Moving Forward...

If you think apartheid ended somewhere around 1990 as I did, Johannesburg will come as quite a shock. Segregation between the black rundown downtown-area and poor townships and the white luxurious northern neighbourhoods is almost perfect. The dividing lines are invisible yet razorsharp. I stayed with three amazing guys – thanks R&L&S! – with whom I stayed a whole month! This is a city I wrestled with to understand. And still do. But it’s fascinating and tantalizing.

Joubert Park, downtown. I’m positively the only white guy around. Not safe.

Disturbing sight at the Apartheid museum.

Bentley’s for sale at Hyde Park Mall. All visitors white. All servants, security personnel, parking attendants and waiters black. Classifying Johannesburg as 2nd world makes no sense: it’s 1st and 3rd world.

Great autumn/winter colors of Zoo Lake.

Isolation cells for black people at Constitution Hill.

View on downtown from “Top of Africa”.

A penthouse without a view?

More Johannesburg pictures.

This park is amazing. Even without venturing out of your car, you can see stunning wildlife every other kilometer. This park is packed with animals.

Mooning Kruger Park.

How cool is that!

For sizing.

Right in front of you when you’re having lunch.

Hyena.

Comfy huts.

Relatives.

It took us forever, but there’s a leopard on the lower right branch of the tree!

Magical sky.

More Kruger Park pictures.

Voortrekker monument is where you can commemorate famous white people with Dutch names killing many black indigenous people.

The plan: you invite your friends and drink as much as you can, stay up as late as possible, set the alarm for 6 am, continue drinking and then… go out there and fire guns. To me, this sounds as a not-so-smart idea. Quite a South African experience!

The hunt is on! On a game farm you can shoot everything that moves, and everything has its price (giraffe is expensive, buck is cheap).

A scary sight in the early morning.

Impala down. Marco happy.

The start of the show (note Ilona in the back )

Skin.

Intestines.

Impala, undone.

Ilona & Head of the Expedition, father Paschkewitz.

More Pietersberg pictures.

So good to visit Ilona in South Africa! The very first day Ilona brought me to this chocolate-cum-champagne tasting evening… now that’s quite a change from Iran!

After 40 tough hours of travel (including my first nighttrain)…

Ilona picked me up at the airport (priceless!)…

Got me set up at the shabby place of one of her colleagues…

And showed me her Joburg-(night)life…

Touristy but loads of fun.

More Johannesburg pictures.

The Astan-e Quds Razavi complex in Mashad contains the remains of Imam Reza, the 8th (out of 12) Imam of Shii Islam – as such it is one of the most holy places in the world. I spent the whole day within the complex, blown away by beauty, dedication and devotion. People praying, reading, shouting, crying, in silence, walking with coffins of recently deceased, on honeymoon seeking blessing, singing, filled with grief. The site is huge, over 300 meters in diameter and the outer ring is still under construction.
I concluded after a spectacular day that this was the absolute best possible end of my trip in Iran, so took the nighttrain to Tehran and flew to South Africa.

No pictures allowed inside, so I can show you very little…

Maybe the most suprising thing about the Tomb of Cyrus the Great is that today is seems to be in the middle of nowhere. And of course that these stones are still on top of each other after some 2500 years.

Nagh-e Rostam. The Roman Emperor captured by the Persian King.

Unicorns. An interesting change from the Greek versions.

Iranians like covering their women… this is some 1300 years before Islam!

So what actually happens to the Afghan refugees?

The tomb of Hafez, one of the most loved Persian poets. Hundreds of people come here every night, some just sitting, others reading his poetry aloud. The atmosphere is magical. One man was crying helplessly at his epitaph – where else in the world can that happen?

After taking my camera and playing with it for 10 minutes, this man insisted I took a picture of him. We’re sitting on Persian carpets in front of a mosque and we absolutely zero understanding of each others languages. I like it.

Detail of Vakil mosque.

Clean interior of the Vakil Mosque.

So… 137 what?

And always the mountains as backdrop to the city.

Friendly Shirazis insisting they buy me their local icecream.

More Shiraz pictures.

Ooh Esfahan! It’s called ‘half the world’ and although that might be overstating it, they have much going for them. Their many pieces of art are suprisingly intact, of delicate intricacy and absolutely magnificent. Basically, if you love Islamic art and architecture, you run out of superlatives here.

Lotf Allah mosque. What beauty! You’re allowed to cry.

The Naghsh-i Jahan Square beckons you every day.

Dome of the Imam mosque. The Friday prayer here is packed.

Si-o-seh bridge.

A hard sell… (you’re looking at a river in case you were wondering)

This lovely motif in the Jameh mosque can also be found in the Imam mosque.

I know a business opportunity when I see one. I love the ‘or even more’ part.

Iran is picknick country: thousands of people do so on the river shores at night.

Any questions? This is the hotel I’m staying at.

Jewelry shop… Girls will be girls.

Don’t laugh. This stuff is actually quite drinkable.

There are nice cafes in the Armenian quarter.

More Esfahan pictures.

Meet the family.

Meet the view.

More Fooladshahr pictures.