Staying with the Cowboys of Kashan

Staying with a friend of Mostafa and Ahmad, we stayed local style, sleeping on the floor of what was the equivalent of a student flat. Playing cards with the boys (local style), and learning yet more of what is forbidden in a society with very different rules and conventions to the one which we grew up in. And more interestingly, seeing the extent to which people have to alter their behaviour and habits just to enjoy what those who live in the West see as basic personal freedoms.

Mostafa, the KingPin of Kashan, put his extensive local knowledge and networks to work, while Ahmad made sure that we knew what was going on everywhere we went and that we got the most out of it, even offering us “Portugal Juice“. We saw the best of Kashan and nearby Niasar, including:

• A meal in the bazaar’s caravanserai - originally built to lure traders to the village for overnight stops to boost the local economy - with the necessary post-Abgoosht coma on the Persian carpet
• Walking onto the set of a historical film about Iran’s military coup, and talking to an old local man who told us that he “doesn’t need to watch a movie - he was there for the real thing” - so we got the historical low-down from an eye-witness
• Seeing the traditional method of extracting scent from flowers to produce rose water - and then eating a tub of icecream with rose water syrup drizzled over it.
• Learning that in a city where the daytime high can sometimes hit 50 degrees, it’s wise to follow the locals and walk in the shadows of buildings
• Learning that by driving 20min out of town, the intense heat can bee replaced by intense rain, waterfalls, and greenery (and that if we had gone a further 45min, we could have been in snow).

An awesome couple of days, and a big thanks to the Kashan boys - keep in touch!