Day 24 (Tehran)

Here we go again...back to Tehran so we can catch our flight to Karachi, Pakistan at crazy o'clock in the morning!

We again had some culture by visiting the Friday Mosque and a family run ceramic business in Natanz and the old houses and park in Kashan. The old house we visited was one built by the suitor of an Iranian girl who's father said he would only approve of the marriage if the suitor build a house worthy of his daughter for her to live in. So the guy got the same architect and builders to create a replica of the girls parental home so he could win her hand. One of the interesting features about the house was the door knockers – one large on for the men to use and a smaller one for the ladies to use. The idea behind this was that you could establish if it was a lady or gentleman caller at the door and ensure you were dressed appropriately to answer it.

As we got closer to Tehran we wondered what we were going to find once we arrived there. I overheard Saki and Kim talking about what the options were, and it boiled down to whether or not we were driving into trouble. If there were problems and we couldn't get to the hotel or it was unsafe to go there, then we were airport bound for a night of sleep on the tiles there. Thankfully that wasn't necessary – though there was drama.

The road that the driver wanted to use was blocked by police and army guys who were adament we weren't getting through. After some Saki negotiations they eventually relented and allowed us pass...but not 100 metres after we got through we came to the road at the side of the hotel where the rioters had set bins on fire 3 nights previous and found it impossibly crowded. Both sides of the road were jammed for as far as the eye could see with people standing watching as a large number of people marched peacefully down the street waving their green flags. The marchers were held up to allow us cross in front of them to get to the hotel which was on the opposite side of the road to which we were at a standstill on. As we slowly passed through we were shown peace signs and getting big smiles from the people. That reaction coupled with the green told us that they were there to protest against the election result and show their disappointment that their guy hadn't got in.

There was no more trouble that we saw – just people peacefully voicing their upset and wishing the world could see it. Phones were still blocked and internet access was still down keeping them isolated from the rest of the world.

For photos from today click here.