Shiraz,one of the most beautiful city in the world and Iran.

Dear John:

I am finally back from my trip to Shiraz.What a trip man!

Almost every thing went wrong first.we took a taxi to get to the bus terminal and although I had asked the supervisor of that line to make sure that the taxi does go to the terminal because he was a bit old and deaf ,He directed us to the wrong taxi and a couple of minutes later I noticed we are on the wrong way and asked the driver to drop us somewhere to get back to square one:(

5:00 PM we are in the bus waiting anxiously for the bus driver to arrive.

(Inside the bus)we were given some foods and drinks and then the chuffer of the driver put one of Arnold,(the governor of the California) to "entertain" the passengers.I prefered to listen to my CD player.

4:AM the bus stopped in the middle of a no where Island.It seemed that the bus had a sudden heart attack because no one heard his engine starts up again.we got off the bus waiting for "help".I wonder what services Americans get in the bus and what happens in times of emergency like this one.Whats the trasportation facilities like there?

Finally,one bus stopped and some passengers continued their trip with that one.I dont go into details as how we arrived to Shiraz.but thse buses really stinks!

We stayed in a placed called"Teachers House" which is specially for teachers.but as a teacher you have to pay some money to these places.but their sevice was OK.the rooms were clean and that was Ok.the Fist place we went to visit was Shah cheragh a holy mosque(you can see all these photos in my next email which is accompanied  with this email).then we went to Hafez,Irans most famous poet.the people of Shiraz are really kind except some of their taxi drivers who may chrge you double for their fare.

there were tourists from other countries too.we went to his mausoleum .Iranians are in favor of poems and poets.

then we went to Sadi mausoleum _another Iranian poet.

 I visited almost any photos you see in the link page I have sent you so I dont go into details any more as this letter is turning into a book that an email.

Finally ,we went to the Persepolis.the taxi driver knew more that I baout the history of these ancient places and that was unusual and surprising for me.

 we spent two hours to see the historical places because it took 120 years to build the place.

Unfortunatly unpurposefully we booked our tickets to Karaj on the same bus.I prophesied that the bus will be broken down in mid night and it did but at 2:PM.some people are very lucky:(

After 2 hours of waiting and the passengers complaining to the bus driver the bus was saved and here we are.

 

 

I visited Shiraz a couple of days ago.I will tell you more about it later and if you are interested I can send u more photos.

Iranians arent arabs!

Hi Terry:

As I told you before we live in a city not a village and although my wife has a B.A. degree in English literature,she hasnt been able to find a job because the rate of unemployment is rather high here.We arent like arabs who dont let their wife go out by themselves.here in Iran women have much more freedom that the arab countries like saudi arabia.to be honest,most Iranians "hate"arabs too.why?

You should keep in mind that regardless of West's involvement in Iran-Iraq war, it was Iraqis with the help of other Arab countries, both militarily and financially as well as in forms of so called volunteer personnel, who invaded Iran and caused enormous death and damage. It is natural to “hate” those who killed your friends and destroyed your hometown!we are the ones with the 3000 years of civilization...we are PERSIANS...not arab.
of course we all are human and equal, physically and chemically... but the main difference in people from different countries is cultural and some things are undeniable.
most of the iranians who hate arabs are raised in educated families and know their history. they know how Persia was sieged by the arabs. how barbaric we were treated. how the women were raped. how the persian language and persian names were banned so that our own alphabet was forgotten and how todays arabs are proud that the rest of the world thinks all the persian scientists and writers was arabs since they had arabic names... all these are reasons to hate the arab culture
many arabs hate iranians too...
I hate what arabs did to us!  we should never forget the history...we are the only people in the world whose language and culture has survived the arab invasion and siege!!!!
sure, we have taken influence... but we still have our own language and culture.. Not as individuals, as a cultural unit. That is a fact!!! 
Iraq-Iran war made it very obvious that Arab governments do make it a policy to fan anti-Iranian racism. Time and again they have made it clear that Iranians are not in the club. Both for being non-Arab (less then 3% of Iranians are Arabic speakers) and for being Shi'a.
Also, there are racial differences. It is undeniable that majority of Iranians are indo-European, while Arabs are semitic. Culturally the two groups are different. For example Norouz (the name of iranian New Year)is far more important for us than Fetr festival.
Regarding the name Persia, Iranians always referred to their country as Iran (Eran Shahr, Eran Zamin). Persia was the name that Greeks, Romans and other Europeans used for the country. It was used in official documents of the government of Iran up to 1935. Reza Shah changed it to Iran for all to use.

I am Dariush, the great king, the king of kings
The king of many countries and many peoples
The king of this expansive land,
The son of Wishtaspa of Achaemenid,
Persian, the son of a Persian,
'Aryan', from the Aryan race

"From the Darius the Great's Inscription in Naqshe-e-Rostam"(Shiraz)

The above scripture is one of most valid written evidences of the history of the Aryan race, and as can be seen, Darius I (Dariush in persian), the Achaemenian king, in the 5th century BCE, declares himself a Persian and form the Aryan race. Herodotus, the father of history, writes (in his book: "History of Herodotus") at the same times: "In ancient times, the Greeks called Iranians "Kaffe", but they were renowned as Aryans among themselves and their neighbors". In another part of his book, Herodotus writes that the Medians were known as Aryans during a certain period. So in two of the oldest written human documents, the race of the Iranians have been mentioned as Aryan.Arabs  have always liked to see us (persian) proclaiming ourselves arabs it is always confusing for outsiders to distiguish between us). we always refuse to do so , just because we are not!!in these days they(Arabs)need us more than ever, pressure from US mounting up and all of sudden they are saying persians are their muslims brothers!!! well i say "let's be their brothers" get whatever economic benefits that would otherwise go to west and then cheat them at the right moment because they would not hesitate to cheat us if they get a chance. A reminder of what they might do: hajj procession 20 years ago.(they killed so many of their fellow "brothers "in hajj)

Here you can find and rent  American movies so easily with very cheap prices.Is it the same there?could you tell me a bit about cable and national TV?

Those who have a sattalite dish can get any TV stations they are interested in but others should suffice to Iran 7 channel national TV.

I would appriciate if you send me your photo and your family photo and also the place where you live.Once I have been to Syria and Turkey but not Europe and if my hands get to that thing which is called ahhhh money,I am eager to visit the US and especially NYC which is my favorite city in the world.What about you ,have you been to any foriegn countries?If yes,whaich countries and what was it like there?