After intrepidly exploring Iran for 3 weeks, I was down to my final 3 days which I would spend in Tabriz enroute to the land border with Turkey. I would get fascinated by bread while in Tabriz and I’m not sure why, but it’s things like this that I love about travelling strange and foreign lands; every little mundane daily routine like getting bread is new and fascinating. Each morning and evening, I would see people call in on their local baker for freshly made naan direct from the oven; often consisting of a hot bed of stones, heated by a gas fire, preparing any of four varieties… sangak or maybe barbari.
Naan (like petrol) is subsidised in Iran, hence why a piece of naan like the one in the pictures is only twenty US cents. Subsidies cost the Iranian government about 25% of their GDP, but it’s the price they pay to keep the masses happy which keeps them in power. So I am a little confused what to say about Iran, as the Government says one thing, the people I talked with say another and then there are the masses that must support the status quo (unless of course the government interferes with the election results; as many believe).
Personally I believe religion and state should be separate, religion should be a matter of choice, however in Iran there is no choice about it, it’s mandated and enforced by the states powerful apparatus. I met plenty of non-religious people who pretend to be Muslim through fear of persecution, is that right? Everyone inherently wants the freedom to choose, and regimes that oppress invariably don’t last the test of time, something Gandhi noted.
Pre-revolution Iran was a modern and liberal nation, however nowadays their economy suffers from sanctions and the society is very segregated (e.g. women must sit at the back of the bus and the men at the front). The young, are the ones who are suffering from the restrictions the most, As a result the educated ones are leaving (along with the millions of other intellects and well to do’s) in search of more freedom and opportunities; creating one of the worst brain drains on the planet. I feel for those friendly, curious and hospitable people I have met who stay, or feel they must leave, because they aren’t happy with the forced Hejab, low salaries, suppression and lack of real freedom. All of this in the name of a religion, Islam, it just doesn’t sound right to me.
As for money and budgets while I was in Iran, I spent a total of 2.87 million Rials during my three and a half weeks in Iran; about NZD $450, so Iran is not an expensive place by any means. Below are some examples of everyday expenses in USD:
- Dorm bed in clean hostel - $5 to $6
- Eight hour luxury A/C bus trip with drink and snacks - $5
- City bus - $0.05
- Large burger - $1
- 1.5L Coke - $0.80
- Ice cream cone - $0.30
- Kg of dates - $1.20
- Petrol per L (first 3L) - $0.10, (more than 3L) - $0.40 (basically free)
- Naan bread – between $0.025 and $0.25 (even more so free)
- Alcohol – not available as it’s illegal (however plenty still drink in the privacy of their home)
At the time of writing in 2009 inflation was between 13-25% (depending who you believe) so over the previous few years the Iranian Rial has devalued greatly, meaning they needed to print higher and higher denominations. The highest is a 1,000,000 Rial note (USD $100) which I saw at a bank in Tehran. However, confusingly everybody talks in terms of Tomans; the Rial value divided by ten. So if they ask for 5,000, you don’t hand them a 5,000 Rial note but a 50,000 Rial note; don’t ask me why...
