Iran Day 2

Day 2- 11th November 2018




Kashan



9:30am. The local Kashan Bazaar was opened for us to go exploring.



The VIDEO

Captured by Fann

For the first time since arriving in Iran, I finally got to see a larger number of women in their traditional black long dresses and black scarves doing their shopping at the local bazaar.

A whole row of us waited at this gate for a veiled lady.. any veiled lady to walk past.

“Kashan is a small town. The people here are simpler, friendlier, maybe a little more conservative but they are not shy and they are very welcoming to foreigners,” Mohammad explained to me as I asked him to tell me more. “This local Kashan Bazaar is smaller than many of the other bazaars you find in bigger cities. But here everyone comes to buy their daily needs every day.”

“You don’t see as many tourists here as you would in the bigger cities, but yeah.. perhaps a few tourists here and there.. but not many.”

The next couple of hours was really fun as we started to warm ourselves up with shooting suing our phones first, then gradually using our rangefinders. Of course the rest of the group were already firing away with their full frames and mirrorless. One special one who stood out was Woo. He care fully equipped with the latest Huawei PS Mate with Leica lenses, that had the widest of angles and the most advanced algorithm for bokeh-ing portraitures. I was suitably impressed after he demonstrated the prowess of his machine that morning.

I didn't know fabric also went by weight in this part of the ancient world

So what about Kashan Bazaar?

A vertical panorama of the central market courtyard. [Photo: Serene]

All black, one pink.

A small round market with many small stalls selling from herbs, utensils, jewellery, primary products, clothings... almost everything a Kashanian needs for daily consumption.


As we walked, a man from a hardware stall called out to us and asked where we were from. And he offered us many prices of Barbari, another sesame-seasoned pastry that he and his staff were probably having for breakfast, again asking nothing from us in return but simply welcoming us. It was very difficult for me to fathom all these acts of hospitality from locals without any ulterior motives. But they were all sincere.

This stall keeper very kindly offered us a piece of his barbari breakfast.

“You see,” further explained Mohammad as I walked with him. “The Iranians are one of the most peaceful people around. To us, what is important is peace and harmony with our fellow humans and our environment. And we are always welcoming to strangers.”

“It’s our culture. Even during the Persian period of Achaemenid and Sassanian empires, the Persians has been very easy-going people, despite being invaded by so many marauders like the Turks, the Mongolians and later the Arabs during the Islamic invasion of Persia in the 7th century.”

He continued to explain that today in Iran, the spoken language is still Farsi. But Farsi is now a melting pot of words from the Arabic language, from Russian, from Turkish and such. So there were many common words between the different cultures. During the Achaemenid and Sassanian empires, the boundaries stretched westwards to Anatolia (current Turkey), southwards to north-Africa, northwards to Georgia and Azerbaijan and eastwards to northern India. So it could be seen how strong the influence of Persian culture had on the whole of Middle East and middle Asia.

Persian man drinking. [Photo: Fann]

The Persians are very proud of their long and distinguished heritage. Someone ever told me: “Never call a Persian an Arabic. Because a Persian is not an Arabic, although they share many things in common.”



The pride was so prominently displayed in the way they showed their famous carpets and rugs in the bazaar, the way they brewed their famous rose tea, the numerous shops that lined up orderly and sold fragrances in elegantly coloured ampoules.

“Duroud! (Hello)” Someone would call out as we passed, to which we would reply similarly.

Sometimes we would be greeted with “Sa’lam!” which Mohammad explained was hello but in the Arabic language.



Rose tea cafe

Our leisurely walk was given a most welcome rest in a small little cafe on the second floor that served rose tea. The beautiful young Persian lady gracefully sat us on carpeted benches with round tables, just next to opened windows overlooking a central courtyard in the bazaar.

[Photo: Serene]

[Photo: Serene]

Many of the artifacts on display and on sale

The wool fabric dyeing factory



Adrian arranged for us to visit an authentic small woollen fabric dyeing factory that presented us an opportunity to go up to its rooftop for another vantage view of the town.


The workers smiled and talked as we happily fired away. To me, it was quite an impromptu moment (although I kind of had an inkling that Adrian may have had some prior intention). Somehow the warmth smile of the two Iranian workers pumped up the mood and we all grooved to the occasion.

I would forever remember this as the location when Emily, Kong Wan and several of us somehow got entangled in a conversation related to the female peeing device called the she-wee and ended up with someone saying something about a solitary lady standing in a line between the boys peeing and everyone observing everyone’s tools only to notice that odd one which is pink and rubbery in texture.

“Oh, it’s ok. I will say that I am just in the transitional phase,” a nonchalant reply from the witty Emily cracked all of us up.

Agha Bozorg Mosque

We next came to an old mosque cum madrasah, the Agha Bozorg Mosque. It is a still very active mosque with students spending 3-4 years studying the Islamic theology instructed by Imams, and who literally live on the basement level of the madrasah during this period of their study.

Tabatabaei Hostorical House

Then we were brought to this 200 year old house that was built by a very wealthy carpet merchant called Tabatabei. It spanned 50,000 square meters and had more than 40 rooms and it took 15 years to complete. This was where Tabatabaei houses his family and all his stuff and where his business dealings were done with his customers in the meeting halls. This Tabatabei Historical House now belongs to the government had has been listed as a historical site and a museum.

It was a tiring day.


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