Tuesday 4^th November

Talking to a number of people it seems we were lucky to not drive in from Northern Turkey. The snow had come early this year and Encounter Tours had camped one night in snow and two of the vehicles had been unable to negotiated the passes for some hours because of blinding snow. Cannot confirm the exchange rates in Afghanistan as Encounter use sterling (cannot think why). After A had washed a few things, we set off to see Tehran.

The driving was quite the worst I’ve seen – obviously no idea of discipline – red lights are ignored and the police stand at the side of the road and talk – thank God the roads are wide. We drove past the senate house – very smart – to the Shah’s winter residence, the Marble Palace. Here were some very smart guards in their American uniforms. We could not go in but saw the coloured dome and the green marble and onyx walls. (The building is modelled on one in Isfahan so we’ll be seeing that tomorrow).

On to the American Express and – yes – a letter giving addresses in India and news from A's mum about our goods. Onto the Post Office for stamps. From the PO we drove round Baharestan Square (Qayar palace, library and Lower House of Parliament) and on to visit a friend of Doctor Herbert’s (As late boss) – she was out so we had lunch outside the American Embassy and drove back to the camp site. Here we really sorted out, and cleaned, the car and trunks – packed a lot more goodies into the lower, less accessible  trunk etc. Good meal at night and into the cafeteria for coffee. Watched some TV and back to tent to catch up on news via the Economist.