacy in one of the food stalls. As it was getting dark and cold we retired for the day.
PS : At the airport we met two porters who helped us with luggage. Called our hostel to conform the address, and arranged taxi for us. We paid them in dollars amounting to INR 2000. On reaching our hostel the driver asked us Kiraya meaning rent. And we were like what ? Haven't we paid before boarding the car. !! While we were trying to negotiate in vain as the driver was speaking in farsi and there is no way we were able to decipher it a passer by who new English voluntarily came to help us. And what we learnt by him was shocking. He said we were conned by the two guys at airport. More than loosing a hefty amount we were surprised to see the ashamed faces of our driver and our hostel manager. They literally felt bad for the behaviour of their country men. We had no choice but to give the driver his due fare, but the driver assured us not to worry and he will try and bring back the money. We did not give notice to his assurance and continued with our evening. But what surprised us was when the driver came back within an hour with the money from all the way to the airport and returned it to us. Such are the Irani' s.
Day 1