Petrol and Flour are are subjects of subsadizatıon by the Iranıan government.
In Iran you get about RI10 000 for $1. Because of raging inflation this number is constantly increasing – even noticeable for me during one exchange to another – but to give a perception of how far your money will get you, below are a few examples.
- A bed in a dormitory or a very cheap double room: $5-6 (RI50 000 – 60 000) per person.
- A 10min shared taxi (the taxi picks up other people who’s going the same direction): ca $0.3
- A 7 hour bus ride with air condition, snacks and drinks: ca $6.
- A Naan freshly made from one of the many Naan shops that you’ll find on every street: $0.05-0.3 (enough for breakfast for two).
- A Chelo Kebab (one of the most common dishes) at a normal restaurant: $2-3.
- City bus : $0.05.
- 1.5 liter of coke: $0.7.
- A delicious soft ice-cream sold at every street corner: $0.3.
- A bottle of water: $0.25.
- Fast food (hamburger, falafel etc.): around $1
- An awesome solar powered Casio watch (“not fake, made in Japan”): $20.
It should be noted though, that petrol and flour are heavily subsidized by the government, making things like bread and transport ridiculously cheap – while other things are just very cheap. (1 liter of petrol is less than $0.3 for the first 300km or something during a 3 month period and then it increases slightly the more you drive.)
This makes Iran a very cheap country to travel in and you think that you’d throw Rials around you as if there were no tomorrow. But that is not really the case. It doesn’t take long before you adapt and get a feeling for what things cost and should cost. Hence if a taxi driver tries to rip you off by charging $1 when you know it shouldn’t be more than $0.5 you will give him a hard time. Likewise if you’re buying Naan and the Naan-guy takes you for a fool and ask for $0.5 instead of the $0.2 it should be you’d rather walk 100m to the next Naan shop – even though you wouldn’t stop to pick up those 30 cents from the street back home.
I guess this is how man works: you don’t want to pay more than what something is worth, the market price, even though you’re used to pay more or because you have relatively more money than the average person around you – and especially not when the shopkeeper tries to charge you a premium because you’re a tourist (even though I must admit it might have been more fair).
I reckon this trip will make me think twice before traveling to western (read expensive) countries again since you can see and do SO much more per dollar in countries like these; in the end of the day there’s really no activity that you have to pass up on because it’s too expensive. And you also don’t know for how long these havens will exist so you might as well explore them when you have the chance.
That said, when getting to Istanbul I'll adjust again and be willing to pay fıve or ten times what I got used to paying in Iran.
While writing this in my notebook, me and Kiwi were on a bus to Maku (north-west Iran, close to the Turkish border). From there we took a Savari (minibus taxi) to the border crossing and then walked 20 min across the border to Turkey. The Turkish passport control was a mess. People were pushing and shoving like crazy to get first in line and actual fights broke out. After watching the spectacle for an hour I managed to get hold of a border guard who gave us special treatment (I guess because we were western looking) and processed our passport so we could get on a minibus to Dogubayazit, the nearest border town. In Dogobayazit we met up with Catherine, a Belgian who Kiwi met in Shiraz. Except from the awesome volcano mountain Ararat (5137m) and a splendid old palace called Ishak Pasha Palace, there was not really anything to see so we took the bus to Van after seeing the sites the next day.
Kuriosa: Mt Ararat is the mountain where Noah allegedly stranded after the 40 days and 40 nights of flood. The mountain is considered holy and it was forbidden to climb it until 1950.
While putting the text on a word file the clock was 03.53 in the morning in the shabbiest hotel in Van. My bed was broken and I couldn't’t sleep so I took Kiwis computer and started writing in the very charming hotel lobby.
While actually posting I'm at an internet cafe in Van. Yesterday we strolled around town and had a beer (first ın 4 weeks) with some locals we met on the street. Afterwards we walked past a Kurdısh wedding and managed to get ourselfs invited! We were given endless amounts of cake and drinks and got to witness traditional Kurdish dancing. Awesome.
Today, the three of us have visited the 3000 year old castle 3km outside the city, been swimming in the soapy water of Lake Van and had a delicious Döner Kebab. 23.00 we leave Van with bus to go to Diyarbakir, a 7 hour bus ride east-south-east.
