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| With Kamariah and our host, Dr Aziz |
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| Dr Aziz and his lovely wife |
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| With Idris Abdul and Dr Zain |
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| Photo of (from left) an Iranian friend, Dr Zain, Sdra Ali, Sdra Mohd Nor, Dr Azia |
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| On a marshland, birdwatching trip |
1. Intoduction:
The Iranian connection was through a Ph D student at UPM who was under
the supervision of a Food Science
professor whose husband, Mohd Noor, is a
friend. I was introduced to the father
of the student, Dr Abd Aziz Naghavand, who was formerly a lecturer at a
University in Iran. Dr Aziz , after
retirement, is a businessman, explo- ring
possibilities of trading in palm oil. He invited us to visit Iran, to look at the prospects of trading products
from Iran that could be imported into Malaysia.
With this background we decided to visit the country on the dates. The group was made up of five people – Sdra
Mohd Nor Abdul, Sdra Dr. Zain, Sdra Ali, Kamariah (my wife) and I.
2. During the 8 days of the trip the
following places of interest were visited.
2.1 Tehran.
The capital is a sprawling big metropolis with a population of 14
million. The traffic is chaotic with
drivers not caring a hoot for road courtesy and traffic rules. We stayed at one
of the apartment type accommodation with cooking facilities, in the centre of
the city.
2.2 Tehran Bazaar. It is a huge trading centre, with
stalls selling practically everything under the sun – shoes, cloths, garments,
handicrafts, all kinds of kitchen condiments and spices, books, cigarettes,
nuts such as macademia and groundnuts and of course carpets, carpets etc etc.
Within its compound, there are mosques and banks. It is said that the traders in the bazaar,
who are wealthy, wield considerable political influence and were key people
involved in many of the political happenings such as the overthrow of Mossadegh.
2.3 National Museum of Iran. The museum houses exhibits of its long
and rich history. Iran existed as early as the 7th century BC when
the first Persian Empire was established by the Achaemenids, who, among its
well-known leaders was Cyrus 11.
Zoroastrianism, praying to the fire, was the religious belief. The
second Persian Empire, known as the Sassanian Period, started in 224 AD by
Ardeshir 1 and focussed its governance in developing small industries and
encouraging trade. The defeat of the
Sassanians at the hands of the Arabs saw
the spread of Islam in Iran and the establishment the Umayyad and Abbasid
caliphas. The third Persian Empire
existed from 1334 t0 1722 known as the Safavid Period. The Pahlavi dynasty
started in 1921 with Shah Reza, who ousted the Qajar’s rule, declaring himself the first shah of the
Pahlavi line. During the Pahlavi reign
Iran went through a very turbulent period
with political and economic intriques. Shah Reza was removed and
replaced by his son, Mohammed Reza. He
too made many unpopular actions such as being very pro-America and held a
lavish celebration for the 2500th anniversary of the founding of the
Persian Empire. He too was ousted by an
Islamic Revolution in 1979 that installed Ayatollah Khomeini as the Supreme
Leader.
2.4 The Holy Shrine of Imam Khomeini. The mausoleum is situated on the
highway to Qom with its landmark four towers. Imam Khomeini who passed away in 1989, was
buried here and the burial was attended by an estimated 10 million people –
considered the biggest ever crowd at a burial. The shrine is tucked in one one
corner of a large empty hall . The visit
to the mausoleum was followed by stop at the nearby cemetery, Behesht-eZahra,
the main resting place for the Iranians who died in the Iran-Irag War (1980-1889).
2.5 Noshahr and Chalus.
We visited this twin towns on the Caspian sea early in the trip. We were
arranged to have a courtesy call on ayatollah, a local religious leader,
followed by a briefing on the status of the town by an official of the town.
2.6 Masuleh. We drove from Noshahr to Rasht and
then through the mist shrouded valley to millennium old village of
Masuleh. It is stuck surrounded by
mountains around it. Its attraction is
the unique irregular rows of houses stacked up, with the roof of one level
forming the pathway for the level above.
It was at this remote village in Iran that the children, on being told
that we are from Malaysia, responded “ Yes Dr Mahathir”. Such was how our ex PM popular and known to
the world particularly among the Muslims.
2.7 Qom and Esfahan. We took the tourist bus to Esfahan and
Qom is on the route. Qom is Iran’s
second holiest city after Mashhad and the home of the Hzrat-e Masumeh shrine. It has many madrasahs where Shiite scholars
and students from all over the world come to study. Esfahan is well-known for its beautiful
Persian architectural masterpieces of buildings, mosques, bazaars and bridges.
Among them that we saw during the two days there were Imam Square, the Imam
Mosque and Bazaar-e Bozorg. The Imam Square is considered the second
biggest square after Tiananmen in the
world. We saw many Iranian families sitting on the ground in the Square in the
evening. The Imam Mosque built from blue
designed mosaic tiles was the creation of Shah Abbas 1. Initial work on its construction began in
1611 and completed in 1929
General Observations.
Iran has a long history with one of the earlier civilizations of the
world. To do justice to the country a
few more visits need to be made to cover the western, central, eastern and the
Persian Gulf parts. Tehran can serve as a base to visit the central Asian
countries such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
However, its main drawback to tourists is the absence of entertainmen
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