Arriving at the Caspian Sea

After I left the home of Reza’s family and Ardabil I took the direction to the Caspian Sea. Luckily Ardabil is quite high above sea level, so I did not had to cycle a lot uphill to get to the 1510m high pass. From here on it was only downhill till Astara. This is the first Iranian city on the coastline; north from this point on it is already Azerbaijan.

Needles to say, the road was full of cars, as from the 2 millions Ardabil this is the only way to the Caspian Sea. By the way, the roads in Iran are excellent. Mostly there are two lines in one direction and the side of the road is also wide and clean, which is just perfect for cycling. The side of the road is separated from the road by small “dents” intentionally pushed in the asphalt. I rode into them couple of times and they shook me of quite uncomfortably.

Maybe that caused the squeaky noise, what I heard before arriving in Astara, from the rear of the bike. The leg of my rear carrier gave in the load and broke. The issue was repaired in the first garage. This has proven how much better it is to have a bit heavier but lighter to be repaired steel rear carrier for an expedition.

I cycled 130km when night had fallen on me, and stopped at a small shop to buy an ice cream. Of course the locals immediately phoned for the first person able to speak English, Farshid. Luckily his English knowledge did not end at “vvatss yoor neem” and “havvaryoo”.
Farshid is an English teacher and also a Couchsurfing member, so immediately I was invited to his flat for the night. In exchange he let me handle his 60 minute long English class, with four, beginner level, around 30 year old students.

In the end the class lasted for 120 minutes and I learned from my students the reason why they seek English knowledge. Apparently if you got a fake passport then it is a child’s play to immigrate to Australia from Afghanistan. These four students were an excellent example how naive the Iranians are. None of them speak English and none of them learned any craft. When I told them, that I am certain that Australians would want to hire educated people, they responded that they can drive a tractor and a harvester... In any case it was an experience to educate people. Now I am regretting in advance, that in Pakistan I will have to keep up a high pace, as my original plan was to hold a class there as well.