The Fertile North - Turkmen Lands

After Mashhad we push northwest, towards Golestan National Park. The region borders Turkmenistan and the population are Turkmen not Persian, a fact they proudly proclaim. The air gets softer, the landscape opens up, and for the first time in what feels like ages the horizon isn’t made of dust or concrete but of trees. Suddenly the rich and earthy smell initiated waves of nostalgia and happiness.

On the way there we have an oil change and a good dinner at Mohsen's "Traveler Land". A humble retreat for overlanders, where you can both rest and do some motorcycle maintenance. Mohsen, a motorcycle enthusiast, is happy to give a hand and also show you his overlanders memorbilla, the coolest ones being signed books by both Elspeth Beard and Lois Pryce. Cheap oil is very cheap - the kind you change again next week, and expensive oil is very expensive because it’s imported.... there was nothing in between and thus we went for the 'safe option'. While we slowly unwind. Nadia prepares a delicious traditional dinner and soon we are joined by Seth, a cyclist from Singapore and we have a cosy and chatty night and we say good bye the next morning as we continue down the forest paths. We wave at Seth as he slowly cycles up the the hill battling both the strong wind and the steep ascent.

We arrive in Sasang lodge, a guesthouse nestled deep in the forest and run by a kind Qizilbash Turk family (the ethnic diversity of Iran continues to amaze us). We were the first foreigners in over a year, the host tells us. Unsurprisingly, tourism has significantly dropped in Iran and guesthouse owners are suffering as a result. After a lovely homemade dinner and a good night rest, the host takes us out for a walk in the woods and we stop for a chai at a waterfall. We breathe in, long and slow, and we feel how healthy it is to roam around in some greenery - it has been a while...

We pick and eat some berries, IronChris has a stone throwing competition at a pond with a host's son and a saffron farmer offers us some flowers to extract our own saffron. Before we knew it, the morning was over and we were facing noon. We quickly pack and continue our journey but this time we bid the forest farewell and make our way to the desert.Leggi altro