Day 07 - Driving to Tabriz

Day 07 Saturday August 20

Today is a full day of driving to Tabriz.

We left from Teheran at 11.15 am and the hunt for fuel starts. Aarash managed to find it at 1.45 pm. Finding diesel is tougher than buying 10 kgs of opium in Iran and each time we fuel up, we end up paying 10 times the rate.

Lunch was at Hoora fast food restaurant at Quazvin city in Zanjan province. The city is quite lovely. There are wide roads with plants and flowers on the median. We saw parks and roundabouts all over.

The general impression I had was that of a country with poor infrastructure and a suppressed society. The ground reality is quite different. Women in public are expected to wear the hijab and behave modestly. Other than this I did not find much difference between Iran and any other developed country. The major difference however is in technology that they have which is probably 30 years behind other parts of the world.

The road network is superb and for a few seconds I saw 180 kmph on the odometer today. Driving my own India registered car in Iran felt great.

For the entire trip, except in the UK where we will be driving for only a day, the challenge is changing lanes and overtaking a right hand drive car in a "Keep Right" setup.

We reached our hotel in Tabriz at 10 pm. We celebrated Milind Datar's birthday with cake and dinner at the restaurant.

Today's figures:

Espinas Palace Hotel, Tehran 11.15 am

Diesel stop 1.45 pm - 2.30 pm - 160 kms

Lunch at Hoora food hall 3.00 pm - 3.45 pm - 14 kms

Tea break 6.15 pm - 7 pm - 223 kms

Laleh Park Hotel Tabriz - 10 pm - 241 kms

Traveled today 638 kms

Total distance 2213 kms