Leg 10 / Etapa 10 - BK & Sophia Z Kovachevich

10^th Leg: Tehran – Abadan

One of most important moments of our trip.

According to the decision from Istanbul at the beginning or our trip, we should on the way back, visit Persepolis (Iran) and Babylon (Iraq). Now, it was time for the decision: going to the South of Iran (as per previous decision or, going towards West to Belgrade, via Istanbul (Turkey).

My friends opted to go directly home, probably due to a combination of reasons; money, tiredness, already full of impressions etc.

I was also tired, I didn’t have money, I was also full of impressions but, I couldn’t resist not going to Persepolis and Babylon. I was so close to miss such an opportunity.

I had two big problems:

The first problem was money; at that point I had only $80 in pocket. I had to make a few thousand of kilometres through 4 countries (Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Bulgaria), and spend on the trip at least 2-3 weeks.
The second problem, maybe even bigger was lack of information about the possibility of passing from Iran to Iraq in the South taking in consideration their permanent conflict over the area in the South, the same area I was going to go through. Nobody was able to give me the valid information: police and authorities in Iran as well as our Embassy in Teheran.

I decided to continue on the trip alone. At that moment, the decision didn’t look like a serious one taking in consideration the problems. I was afraid of the decision around 3 weeks later, when I reached home and when I started “replaying the film” of the trip from that point; what I went through and what could have happened to me.

I remember the moment when I sat in the bus (I think it was “Mihentour” company) and I waved to my friends who stayed outside with “see you in Belgrade”.

I practically began a new trip, alone. At that moment I was not aware what could happen next.

Esfahan

3^rd largest city in Iran
Established around 1000BC
Famous Persian carpets

10. Etapa: Teheran – Abadan

Jedan od prelomnih momenata naseg puta.

Po dogovoru iz Isambula, na pocetku puta, trebalo je u povratku posetiti Persepolis (Iran) I Vavilon (Iraq). Sada je trebalo odluciti kojim putem ici: Na jug, po prethodnom dogovoru, ili na zapad – pravac Beograd preko Istambula.

Moji saputnici su bili za direktan povratak kuci, verovatno iz vise razloga: nedostatak novca, umor, prezasicenost utiscima.

Ja opet, nisam mogao da odolim a da ne posetim Persepolis I Vavilon o kojima sam dosta citao. Bio sam tako blizu i tu priliku nisam mogao da ispustim.

Tu sam se susreo sa 2 velika problema:

Novac: u tom trenutku sam imao $80 u dzepu a trebalo je proci jos kroz 4 zemlje (Iran, Iraq, Turska, Bugarska), nekoliko hiljada kilometara I provesti na putu jos bar 2 – 3 nedelje.
Drugi problem, mozda jos I veci, bio je nedostatak informacija o mogucnosti prelaska Iransko – Iracke granice kod Abadana obzirom na sukob Irana I Iraka koji se vodio bas u tom delu zemlje. Niko nije mogao da mi pruzi validnu informaciju: ni milicija u Iranu a ni nasa ambasada u Teheranu.

Odlucio sam da put nastavim sam i krenem na jug Irana. U tom trenutku, odluka nije bila teska bez obzira na potencijalne probleme. Te odluke sam se uplasio tek kada sam se vratio kuci posle dvadesetak dana I kada sam “premotavao” film kroz sta sam sve prosao I sta je sve moglo da mi se desi.

I dan danas se secam te slike kada sam seo u autobus (mislim da je bila kompanija “Mihentur”) i kada smo se pozdravili uz “vidimo se u Beogradu”.

Krenuo sam na prakticno novi put a da u tom trenutku nisam bio svestan kroz sta cu sve proci.

Usput sam prosao kroz Ishafan