{"id":1952,"date":"2011-08-11T22:21:43","date_gmt":"2011-08-11T17:21:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onmytodd.org\/?p=1952"},"modified":"2015-11-17T14:38:53","modified_gmt":"2015-11-17T13:38:53","slug":"l%c9%99nk%c9%99ran-namin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/?p=1952","title":{"rendered":"L\u0259nk\u0259ran &#8211; Namin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The longer I stay in a place, the more difficult it becomes to leave. Budapest, Pan\u010devo, Batumi, Tbilisi, Baku, and now L\u0259nk\u0259ran &#8211; without a little outside incentive I&#8217;d probably still be there.<\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s incentive was the wish to finally make it to Iran! And a bit of boredom. Anyway, Iran, Persia!<\/p>\n<p>Before leaving Azerbaijan there was a tiny bit of sightseeing to do, and a bit of cycling, of course. It&#8217;s about 40km from L\u0259nk\u0259ran to the border town of Astara. Just outside Astara, in a village called \u018fr\u00e7ivan, one can find Yanar Bulag, the Burning Spring. Rumor has it that the water from that spring is both drinkable and flammable! And I crap you not when I say that the rumor is true! I held a lighter to the water and it burned! There is no magic involved here, unfortunately. The water simply contains methane, somehow.<\/p>\n<p>On to the border. In my head I went through my checklist again:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Passport and visa &#8211; check<\/li>\n<li>Cash! There are no ATMs in Iran that I can use with my cards due to the American trade embargo &#8211; semi-check. I&#8217;d withdrawn half of my somewhat exaggerated budget in L\u0259nk\u0259ran yesterday, and then had forgotten to get the other half today. Found an ATM in Astara &#8211; check<\/li>\n<li>No alcohol in my bags. Import is forbidden. All the cool folks in the hostel in Baku had helped me finish that bottle of Georgian brandy  I was carrying since <a href=\"\/?p=1920\">Akhalsopeli<\/a> &#8211; check<\/li>\n<li>No pork products in my bags. Import is forbidden. Holy crap, no check. Hadn&#8217;t I just bought half a kilogram of sausages containing pork? No thinkie-thinkie, eh?!<\/li>\n<li>Thumbs taped to the palms of my hands &#8211; no check, need them for cycling. Rumor, again, has it that the thumbs-up gesture which I so fluently use is in fact Iran&#8217;s equivalent to the &#8216;western&#8217; middle finger gesture we all know so well.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To my slight disappointment, this crossing was as straight forward as all the other crossings before. &#8220;Welcome to Iran&#8221;, the smiling border guard said, and there I was, in Astara. Yeah, same name, different town (even though I bet it was the same one once), different country.<\/p>\n<p>Went to a money changer and became millionaire by handing him a US$100 bill. I was now walking around with 58 Iranian banknotes of 20000 Rials each. That&#8217;s 1.16 million Rials.<\/p>\n<p>Grocery shops were open. Looks like I&#8217;ll have no problems buying food during the day if necessary, despite Ramadan.<\/p>\n<p>I left Astara to the west, and cycled into the Talysh mountains. And mountains they were. The road climbed pretty much all the time &#8211; from Caspian Sea level (approx. -27m) to a pass\/tunnel at about 1600m. Hard work, I can tell you. When I left the tunnel the sun had set.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m in Namin now. Two guys from a shop next door watched my bike while I checked out the hotel for the night. When I came back they&#8217;d attached a flower to the handlebar. &#8220;Welcome to Iran&#8221;, they said.<\/p>\n<p>Tomorrow will be another exciting day. I&#8217;ll try my luck on visiting another unvisited degree confluence, 39\u00b0N, 48\u00b0E.<\/p>\n<p>Cycled: 106km<\/p>\n<div class=\"rl-gallery-container \" id=\"rl-gallery-container-1\" data-gallery_id=\"0\"> <div class=\"rl-gallery rl-basicmasonry-gallery \" id=\"rl-gallery-1\" data-gallery_no=\"1\"> <div class=\"rl-gutter-sizer\"><\/div><div class=\"rl-grid-sizer\"><\/div> <div class=\"rl-gallery-item rl-gallery-item-width-4\" > <div class=\"rl-gallery-item-content\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/wp-uploads\/2011\/08\/Screenshot-20110811-232200.png\" title=\"Lankaran - Namin\" data-rl_title=\"Lankaran - Namin\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/wp-uploads\/2011\/08\/Screenshot-20110811-232200-300x180.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" alt=\"Lankaran - Namin\"\/><span class=\"rl-gallery-caption\"><span class=\"rl-gallery-item-title\">Lankaran - Namin<\/span><\/span><\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <div class=\"rl-gallery-item\" > <div class=\"rl-gallery-item-content\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/wp-uploads\/2011\/08\/IMG_6451.jpg\" title=\"\" data-rl_title=\"\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/wp-uploads\/2011\/08\/IMG_6451-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <div class=\"rl-gallery-item\" > <div class=\"rl-gallery-item-content\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/wp-uploads\/2011\/08\/IMG_6453.jpg\" title=\"\" data-rl_title=\"\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/wp-uploads\/2011\/08\/IMG_6453-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <div class=\"rl-gallery-item\" > <div class=\"rl-gallery-item-content\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/wp-uploads\/2011\/08\/IMG_6456.jpg\" title=\"Yanar Bulag, the burning spring\" data-rl_title=\"Yanar Bulag, the burning spring\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/wp-uploads\/2011\/08\/IMG_6456-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" alt=\"Yanar Bulag, the burning spring\"\/><span class=\"rl-gallery-caption\"><span class=\"rl-gallery-item-title\">Yanar Bulag, the burning spring<\/span><\/span><\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <div class=\"rl-gallery-item\" > <div class=\"rl-gallery-item-content\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/wp-uploads\/2011\/08\/IMG_6459.jpg\" title=\"\" data-rl_title=\"\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/wp-uploads\/2011\/08\/IMG_6459-225x300.jpg\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <div class=\"rl-gallery-item\" > <div class=\"rl-gallery-item-content\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/wp-uploads\/2011\/08\/IMG_6466.jpg\" title=\"View across the Talysh Mountains back to Azerbaijan\" data-rl_title=\"View across the Talysh Mountains back to Azerbaijan\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/wp-uploads\/2011\/08\/IMG_6466-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" alt=\"View across the Talysh Mountains back to Azerbaijan\"\/><span class=\"rl-gallery-caption\"><span class=\"rl-gallery-item-title\">View across the Talysh Mountains back to Azerbaijan<\/span><\/span><\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <div class=\"rl-gallery-item\" > <div class=\"rl-gallery-item-content\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/wp-uploads\/2011\/08\/IMG_6467.jpg\" title=\"View across the Talysh Mountains back to Azerbaijan\" data-rl_title=\"View across the Talysh Mountains back to Azerbaijan\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/wp-uploads\/2011\/08\/IMG_6467-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" alt=\"View across the Talysh Mountains back to Azerbaijan\"\/><span class=\"rl-gallery-caption\"><span class=\"rl-gallery-item-title\">View across the Talysh Mountains back to Azerbaijan<\/span><\/span><\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <div class=\"rl-gallery-item\" > <div class=\"rl-gallery-item-content\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/wp-uploads\/2011\/08\/IMG_6470.jpg\" title=\"More than 1 million Iranian Rials\" data-rl_title=\"More than 1 million Iranian Rials\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/wp-uploads\/2011\/08\/IMG_6470-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" alt=\"More than 1 million Iranian Rials\"\/><span class=\"rl-gallery-caption\"><span class=\"rl-gallery-item-title\">More than 1 million Iranian Rials<\/span><\/span><\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The longer I stay in a place, the more difficult it becomes to leave. Budapest, Pan\u010devo, Batumi, Tbilisi, Baku, and now L\u0259nk\u0259ran &#8211; without a little outside incentive I&#8217;d probably still be there. Today&#8217;s incentive was the wish to finally &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/?p=1952\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[32,33],"class_list":["post-1952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-to-the-caucasus-and-back","tag-azerbaijan","tag-iran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1952"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6888,"href":"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952\/revisions\/6888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onmytodd.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}