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3. Persia
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At the Persian border visitors were greeted by a picture of the ‘Shah in Shah’ floating above the clouds. The image of the ‘King of Kings’ was at least 3 meters high.
Shah-in-shah
Photo by Wikipedia
The country’s wealth was very noticeable. On fully developed roads we were crossing the desert landscape and the camels only grudgingly moved off the roads to make place for the cars. Waves of heat were to be seen on the horizon.
Teheran wasn’t that oriental, more like a ‘New York’ of the Middle East. I went to the ‘Amir Kabir Hotel’ of which I had been informed in Istanbul. Another one of these meeting places. The ‘Magic Bus Group’ was still searching for something to smoke. They weren’t the only ones. Everybody wanted to continue to Afghanistan, even more so after having heard the stories told by returning freaks.
In this heat and noise it was almost impossible for me to sleep and when the sun rose I looked for the main bus station. The bus to Kabul slowly filled up with people of all nations, eager and happy to soon reach the ‘Paradise’. I made friends with Francesco and Maurizio, a gay couple from Florence. They had a small shop in Florence where they sold wooden toys which they also manufactured themselves.Their time was limited to one month and for that reason they stayed in Afghanistan. They were planning on flying to India the following year. In 1976 flying was a lot more expensive than today. The journey by land from Europe to India took at least 10 days. This gradual acclimatisation to new cultures was a lot more adventurous and also quite a bit cheaper. You were part of a group of kindred spirits on the path towards the East and Afghanistan was the first highlight on this journey. Many got stuck in Kabul, but for the major part this was just a stop-over on the way to the promised land.
In the bus a French couple was sitting to my right – Antoine and Chantal from Paris, on their way to Goa. We agreed to meet there for Christmas. Chantal read a book about Milarepa and I was studying a map of Afghanistan. Maurizio slept with his head on his friend’s lap. Most of my co-travellers were sleeping probably having sweet dreams.
further
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Wikipedia
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