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Teherán
Image by wsrmatre
Téhéran La Magnifique, Téhéran La Polluée, Téhéran siège du Bazar vrai moteur de la révolution islamique, Téhéran la mégalopole à la modernité galopante capitale d’une des nations les plus anciennes de l’humanité et théâtre d’une révolution qui a bouleversé le monde musulman et qui dure encore. Que peut on dire de cette cité omnivore près de 30 ans après l’avènement des Mollahs?
UN PEU D’HISTOIRE (pas trop):
Il faut savoir tout d’abord que si bien l’Iran en tant que nation indépendante occupant plus ou moins le même territoire possède une histoire plus que tri millénaire Téhéran compte une histoire datant à peine de trois siècles en tant que capitale.
Au sud de la ville actuelle, faisant partie en fait du "Grand Téhéran" se trouve la ville de Rey dont Téhéran était une bourgade satellite où on cultivait entre autres des grenades.
Un des faits marquants de l’histoire de Téhéran simple bourgade campagnarde fut le sac et destruction de Rey par les Mongols en 1220. A cette occasion une partie des survivants de Rey se réfugia dans cette localité.
Au XVI siècle la ville commença a acquérir son importance lorsque le roi Tahmasd I y construisit un palais, un caravansérail et des murailles protégeant la ville. Sa population ne dépassait pas alors les 15.000 habitants.
A la fin du XVIII avec l’avènement de l’importante dynastie des Qadjars Téhéran commence à se développer comme résidence royale et en 1795 Mohamed Khan Agha en fit sa capitale. Avec tout ça Téhéran arrive au XX siècle avec à peine 250.000 habitants…pour en compter aujourd’hui près de 14 millions.
Ses pauvres habitants ont subi, et quelques fois provoqué, au moins 4 révolutions depuis.
- Déposition du dernier souverain Quadjar par Reza Khan un militaire cosaque qui a mis d’abord en place un premier ministre pour se proclamer peu de temps après, 1925, Sha avec tous les pouvoirs imaginables. Succédé par son fils En 1941 Reza est évincé par les britanniques (mais quelle manie d’aller fourrer son nez chez autrui,,,) qui le remplacent par son fils de 22 ans Mohamed Reza Palhavi jugé plus docile, plus idiot et dans tous les cas mieux vu par le Foreign Office.
D’une façon ou d’une autre les nationalistes iraniens parvinrent a placer à la tête du gouvernement un premier ministre peu disposé a se plier aux "puissances"…il n’a pas fait long feu. Les amerloques maintenant s’y mêlent (aie aie) et Mohamed et " L’Agence", plutôt l’Agence tout court font cesser les agissements de ce fauteur de troubles qui avait osé nationaliser le pétrole (Iran troisième détenteur de réserves mondial. Ça vous dit quelque chose? Ça vous e-x-p-l-i-q-u-e quelque chose?).
Les enmerds ont la vie dure quand on joue à l’apprenti sorcier et un vieux monsieur barbichu qui était hôte de la France en exil depuis 1962 à mis le feu à la poudre, mis en émoi plus de 1200 millions de musulmans, fait fuir le Sha comme un chien et déclaré sans demi mots que "A partir d’aujourd’hui (premier février 1979) c’est moi qui nommerai le gouvernement".
Doté d’un gouvernement éminemment religieux, les partis laïcs sont expressément banis du système et tout l’édifice étatique est supervisé en dernière instance par un conseil de religieux et le "Guide suprême" un religieux lui aussi. Peu de chances de changement donc de ce côté. Si changement il y a celui ci viendra sûrement (et ça fera le bonheur des historiens à tendance marxiste) de l’économie.
Il est évident, sauf pour le gouvernement iranien, que un tel système ne tien pas la route quand il s’agit de donner au peuple ce que le peuple réclame; panem et circences, comme toujours. Pour le circences ça craint à fond. Une ville de 14 millions d’Habitants dont 60% ont moins de 25 ans et sans lieux de débauche en abondance manque assurément de quelque chose.
Pour le panem les politiques sociales du régime islamique déraillent a vitesse de croisière: inflation galopante, prix du logement provoquant le suicide, chômage épouvantable et stagnation de la production industrielle. La république islamique surnageant une mer de pétrole et de gaz en est réduite à rationner l’essence (qu’elle subventionne, faut être
con) à 100 litres par mois pour les voitures particulières.
Certains diront que l’embargo américain est la cause des déboires de ces pauvres mollahs. Détrompez vous, pas un seul iranien avec lequel j’ai eu l’occasion d’en parler ne le croit.
TEHERAN AUJOURD’HUI:
La ville est énorme et n’espérez pas la parcourir à pied. Surtout que entre le sud Téhéran (la partie la plus ancienne et la plus pauvre) et le nord (moderne, huppé et à la construction anarchique) il y a près de 30 Km et ça monte de 450 mts. pour s’orienter le mieux est de se fixer sur 2 avenues:
- Avenue Vali Asrd qui s’étend nu Nord au sud sur plus de 20 Km. Cette avenue était anciennement la Voie Royale empruntée par le Sha lors de ses déplacements entre son Palais d’hiver au Golestan, et celui d’été, dans les hauteurs. Cette rue est très commerciale.
Azadi Av, appelée Enquelab (Dit Enguelab) en arrivant au centre ville. Celle ci s’étend d’Est en Ouest et traverse pratiquement toute la ville.
Il y a 2 lignes de métro suivant plus ou moins les mêmes directions mais vu le prix ridicule des taxis il est préférable de se déplacer en voiture et profiter de la vue. (Prix du taxi le plus cher possible, appelé par l’hôtel, faisant partie d’une agence, parlant anglais ou français et tout le bazar: 50.000 Rials soit à peu près 4 euros de l’heure. Un taxi pris dans la rue pour une course de 5 km en pleine ville ne vous coûtera pas plus de 20.000 rials, moins de 2 euros, et un taxi collectif le tiers. Mais là c’est un peu compliqué si on ne baragouine pas un peu le Farsi). De grâce ne prenez pas une moto taxi, ces cinglés conduisent d’une main en écrivant des SMS, sans casque et en sens interdit. Vous aurez toujours le temps de satisfaire le péage de Caronthe un autre jour.
La circulation est infernale, la pollution épouvantable s’il n’y a pas de vent. Peut être que le rationnement du carburant aura son côté positif.
La partie nord de la ville est celle où tous voudraient habiter, surtout ceux qui n’en ont pas les moyens. Le loyer d’un 2 pièces 45 m2 peut atteindre les 600 euros mois et l’achat y est seulement trois fois moins cher qu’à Paris alors que les salaires sont 10 à 15 fois inférieurs. Vous imaginez facilement les difficultés des habitants pour payer le logement. En quoi la République Islamique se distingue telle de la République sans dieu tout court?: c’est encore pire.
Architecture souvent hiper moderne de buildings vitrés et maisons bourgeoises dans certains cartiers à flanc de montagne. Galléries marchandes avec les meubles dernier cri et les ensembles Hi-Fi les plus chers vous trouverez aussi au nord Téhéran ce qui sera certainement la graine qui fera finalement tomber le régime théocratique:les bourgeois de Téhéran. Voitures dernier modèle, costumes italiens, montres de marque et surtout de femmes maquillées et parées comme de oiseaux exotiques dans de tuniques moulantes et couvrant de leur foulard Hermès 15% de leur chevelure, travaillant, conduisant et fumant comme des locomotives. On est bien loin ici de ces images dont nous abreuvent les médias débiles et menteurs de ses multitudes de fantomatiques femmes corbeaux en voie de disparition.
QUE VOIR:
N’étant capitale que depuis les Quadjars Téhéran n’a pas de monuments antiques mais ne manque pas d’atouts pour le visiteur, loin de là. LA ville mérite une visite d’au moins 2 jours dont je citerai quelques incontournables.
- PALAIS DU GOLESTAN:
www.golestanpalace.ir/En_Site/collections/E-history.htm
Tel : +98 21 311-3335 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +98 21 311-3335 end_of_the_skype_highlighting?Fax : +98 21 311-1811 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +98 21 311-1811 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
E-mail:info@golestanpalace.org
ce qu’il reste de la splendide résidence royale des Quadjars squattée après par les Palhavi. Le complexe du Golestan se situe un peu au sud du centre ville presque en face de l’entrée principale du bazar et est composé de plusieurs bâtiments autour d’une court. Plusieurs contiennent des musées: peintures, objets d’art, photographie ancienne…le Negar Khane est le plus intéressant avec ses peintures de l’époque Quadjar, avec le musée de la photographie qui expose des photos anciennes avec beaucoup de couleur bien que uniquement en noir et blanc (Un servant se fait bastonner les pieds pour avoir cassé de la verrerie, une tour zoroastrienne où on disposait les cadavres pour être dévorés par les vautours).
Plusieurs salles dont celle du trône de marbre, celle des miroirs sont magnifiques par leur décoration avec abondance de miroirs. (Voir mon avis là dessus")
Les horaires sont un peu limités: de 8h30 à 15 h 30 de sauf le jeudi et le dimanche et certains des musées ont encore des variations (voir sur leur site malheureusement seulement en anglais et farsi). Chaque bâtiment est payant, tickets seulement à l’entrée le prix de la visite totale ne dépasse pas les 3 euros.
- LE BAZAR on dit à Téhéran que le bazar a fait la révolution. C’est bien possible et les bazaris sont connus pour leur conservatisme et pour marquer le prix des denrées pour toute la ville. Sans le charme exotique de ceux de Alepp ou le Caire le bazar de Téhéran est une gigantesque fourmilière, un dédale de ruelles aux directions imprévisibles dans lequel il est facile de se perdre (mais vous vous en sortirez) et dans lequel on peut acheter absolument de tout. La bouffe à des prix absolument ridicules et toute sorte de denrées et bibelots du tapis persan a l’écumoire, de la montre Piaget au parfum d’imitation (extraordinaires, essayez U2 Perfume échoppe 76 près de l’école Abdollahkhan ils ne parlent que farsi mais n’importe qui se fera un plaisdir de vous faire la trad. (En général les jeunes parlent anglais) Windows VISTA pour 3 euros et tous les jeux PSP au KG (Tout le bazar informatique est a de très bons prix pour le hard, mais attention aux problèmes d’exportation, et à des prix ridicules pour le soft). Costumes, vêtements et chaussures, de marque, d’imitation et locales aussi à de bons out très bons prix. Bref le paradis de l’acheteur.
-LA MOSQUÉE IMAM KHOMEINI: la mosquée sans être extraordinaire en vaut le détour pour son immense cour depuis laquelle on admire les divers bâtiments dont le portail flanqué de deus minarets sertis de céramique persane avec des versets du Coran (voir photo) et une tour avec une horloge, le bassin des ablutions (les chiites majoritaires en Iran utilisent des bassins pour les ablutions, les sunnites des fontaines). Malgré la photo attention; la photo est interdite et en Iran cela veut dire que l’on ne fait pas de photos.
- MUSÉE DES JOYEAUX DE LA COURONE: situé dans une banque, Melli: Ferdosi Street, ouvert seulement samedi et mardi de 14 heures à 16h 30 entrée 35,000 RI, dans les 3 euros. Le trône du paon serti de pierreries, le plus gros diamant rose non taille: 182 Carats, un globe terrestre de 34 Kg d’or et plus de 50.000 pierres précieuses vous émerveilleront. Attention les familles:enfants de mopins de 12 ans non admis.
- LES PARCS: haut lieu de divertissement des téhéranis de nombreux parcs se rencontrent dans toutes les parties de la ville. Les autochtones y pique niquent, avec réchauds à gaz, tupperwares, vielles mamies et bébés, les jeunes couples y vont faire la causette…et d’autres choses dans les endroits obscurs . une promenade dans un parc est une bonne occasion pour connaître des iraniens dans une ambiance conviviale. N’importe quelle famille vous invitera à partager son banquet sans façons. Serrez la main aux hommes, dites Janom (madame) aux dames et embrassez les enfants. Ça sera du plus bel effet et vous passerez un bon moment en même temps que vous mangez.
Le cas échéant tous les parcs ont des buvettes, des restaurants et ou des cafétéria (Dégueulasse leur café, quand ce n’est pas du nescafé. Essayez plutôt le thé ou les jus)
Les meilleurs: le Park-e Shahr, 300 mts àl’ouest du Golestan Palace, le Park-e Mellat au centre ville et surtout le Park-e Jamshidiyeh ou parc des Pierres situé à flanc de montagne (Essoufflés s’abstenir) duquel on découvre un superbe panorama. Les parcs ont des horaires beaucoup plus favorables que les musées et à minuit encore pleins.
Ne faisant pas partie des parcs mais dans le même ordre d’idées les téléphériques reliant Téhéran à ses stations de ski (les téhéranis peuvent aller au ski sans se déplacer les pistes étant à 40 minutes du centre ville. on part au ski en métro…) On se fait déposer au pied de l’une des stations de départ et on monte autant que l’on veut jusque à la dernière (plusieurs segments, chacun payant). Superbe avec et sans neige.
- Complexes des palais du nord Téhéran: complexe Sa’ad Abad et palais Niyavaran. Deux résidences royales magnifiques contenant des musées.
RESTAURATION:
Téhéran possède une offre infinie toujours à de très bon prix ou à des prix ridicules. Rien de plus simple que de manger de casse croûtes dans la rue pour 2 euros quand on sait que les restaurants les plus "touristiques" offrent des dîners super abondants pour moins de 10 euros.
Le problème le voici: malgré la richesse remarquable de la cuisine persane la plupart des restaurants offrent presque quasiment des kebabs dans leur quelques variétés: poulet, mouton, boeuf, abats de mouton, abats de boeuf et, j’hésite à le dire, de poisson (les téhéranis sont absolument ignares dans le préparation du poisson qui subit chez eux un processus de cuisson extrême abolissant toute possibilité de plaisir gustatif et rendant souvent la victime coriace comme du PVC). Les kebabs sobt accompagnés de tomates braisées, de piment également braisés, quelques fois de frittes et de riz toujours, blanc ou avec légumes ou simplement safrané.
Attendez vous à ne pas trouver de couteau. On mange à la cuiller et fourchette.
Jamais d’alcohol sauf à l’Armenian Club, 68 Kharh Street,presque introuvable puisque seuls les chauffeurs de taxi arméniens (les arméniens représentent 5% du total des Iraniens) le connaissent et les musulmans n’y sont pas admis.
Les établissements sortant de cet ordinaire sont rares, difficiles à trouver (à Téhéran presque tout sauf le nom des rues principales et les bureaux de change est annoncé en Farsi) car souvent en sous sol. Il y en a un pas mal self service en face du Téhéran Grand hôtel au coin de la rue. Très familial et vend des plats à emporter.
Ne ratez pas:
- le Sofre Khaneh Ali Ghapoo, Avenue Ghandi au Nord Téhéran. Encore en sous sol cet établissement extraordinaire à la décoration rechargée (Plafonds en imitation de la fameuse chambre de musique à Isfahan) n’est pas du tout touristique mais au contraire authentiquement téhéranais. Toujours abominablement plein de beau monde (c’est chic, huppé et pas vraiment l’endroit que les mollahs fréquentent)il est impossible d’y accéder sans réservation préalable . Offre chaque soir de 21 h à 23h 30 de la musique iranienne par un ensemble de qualité. Ses percussionnistes sont très réputés.
La bouffe consiste en un buffet de salades, crudités et les omniprésents yaourts aux concombres, aux pistaches…bien serti. Les plats chauds par contre sont de qualité moyenne ce qui est un tantinet décevant. Kebabs et encore kebabs
Le prix: en dessous de 10 euros. C’est pas extraordinaire ça?
- Le Khayam traditional restaurant, rue KHayam (Dites Jayam) en face de la Mosquée Husseini. Il y a souvent des groupes de touristes mais l’établissement gardes toute sa saveur persane sans musique mais à des prix inférieurs à ceux de l’Ali Ghapoo. On s’y assoit à table ou sur des divans, je conseille le divan on peut se vautrer à souhait. Toujours des Kebabs. La fin agrémentée de thé et de pipes à l’eau. Quel plaisir pour un fumeur de voir les autres s’en prendre plein la gueule sans broncher…
- Nayeb de l’ Avenue Vali Sadr: ily en a plusieurs avec la même enseigne, tous du même patron. Mon préféré, sans doute car se trouvant en face de l’hôtel que je fréquente le Simorgh. (Voir mes avis sur le Restaurant Nayeb et l’Hôtel Simhorg)
Quand vous n’en pourrez plus des kebabs vous pourrez toujours essayer un des multiples restos Hindous, Chinois, Japonais,libanais ou même mexicains. Je ne peut rien en dire,ça ne me viendrait pas à l’idée de fréquenter ce genre d’établissement à Téhéran, Moultes pizzerias et fast foods partout, mais là alors partout.
Gloucester2Gaza 15
Image by gloucester2gaza
The crew have sent a diary of their trip –
day two
as we arrived in ostend at about 12.30 in the morning, we were already tired an the tents that had been promised had not turned up either, so things were starting to look a little bleak, so we decided to drive for a bit towards Paris and then crash out in a hotel, after driving for two hours, we _(our part of the convoy parked up on a service station having no luck driven roun bruges looking for a hotel( parked up in a service station an got 3 hours sleep in the van…. taste of thing to come, then we hit the road again and drove past Paris to begles in Bordeaux where we arrived at 1.00am Monday morning,
day three
we were put up in a local community centre by the locals who arranged for food and somewhere to sleep , and we were to leave as a whole convoy at 10 am, but one of our vans broke down, the convoy left without us and we stayed on in bagel all day trying to see if we could fix it, and then we decided to get another, and that two vans would go on to catch up with the rest of the convoy, whilst farook bhai and abbey would stay and get a van and then catch us up, I will let them tell u the story of the hospitality and help that the locals gave to us , so the two vans left bagel at 11 pm to drive to Spain to catch up the rest of the convoy,
day four
driving through the night into Spain and then crashing out in a service station in the van again in freezing conditions was not really the exotic idea I had when I left for this convoy, but the reality of the situation was starting to sink in with all of us, and also being split from our group didn’t help us feel any better, but we knew we were on a mission so we soldiered on taken in the landscape and beautiful view of Spain until Cordoba when it got dark, and was sad that we had to carry on driving through the night again to get to tarifa as we were missing out on all the scenery, we managed to catch up with our group, as they were on the side of the motorway, an ambulance had broken down, and after praying and a can of Baxter’s soup we were on the way again, getting split up from our group again and going to tarifa different ways arriving at 3 in the morning
day five
went to sleep in the ferry ports office for two hours in our sleeping bags, before getting our tickets and then going through customs leaving Europe on the ferry arriving in Tangiers at 10 am, and then being sniffer dogged , x-rayed (that’s just the vans!( George Galloway turned up and gave a press conference in front of our van (again( and after waiting for 5 hours we were eventually police escorted to a large country club for dinner on the governments expense, but before that we were given what looked like a heroes welcome by the people on the roads of Tangiers, making the tiredness go away, felt guilty as we were on a mission to take aid to GAZA, large reception at the country club with tagine (first hot meal since leaving home, ) and then we thought sleep was on the agenda, but not the case as we left at 6pm and drove 260 through thick fog arriving at fez at 4am
day 6
large hotel was arranged for the whole group and jus being able to have a shower and sleep in the bed was a welcome relief for us all, along with the fact that the other two drivers from Gloucester had caught us up and arrived at the hotel in the afternoon, day spent getting the vans ready, mechanics in, refuelling, changing money and also being able to come in to Fez and having a quick browse through the souks, and also having to put all this down now, so hopefully we will have a daily if not every two days worth of material from other members of the group as well. We will be setting of at 7 am tomorrow to Oujda through the base of the Atlas Mountains……….
Day 9
After a night of rest and an early morning breakfast at 6.30am we were supposed to be ready and hit the road at 7am but due to typical multinational timing clashing we finally hit the road at ten. There was heavy police presence that also escorted and split us in to manageable groups. The view around fez and the plateaus and of course not to mention the foothills of the Atlas Mountains was breathtaking and would suggest a sight to be visited. every town we passed through, people lined up along the roads waving, cheering and showing the peace sign, showing us their support and appreciation of what we are doing support for the cause. We stopped for salatul Ju’mah in the town of taza, outside the masjid itself. We sat down as the khutbah started like any other ju’mah salat until the imam mentioned the convoy in his bayan and prayed for the people of Gaza. After we came out of the masjid there was a big crowd of people around all the convoy vehicles wishing us well on our journey and some people even gave us dirhams for the people of Gaza we soon departed from there stopping at a town called guercif for a reception organised by a close contact of Viva Palestina in that town who has been working tirelessly to host us. As we were running a day behind he actually made preparations to feed us yesterday and he insisted that we visit him he re-arranged all the food and staff for today, it was no small feat feeding a group of over 250 people with a three course meal and waiters on hand at his own personal residence (which was quite large and surrounded by acres of olive trees). We carried on further to another reception by the mayor of Oujda near t6he border and then managed to get a hotel room for the night at 2am. For a North African country we expected it to be hot, at least warm, but we were all still wearing our coats as it is still very chilly. We left at 7 am and then queued up in the convoy driving three km to the border between Algeria and morocco which the respective governments opened for the first time after 15 years, which shows the extent that they were prepared to go to help us. At the border we spent the whole day, until 9pm waiting for our documents to be processed, which without computers and groups of their customs officers who have never experienced anything of this sort before was to be expected and made us realise how lucky we are in our country to be able to be passing through borders with such ease. We eventually left the border and the numbers of Algerians showing support lined up just outside the borders was tremendous. every town we drove through there were as many people cheering and clapping us through, making us feel welcome and humbled as this was not because of who were, but what we were doing and we did not want the acknowledgement for us, but for the people to feel connected to the people suffering in Gaza., as we had been travelling with very little sleep and in confined spaces of our vehicles, tempers would flare occasionally in the convoy, and even amongst our group we had issues about team involvement skills, as we were being pushed to the limits of our endurance, the need to pull together as a team was never so important. And as members questioned others commitment to the group, a firm reminder of the purpose of this mission was reiterated without mincing words, and people started to pull together as a team.
We travelled on until 1 am and parked in a large car park where we pitched up a 6 man tent that we had practise with whilst waiting at the border. It was cold again and the seven of us as well another fellow traveller snuggled up for the night after warming up a can of soup and sharing a few morsels amongst the group. toilet facilities were there inn the bushes, just keeping an eye out for snakes and scorpions quickly got ready to hit the road again, not knowing when we will stop or for how long, so we made our coffees on the vans and hit the road in a convoy, covering over 650 km passing maghnia, oran, mostagennem, alger – the capital ) and then stopping at tibaz .This was one the hardest drives we had, driving until 4 am Monday morning, every time we went through a town, we had to slow due to the crowds of people in each town, we would occasionally get drinks and food given to us by passer bys and they would also descend up the vans with their marker pens to leave their messages for the Gaza people on the vans, they would also ask us in their broken English/French and us in our broken French/Arabic to convey their salaams to the people of Gaza and that the Gaza people were in their duaas.
Day 10
The Algerian govt had also sorted out free petrol for the convoy; they must have rivers of the stuff flowing round here….! locals have helped convoy members whose vans have broken down to get them up and running again, the governor of tibiza, where we eventually stopped for the night, personally came and took us on a tour of a roman amphitheatre on the coast of the Mediterranean, where the Romans would watch duels and fights similar to that of Crowe in gladiator, except that this was one of the real locations. The ruins looked beautiful against the backdrop of the sea and I took this opportunity to start writing this second section of our log which we will pass on to you once we can find an internet connection (lucky enough to find toilets, let alone wifi!) I have also asked others to write up something to post out to you, but as this was one of the first days that we got to spend chilling, that was what we did. we stopped at a hotel on top of a hill in tibiza, where we managed to get sleep after fajr and then had dinner, where George Galloway joined us and gave a little talk, taking charge of the ship so to speak, setting out ground rules such as no more than 350 km in a day and a stops on the road after every three hours, along with emphasis on working together as a whole group and looking after one another, as there were concerns after the amount of driving that has been done, and the lack of communications between the some of the group organisers and the rest of the group, along with certain factions of the convoy who do not like to take orders from others and want to do their own thing, George gave any one who wanted to do their own thing that they could leave the convoy and go their own way at their own speed, but promised that they wouldn’t get far as it was a result of his influence with certain sympathetic people to our cause that we were getting this help through these countries. the way he speaks leaves one to think that he is a Muslim and stressed on Islamic ideals about unity and fearing god, which was then further emphasised by sheik zahid (don’t know where he is from yet), who also talked about the need for unity amongst us a there were many out there who would like to see this mission fail and for us to be derided, also the fact that there are non Muslims on this group – a small minority who are very good in their akhlaq that I feel embarrassed by our behaviour (one of the convoy group
slapped a waiter in the face in a previous hotel, and people complained about food being bland etc when they are giving us their best hospitality for free…. it make you wonder why the state of the ummah is in such a plight when we are not bothered about our neighbour / fellow traveller on a journey, using the benchmark of what we are used to at home and expect it to be the same here at somebody else expense. the hotel we were put up in last night (night? sorry this morning and tonight) is very nice an has a excellent view, but somebody even complained to George about the hotel and said that Algeria is a rich country, is this all they could do to put us up!! George again reiterated that we have our sleeping bags and that we were expecting to rough it out for the journey not has hotels, but when there is an opportunity we will take it and be grateful. so I’m off to the town again to find a cyber cafe so that I can post this out, hoping that all the folks back home are good and grateful for the help given to us by the local community to enable us from Gloucester to take part in this once in a lifetime experience. I hope that by the next time we get to cyber cafe we will have uploads from other members of the group who will share their experience as well, and hope you get some photos with this message… salaams
Day 11
after a nights rest at the hotel in tibiza we left as a whole convoy and stooped at the first petrol station that was along the motorway where it took two hours to fill up all the vehicles, we had to pay this time, but at 13p a litre of diesel and 22p a litre of unleaded, nobody was complaining, we then drove 300 miles ( so much for Georges cap at 350 km!) going through setif and stopping just outside the city of constantine ( I think its where the roman emperor made Christianity the official religion) and with salaat stops and changing drivers every couple few hours, we found it an easier drive, stopping for the night at a car factory by 9pm, parking our vehicles in their car park and then being escorted by coach to a local mosque where we stayed the night. The local Red Crescent came and handed out bags of food to every one and we also had our photos taken with some of the military, holding their big guns. there has been a lot of military and police presence in Algeria along the road, at junctions and in each town as well as those at the front and back of the convoy, not sure why this is the case, but they are all heavily armed and you also get the odd tank by the side of the road and sniper towers dotted along the motorway. Even though they were many in number and armed, they were the friendliest so far, waving at us as well and striking up conversation when we would stop. If for any reason a vehicle stops behind at one of the stops, you get your own police escort until you catch up with the main convoy again. Again the view as we drove through the country was amazing, panoramic views, flat plateaus and mountains with sno3w caps, roads cut through the side of cliffs, a tunnel carved out of a large cliff as well, the road right on the edge of many hills with a drop of several hundreds of feet, you wouldn’t want to go off the edge, the roads are starting to get worse, two lane motorways with no road markings and the last leg of today’s journey was difficult as it was raining as well and you just couldn’t see the road ahead of you except by the tail lights of the vehicle in front as all the Algerians seem to drive with their full beam on.
Day 12
in the morning we woke at the mosque for fajr and it was like being in jamaat, every body in our sleeping bags and a talk after fajr by imam zahir from Aston, stressing on our intention for this journey, that it should be for the pleasure of Allah swt and nothing else, and the way we conduct ourselves with others, as the prophet Mohammed pbuh was of a kind nature and was not harsh in his words and actions, and that we should follow in his footsteps, not only in actions but in behaviour as well. A point was also made as to the different schools of thought within Islam and our convoy, and he stressed that even the companions of the prophet pbuh had difference of opinions yet they still lived together and got along with each other despite their differences, which is what we were starting to do as well.
just to mention the diversity of the group of people and vehicles on this convoy, we have people of all denominations, Muslims of all different schools of thought, some with their own schools of thought, some with no thought, Christians, atheists, socialists, hippies, politicians, journalists, documentary makers and even a couple of spies so it has been rumoured! getting all these to get along with obvious differences is a pretty hard task, but with the objective at the end to get the convoy to Gaza, it is surprising how every body is starting to pull toget6her, realising that everybody is in the same boat, and gets tired to the point of falling asleep at the wheel due to the pressure of the amount of driving we have been put through. We have vans of different sizes, a fire engine, ambulances, a boat, caravans, mobile mechanics and then some.
We hit the road towards the Tunisian border at tebessa instead of the route that was planned through annaba, thereby cutting a couple of hundred km, as well as the fact that we are now three days behind. we stopped for lunch about 30 km away from the border and then went on to the Tunisian border, where within an hour we were through with our vehicle and passports stamped yet again.
its now nearly maghrib time now and we are just waiting to regroup on this side of the Tunisian border, wondering where we are going to tonight, it starts to get easier as we have slept in the van in freeing conditions, with 2 – 3 hours sleep, so now anywhere we stop and get 5 -6 hours sleep, whether it will be in a tent, car park, warehouse all seem like a luxury. food wise, we get French bread sticks quite often and we have some tinned food as well, when a meal is not available, as we stop at places where there are no shops around (im yet to find an internet cafe to send the last two instalments over), heating water over a stove in the mornings to make our coffee before we hit the road, and also having the luxury of a travel kettle in the vehicles as well as a supply of earl grey…..
the Gloucester seven have gone from strength to strength now, overcoming our initial difficulties, as I have mentioned earlier, team work is of paramount importance and now that every one is pulling in the same direction it is all going very well, having a laugh and a joke when we are together and out of our vehicles, Ishmael is our "pretty boy" front man for the camera and getting friendly with Yvonne Ridley of press TV, ibrahim leads most of our prayers when we manage to get a jamaat together (we usually have to read in twos by our vehicles when we are on the road), (salaat time, prayer break by the side of the road and 5 star toilet facilities in the bushes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
bloody freezing out there, 1200 m above sea level at tebessa border, and now we are heading for a place called gafsa, hopefully cutting out the north eastern part of the Tunisian country, the downside being that there was reception planned at the northern border by both countries which we diverted away from, there were ministers, press and food all sorted out for us which we will have to do without….
like I said, its bitterly cold out here for the past few days, the only bit of heat we got was in morocco on the first and second day there, the sun shines and we are starting to get our tans but we are all wishing we brought more of our normal winter clothes along rather than expecting a heat wave!!!