Old World, New World

Leaving Politics Aside, Iran’s Allure Is Endless and Eternal

- Darren Ho

There are few things more surreal than waking up to find perfectly defined beams of sunlight pouring their golden warmth into your room, while snow-capped mountains partially shrouded in puffs of clouds glisten through your balcony doors. But I was seeing this in a place from which no one typically expects such a tranquil sight. Not the Swiss Alps or the French. Not South Island or Nepal. I was in Tehran, one of the last cities I ever expected to find myself in. And the view from the Parsian Enghelab Hotel was a worthy rival to any that Switzerland can offer.

Two Personality Facets 

There are a few things you need to have in Iran, patience and courage being the most important. The former because everything takes time. It’s a slower pace of life, sure, but also in part due to bureaucracy and the Persian culture of hospitality. Our visas, for example, took two hours to process, even though we’d paid and submitted them prior to our arrival. And this was with local assistance, by the way.

As we left the scene of the visa office, a dejected French man sat, still waiting. Even at restaurants, meals are drawn out but for a different reason: Persian cuisine, in particular the stews, takes a long time to prepare. Singaporeans can at least take heart that Iranians seem to share our irrational obsession with good dining.

Courage is necessary for a different reason. Traffic in Tehran is not regulated by traffic lights except at major thoroughfares. Crossing the road is an adventure that entails blatantly stepping onto the street, with your hand raised to indicate your presence and your heart in your throat hoping nobody runs you down. For that matter, it’s a relief that traffic in Tehran is so thick that cars can’t go very fast. A fellow traveller remarked that it was similar to Ho Chi Minh City, except motorbikes have less capacity for doing damage than laden buses.