Anti-America

Not me! Well, yes, me too. But this isn't about me.

Most people have told me that Tehran is just a big, boring, dirty city. Yes it's big and maybe polluted, but I had a lot of fun there!

Maybe it's because I met a couple of nice guys to hang out with in my hostel. A Korean guy named Chan and a Japanese named Koh, both fellow around-the-world travellers.
It seemed like Chan didn't do much research on Iran before he got here. He thought that his ATM and credit cards would work, but changed his mind after he walked around 30 banks failing to withdraw money. Unfortunately, he wasn't carrying any cash around to exchange, and was down to like $20 for the next 2 weeks in Iran. Poor guy. Iran is cheap, but not THAT cheap. We both felt so bad that we had to offer him some cash.

Chan and I headed to the what few attractions Tehran had to offer (Koh had been in Tehran for a couple of days already). The one museum I really wanted to see (the National Jewels Treasury with the largest pink diamond in the world!) was closed that day. I don’t know why, but that place is open only like 3 times a week! Argh.
So, we were left with the Golestan Palace and the former American Embassy.
The Golestan Palace is a complex of several buildings, each housing a specific exhibit with a separate entrance fee. We had no desire to see all of the 10 or so buildings there; one would suffice. But which one...whatever the guy at the ticket counter recommended. It was a building with both a beautiful exterior (colorful paintings) and interior (lined with mirrors). We also somehow managed to sneak into a photo exhibition as well. Since the Palace was located near the bazaar, we decided to check that out. But it was waaaay too crowded for our liking. We turned around and boarded the metro for the former American Embassy.
When you get out of the metro exit, the first thing you see is a sign "DOWN WITH THE USA"! I burst out laughing. I mean, how cool is that!!!
And on one side of the wall of the embassy, the anti-American (and anti-Israeli) graffiti continued: (This one says "Today, the United States is regarded as the most hated government in the world.")
Note...this is the FORMER American embassy that was accused of some sort of spying (I think). No longer operational, although they still wouldn't let me into the grounds.

It was still pretty early in the evening when we finished our sightseeing activities. With nothing else left to do, we headed to an Internet cafe. I haven't touched Internet in over a week. A rarity! The connection here wasn't too bad, but they blocked some of the sites, including Facebook. Oh well.
We ran into Koh at the cafe with bad news – his dad's health had severely deteriorated and was in the hospital now. He needed to get back to Japan ASAP. I spent a couple of hours helping him find an affordable last-minute ticket. He would leave tonight.
I think the incident made me realize that I should be grateful for not having run into similar problems during my travels so far...

That night, we decided to use Koh's remaining Japanese foodstuff (like canned mackerel, garlic, and rice!), Chan's spicy sauce that all Korean backpackers seem to carry around, and my canned tuna fish to create a feast in the most disgusting kitchen I've seen at a hostel to date. After we saw Koh off, it was time for me to take a quick snooze before I myself headed to the airport. Luckily, there was another guy from Hong Kong who wanted to share the expensive cab fare with me.

Bye bye, Iran.