Watching events unfold in the Middle East last week sparked memories of the brief time I spent in Iran a long time ago in more peaceful times. In February 1969 I travelled across the northern part of the nation during an overland trip from London to New Delhi. The country was still run by the Shah who was overthrown 10 years later in the Iranian Revolution.
This week's news had me brushing the dust off the diary I kept for that journey. We were aboard a clapped-out coach and on Feb 12 had crossed the border from a freezing Turkey into an even more freezing Iranian frontier town of Bazargan. It was snowing heavily when we arrived in Tabriz the following evening. Two days later we were in Tehran, a sprawling city which was far bigger than I had envisaged.
In the Iranian capital one night we briefly visited a large old-fashioned nightclub but one of our group had a dispute over the bill and we had to make a rather hasty exit. We also went to the cinema where we saw Les Miserables which was a rather accurate reflection on our mood at the time.
As you may have gathered the diary did not reveal any razor-sharp observations on Iran. Our main concern was the freezing cold weather and the icy roads which deteriorated the further east we ventured. The heavy snowfall in mountainous areas saw our coach slide into snowdrifts on several occasions. However, we managed to make it to the holy city of Mashhad about 90km from the Afghanistan border.
In retrospect, considering the freezing February weather it was a pretty daft time to be travelling across Iran.
A couple of days later we were at the border in what the diary described as a "sort of no man's land". It was certainly bleak. Our journey across northern Iran had taken 10 days. We had no idea what awaited us across the border in Afghanistan. That's another story…
Avoiding Baghdad
Our original plan had been to take a route from Turkey through Iraq via Baghdad before crossing into Iran. However at the Iraq embassy in Istanbul we were told no visas were being issued. What we didn't know at the time, because we had been on the road, was that the week before 14 Iraqis had been publicly hanged in Baghdad for alleged spying.
It was a major international news story and became known as "The Baghdad Hangings". Suffice to say it was probably just as well we gave Iraq a miss.
Finding Bagdad
Some people may be surprised to learn that there is a place called "Bagdad" (without the 'h') in the American state of Arizona. It is located near a large copper mine which has been operating for centuries.
According to folklore the earliest miners were a father and son who hauled the ore out in bags on mules. The son was responsible for filling the bags so whenever he needed a new one he would yell out "bag Dad", hence the name.
No, I don't believe that either, but it's a nice little yarn.
Finders not keepers
Following on from last week's tale concerning the woman who found 12 million baht in the garbage disposal area of a condo, apparently the police are hot on the trail concerning the original source of that money. It's quite complicated so we wish them luck.
It is not the first time a large sum of money has been discovered in a strange place. One of the more intriguing cases a few years ago involved a Mr Preecha, a security guard who was cycling to work in Bangkok one morning when he spotted two large plastic bags by the roadside which appeared to be stuffed with banknotes. On closer inspection he counted a staggering 9.5 million baht. He was faced with the dilemma of deciding whether to hand the loot over to the police or take the money home. Not surprisingly he chose the latter.
Unfortunately instead of keeping a low profile concerning his new-found riches, he headed for his local temple, making extremely generous donations. News of a low-paid security guard splashing the cash quickly spread and it wasn't long before the constabulary were knocking on Mr Preecha's door.
It turned out the money had literally fallen off the back of a security truck which had malfunctioning back doors. You can't make this sort of stuff up.
Pole position
Discussion over the possibility of Thailand hosting an F1 event has been grinding on for more than 15 years but last week the government finally approved a plan to bid for a Bangkok street race for five years, commencing in 2028. It is estimated it will cost a cool 40 billion baht. Now that's a lot of money.
Under the proposal the 5.7km circuit would run from Chatuchak Park to Bang Sue Grand Station and nearby areas. It is a hugely ambitious project and whether we will actually see F1 cars whizzing around in Bangkok in just three years' time remains to be seen.
Watching these developments with some interest will be the people of Buri Ram where there is already an FIA-approved Grade 1 track that meet the requirements for F1 races. Just saying.
Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. ( Syndigate.info ).
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