h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Iran is not as bad as the western media paint her!!!
I am willing to answer questions (my point of view, of course).
If I do not know the answer, I will try to find out for you.

OK, lets say I was to visit early next year (I think my diary might be clearer then ) - what are the 10 things I simply must see in Iran?
As you are probably aware, I (along with probably 90% of Europe) know absolutely nothing about Iran as a place....but I'd love to hear about it.

Dear Duncan,

It really depends on what your personal preferences are : archeology, architecture, nature, gardens, climbing ...

If you mean with "early next year" winter, it is a good time to visit southern provinces. This means Susa, Shushtar (don't know the english name), the Choogha Zanbil Ziggurat, the grave of Daniel the Prophet of Biblical fame, and the remainders of the war. Plus some old forts on the islands in the Persian Gulf. And the "Burnt City" in Sistan-wa-Baluchistan.

If you mean early spring, that is the best time to visit Shiraz, the mausoleums of the poets, Persepolis, Pasargadae, the grave of Cyrus the Great, the old Zandieh and Ghajarieh buildings in the city and of course the Bazar.

Then there are the *whole* cities of Kermanshah, Hamadan (ancient Ekbatana), Isfahan, Yazd, Mashhad, Tabriz, ...

For climbing we have sleeping volcano Damavand and some other nice routes. There are also many beautiful caves, among them Ali-Sadr and Katalah-Khur.

And then there is the old Castle Alamut of the ancient Fedayyin, Takht-e-Suleiman (originally a temple called Azargoshnasb) and thousands of other places.

I am afraid it is rather impossible to pick only ten places in this country. How about planning a one year visit?

nim

Hi nim the cat !

me, as a german, I´s like to know if there was any difficulty to get into Iran if I was in Israel before, because I´d like to see Israel FIRST and then some arabic and/or persian countries....

Can you give me an advice ? And I am NOT fond of Betty Mahmoody must tell you !

I have not heard about any problems in this regard, the prohibition is only for Iranian citizens. Still, the best way to find out is a simple telephone call to the nearest Iranian Embassy before planning anything.

German's are always very welcome in Iran, its a hangover from WWII because they treated the Iranians like humans and helped a lot in the industry. Some pictures of German Soccer players will ensure you a doubled hospitability in the smaller towns .

Don't tell anyone, but some of our friends who knew B.M. said she was neurotic before she ever came to Iran. (Actually, they said she was plain crazy )

I promise to keep my mouth shut.

I´m plain crazy, too - don´t YOU tell anybody, ok ???

By the way - just stop me if I step over someth you don´t like.
From time to time I am a mischief, but again: don´t tell anybody pleeeez

Were you educated bi- or multilingual by your parents ?
Where do you feel your roots ? Have you ever been in germany ?
What´s your cultural focus ?

Would be quite interesting for me due to the fact I have been knowing two completely different Iranians for a while. One of them being a student of chemistry and the other one a former member of Reza Pahlevi´s bodyguards. The nicest killer I ever met )

Bye, Findus

What a lot of questions! (have to scroll down all the time to check.)

1. As for first 12 years my parent s lived with my paternal family, my brothers were mono-lingual. I could understand German when I was 5 but not speak it until at my brother's insistense I was enrolled at the German kindergarden and school. After the revolution the school was closed, so I can speak and read German and write after a fashion but my spelling and grammer is not very good. I taught myself english by reading and watching movies when I was about 12.

2. By CHOICE I identify myself Iranian. But at heart I am a cosmopolitan

3. Before the R. I visited my grandparents once a year. then I stopped because my mother would go over in winter and I was at school. Since then I have been in Germany 2 times, 3 weeks each.

4. Culturally .. well thats a bit more difficult. Most families like ours concentrate on being completely european or Iranian. We are (see above) more tolerant and a bit cosmopolitan .

5. Many Iranian go completely off line when in the Western Countries. Don't belive everything you hear... or at least take it with a pinch of salt.

Anymore questions, anyone?

I live in the US and I've never actually been out of it except for a brief thing in Canada I don't mind this since I'm only 14 but I want to find out about other countries so I figure the best way is to ask people who live there sort of a Duh thing but still I don't know that many people out of country my cousins spent like 8 years in Saudi Arabia and I've got an e-pal in Ireland and a pen pal in England but that is still very limited especially since it's only the one part of Ireland but I'm trying to meet people from all over cause I sorta want to be a writer and to be a good writer you have to get as many people's view points as you can even if you disagree cause if you're writing fiction and everyone agree's the book is boring and not truthful in the least and if you make all the people with viewpoints other than yours in the book stupid or something it's not realistic either

Take a deep breath ... now another one ... that's better.

Now put your questions one at a time, and I'll try to answer them ... one at a time

nim

lean back and relax a bit, i´m off for three weeks holidays

see you then

Findus

Have fun, Findus!

Bye

Is it true that the Iranian army owns several hovercraft?

It could be true, but I have really no idea.

After all, we DO have a large sea border, and hovercrafts don't do anybody no harm (unless you lie beneath them )

Just wondering - I am writing an article on hovercraft http://www.h2g2.com/A397668 - don't see it now as I haven't written it yet - and I know that Saunders-Roe built hovercraft for the Iraq & Iran armies in the sixties, but whether they still use them I do not know.

BB, I asked my father and he said that Iran's navy had hovers since before the R. and is still using hovers.

LYYYYYS!

if really interested in iran check out http://www.irna.com for news heard they got iran tv online if yes channel four has iranian programs serials historic and contemporary and also programs about iran in english duped badly but y'can still see something of iran

(takes VERY deep breath)

Nah, I'm not a match for you

Yes - I knew they had a lot, most of which were built on the Isle of Wight where I live (as that's where the hovercraft was invented), but I wasn't sure if they'd all been destroyed in the Iran-Iraq war.