13.10.09 Yazd

Got up late today 7.30 am and the breakfast was nothing to write about. The two tour guides had again decided what we should see, what a relief. First we went to the Jameh Mosque, which was pretty impressive by it self and then we saw Alexanders supposed to be prison, but where the prison actually is was a lovely café with a small fountain down in a dungeon. This town is full of small mud houses and they have a peculiary system for A/C the houses have big slated towers on the roof and when the wind enters it serculate in the house and out again. This system almost seems better than the A/C in our hotel, which made hell of a lot of noise in the night. I do hope houses in India will take this kind of A/C. The rest of the day was spent doing three important things, playing cards, drinking beer and watching bodybuilding in the evening. At the bodybuilding arena there was a guy playing a tabla and singing on top of his voice and 10 muscular Iranians with shorts doing all kind of atics and body movements, most of the spectators were foreigners and after a while the noise got to much for us so we left back to cards and beers and dinner. At this hotel they configured our computer so we could use their wi-fi this was great so we could send out all our mails. They were also very friendly and helpful with everything and the rates for the room were great. In Ulrikka and Daniels room they had to walk down 20 steps from their room to their toilet. But the toilets were great. Our room opened up to one of the courtyards in the hotel, but this was ok. Leaving tomorrow to Shiraz.

Vi sov lidt længe i dag og turistkræfterne er også små, men Ulrikka havde lagt en hurtig plan for at se de væsentligste attraktioner i Yazd. Vi så først Jameh Moskeen, der er kendetegnet med sit høje indgangsparti, derefter Alexanders fængsel, som ifølge legenden har en kælder, der blev brugt som fangehul af Alexander den store. I dag er der et tehus, hvor vi fik en is og mødte de første af en del vestlige turister i Yazd. Herefter gik turen videre gennem den gamle bydel, der består af mudderhuse, der har et gammeldags AC system på taget. Dvs. en vindkanal, der udskifter luften i huset. Vi så så Khan-e Lari, der er et velbevaret traditionelt hus med den traditionelle gård i midten. Men ud over bygningerne og lidt dekorationer i det ene rum, var der ikke meget at se. Efter fundet af frokost og et besøg hos en lokal bager, hvor den søde bagerjomfru var rundhåndet med smagsprøverne, hvilede vi. Resten af dagen blev brugt på tre mandeting – spille kort, drikke øl og se bodybuilding. Dvs. vi lærte Daniel at spille Kanasta og det klarede han i flot stil. Hertil indtog vi nogen af Irans mange velsmagende øl – ikke alkoholiske hvede drikke – med diverse frugtsmag. Blandt favoritterne er fersken, lime og granatæble. Men de fås også med Mango smag, blandet frugt, æble og meget andet. Fra kl. 6 til 7 var vi til iransk bodybuildingtræning. Da kvinder jo ikke må se mænd afklædte (læs: bare underben og arme) betragtes udenlandske kvinder som hædersgæster og kan dermed komme ind. Ja, det er et mærkeligt land. Træningen bestod i at mænd og drenge fra 8 til i ca. 60 år lavede diverse øvelser til tromme og sang. Det så ret hårdt ud – selvom Michael mente, at det kunne han nu også!! As if! Efter en hurtig gang aftensmad fortsatte Kanastaspillet.