Tehran updates

Just to note on the situation of any social unrest in Tehran:

1.) No major unrest that's a cause for concern.

2.) Weekly Tuesday demonstrations by mostly Uni students.

3.) These demonstrations are usually held around Enqelab Sq. or Azadi Sq.

Sources:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=2044058

Itinerary 2nd Draft!

	Date	Day	Location	Morning	Afternoon	Night	Overnight	Accomadation	Remarks
Day 1	5th	Sunday	Singapore/KL/Tehran	Depart SIN (0910) Arrive KL (1010)	Depart KL (1640)	Arrive IKA (2140)	Tehran	Transfer to Khayyam Hotel/Firouzeh Hotel	Transfer IKA - Tehran (2 Hr)
Day 2	6th	Monday	Tehran	Archaelogy and Islamic Museum	National Jewels Museum	Transfer from Tehran - Shiraz (10 Hr)	Sleeper Bus
Day 3	7th	Tuesday	Shiraz	Tomb of Hafez, Eram Gardens and Tomb of Saadi	Shiraz Bazaar and Jameirah Mosque		Shiraz	Anvari Guesthouse
Day 4	8th	Wednesday	Shiraz				Shiraz
Day 5	9th	Thursday	Shiraz/Yazd	Leave Shiraz for Yazd (Depart 0800)	Naqsh-e Rostam/Persepolis	Arrive Yazd (1800)	Yazd	The Silk Road Hotel
Day 6	10th	Friday	Yazd	Fire Temple and Towers of Silence	Old Yazd		Yazd
Day 7	11th	Saturday	Yazd	Jameh Mosque	Main Bazaar		Yazd
Day 8	12th	Sunday	Yazd/Esfahan	Depart Yazd for Esfahan	Arrive Esfahan (1200)		Esfahan	Amir Kabir Hostel
Day 9	13th	Monday	Esfahan	Ali Qapu Palace/ Chehel Sotun Palace	Imam Square/Imam Mosque		Esfahan
Day 10	14th	Tuesday	Esfahan	Vank Cathedral/ Si-O-Seh Bridge	Shaking Minarets/Zayandeh River Bridges		Esfahan
Day 11	15th	Wednesday	Esfahan/Tabriz		Depart Esfahan for Tabriz	16 hours bus ride	Sleeper Bus
Day 12	16th	Thursday	Tabriz	Arrive Tabriz			Tabriz
Day 13	17th	Friday	Tabriz/Dogubiyazit	Leave Tabriz for Dogubiyazit	Cross border	Reach Dogubiyazit	Dogubiyazit
Day 14	18th	Saturday	Dogubiyazit	Mount Arafat			Dogubiyazit
Day 15	19th	Sunday	Dogubiyazit/Tabriz	Leave Dogubiyazit for Tabriz		Night train to Tehran (Depart 2230 )	Train
Day 16	20th	Monday	Tehran	Reach Tehran (Arrive 0900)	Tehran Bazaar/ Golestan Palace		Tehran
Day 17	21st	Tuesday	Buffer	Buffer	Buffer	Buffer	Tehran
Day 18	22nd	Wednesday	Tehran/KL	Free	Free	Depart IKA (2255)	Flight
Day 19	23rd	Thursday	Tehran/KL/Singapore	Arrive KL (1055)		Depart KL (1900) Arrive SIN (2000)

Meeting 4-4-2011

TASK Jia Wei

• To email Khayyam Hotel regarding transport from IKA to hotel + first night stay + overnight sleeper bus cost.


• Town assigned: Tabriz + Dogubiyazit.

Thomas

• To calculate budget per leg of the trip. Accommadations + transport (bus and train) + food + admissions to museums etc. Information provided within the 2 blogs.


• To fix how much communal to collect at which part of the trip as well as the overall budget.


• Town assigned: Yazd + Na'in

Seth

• To email Firouzeh Hotel regarding transport from IKA to hotel + first night stay + overnight sleeper bus cost.


• Town assigned: Esfahan + Tehran

Zhan Liang

• To email irantravellingcentre regarding transport from IKA to hotel + first night stay + overnight sleeper bus cost.


• Fix next meeting date. Tentative date to be 14/04/11


• Town assgned: Shiraz + Perspepolis + Naqsh-e Rotam

TOWN ASSIGNED

For each of us who has been assigned a town, the following information are to be presented the next meeting.

1. The town map. (simplified version that we can use when moving around)


2. Hotel we staying. I have listed some in the attachment. Please do further research and know where the ideal hotel for your town is located. You are to choose the hotel we are staying at for your town.


3. Places to eat. We all love nice food.


4. Transport out of town. I understand this has been more or less researched. But we need more detailed information (eg what time buses leave the place, where is the bus/train station, how long is the journey to the next town going to take).


5. Tally the transport timing to the itinerary discussed. Report any discrepency. If you realised the time taken from your town to the next is much longer than stated in the itinerary and will affect the whole schedule, do sound out.

Hope to see all these done by next meeting!

DEADLINE: 10/04/11 SUNDAY

Taxi Costs & random considerations

Taxi info i stumbled upon:

Going rate:

IK Airport to Anywhere: 25ok rials=25USD, fixed rate, 12am-6am

Fixed Rate preferred over Metre rate

Abundance of overcharging cabs.

Also:

The 4th and 5th of June is a public holiday in Iran. Not sure if its relevant like how it'll affect the availability of transportation, but o well.

Source:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?messageID=18304033#18304033

http://www.uppersia.com/iran-travel-information/public-holidays-iran.html

Visa Issues

Airline Stance on Visa

Zhan Liang confirmed that getting a Visa for us wouldn't be a problem. However, some airlines still insist on proof of a Visa confirmation before boarding. Fortunately, Air Asia says it doesn't know anything and will follow Embassy stance, so we're safe for boarding.

Dear Mr Seth Koh,

Thank you for writing in to us.

In regards to your enquiry, kindly liaise directly wih embassy as we afraid we would provide the wrong information to you.

Thanks and regards,

Junaidah

Customer Care – AirAsia X

2.)Visa renewal

Original plan was to renew or obtain new visas at Turkey-Iran(Gurbulak-Bazargan) border.

• No visas are issued at land crossings anywhere
• However, Visa renewal is available at Tabriz, Tehran, Shiraz, Yazd, Mashahd and Isfahan- places which we will be passing by.
• I'm currently waiting on answers about the process for Visa renewal at these places.

Source:

http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/ShowTopic-g293998-i9139-k4365483-l32297556-Visa_at_Turkey_Iran_crossing-Iran.html#32297556

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1612468

Itinerary 1st Draft!

	Location	Day	Afternoon	Night	Remarks
5th June	Singapore/Tehran		Singapore - Tehran	Transfer from IKA to Tehran	Transfer to Khayyam Hotel? USD 35 for 5 pax
6th June	Tehran	Archaelogical Museum	Islamic Museum, Glass and ceramic Museum	Free	I am assuming there is no night life other than bazaars in town
7th June	Tehran	Saadabad Palace, Golestan Palace	National Jewels Museum (2 - 4pm), Carpet Museum	Free	Besides we have to wake up early everyday in Iran
8th June	Tehran/Yazd	10 Hour Bus Ride	Free	Free	Looking at the map, it would make sense to go to Yazd (2nd furthest from Tehran)
9th June	Yazd	Towers of Silence	Free	Free
10th June	Yazd	Free	Free	Free
11th June	Yazd/Shiraz	7 Hour Bus Ride	Free	Free	Shiraz is the furthest from Tehran and a worthwhile place to visit
12th June	Shiraz	Persepolis	Free	Free
13th June	Shiraz	Free	Free	Free
14th June	Shiraz/Esfahan	Shiraz - Yazd - Esfahan (7 + 5 Hours Bus ride)	I see roads connecting Shiraz to Esfahan but no buses	Free	Esfahan is nearest to Tehran
15th June	Esfahan	Imam Square/Imam Mosque	Zoroastrian Fire Temple	Free
16th June	Esfahan	Free	Free	Free
17th June	Esfahan/Tabriz	16 Hour Bus Ride		Free	There's nothing much in Tabriz except that its' the last major city for travllers crossing into Turkey
18th June	Tabriz/Dogubiyazit	Tabriz - Maku - Bazargan - Dogubiyazit (4 Hours Bus - 30 Mins Bus - 60 to 90 mins Customs - 45 Mins)		Free	No sightseeing here as we are crossing for the sake of extending our visas?
19th June	Dogubiyazit/Tabriz	Dogubiyazit - Bazargan - Maku - Tabriz ( 45 Mins - 60 to 90 Mins Customs - 30 Mins Bus - 4 Hours Bus)		Free	There and back. Nuff' said.
20th June	Tabriz/Tehran	10 Hours Bus ride	Free	Free	Maybe we could squeeze in Mount Arafat in the small buffer
21st June	Tehran	Buffer	Buffer	Buffer	1 Buffer day is all we can afford in 17 days
22nd June	Tehran/KL	Buffer	Transfer to IKA from Tehran	Tehran/KL	We would want to be in Tehran in the morning, takes 2 hours to go IKA and our flight is around 7pm
23rd June	Tehran/KL/Singapore	Arrive In Singapore @ 1055hrs
	List of Tehran Places	List of Esfahan Places	List of Yazd Places	List of Shiraz Places
	Archaelogical Museum	Imam Square/Imam Mosque	Main Bazaar	Persepolis
	Glass and Ceramics Museum	Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque	Towers of Silence	Tomb of Hafez and Saadi
	Islamic Museum	Ali Qapu Palace	Kharanaq	Naqsh-e Rotam
	Carpet Museum	Bozorg Bazaar	Jameh Mosque	Afifabad Garden
	Saadabad Palace	Chehel Sotun Palace	Ateshkade	Eram Garden
	Golestan Palace	Shaking Minarets	Amir Chakhmaq Complex	Vakil Mosque
	National Jewels Museum	Vank Cathedral	Doulat Abat Garden	Ali Ebne Hamzeh Mausoleum
	Abyaneh Village (En route to Esfahan)	Madrase-Ye Chabar Bagh
	Kashan (En route to Esfahan)	Zayandeh River Bridges
		Friday Mosque
		Zoroastrian Fire Temple
	HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
	Sources
	http://www.iranvisitor.com/index.php?cID=414&pID=1312
	http://www.babakoto.eu/Articles/Iran/Turkey-Iran/Turkey-Iran-English.htm
	http://www.thelongestwayhome.com/resources/overland/turkey%20to%20iran%20overland.html
	: http://www.outtheresomewhere.ca/turkey/crossing-the-border-from-turkey-into-iran/