As we approach Tehran below us the sprawling city is blanketed in snow...although I brought my snnowboarding gear from Japan, it still doesn't quite feel right that a place that I expect to be hot and desert, is currently -10 and snowing. Surprising getting a visa at the airport proves to be a relatively routine - if not expensive affair. After bumping between the visa counter, the health insurance counter and the bank teller, and completing various forms in triplicate - 30 minutes later I have a visa.
I am approached by a mass of taxi drivers when I exit the airport and pick one at random. He leads me across the car park and over a barrier to his car which is parked on the side of the highway. We head off to Dizin - the largest snow resort in Iran - to avoid the chaos of Tehran. Initially, other than conducting a conversation on his mobile, his driving is quite sedate. Whilst the concept of lanes seems fairly fluid for other vehicles, we sit in the right lane moving at a reasonable pace. After 10 minutes the driver explains that this is becauuse he is waiting for the car to warm up - and once this happens, the foot goes down, and we hit hyperspeed. As we get closer to Tehran the traffic thickens and I am remined about the Islamic approach to driving - which seems to been well embraced in Iran. Basically it requires a inshallah (if God wills it) approach to surviving or getting to your destination.Cars dart in and out of any space that almost opens up, and all manuervers are done at top speed. Displaying any intent before you make a turn, slow or decide to reverse, is frowned upon - if not actively discouraged, so extreme attention is required - but this doesn't prevent texting or speaking on the phone, or the ubiquitous fag in the hand. Creativity is encouraged - driving up the wrong side of the road in to incoming traffic, doesn't even raise a honk of the horn or flash of the lights. It has starter to snow, and the windscreen wipers look as though they haven't been replaced since the car was new 20 years ago, not that this would effect the fogging that means I can see lights but little else outside the windows on all sides. My driver astounds me with his dexterity - after failing to cut in front of a queue to pull off on to a slip road on the right - and getting a what for from a fellow driver, he speeds off to the left and joins the queue at the next u-turn opportunity. When there is a break in oncoming traffic and the first car begins to move, rather than wait, he pulls out passing the queue and then executes the u-turn at the same time as the lead car, and without a second thought, cuts off the other u-turning car to merge first...no horn or exclamation from any driver, and the race continues!!
All of the cars on the road show the telltale signs - scrapes along both sides, broken side mirrors, and plenty of dents on the front and back. At one point the road is so narrow, becuase of parked cars of both sides, and a guy who has parked in the middle of the lane to go get a kebab, that as cars pass each other in opposite directions they stop to pull in their side mirrors so they can slide pass each other.
But none of this is to say that safety is not a concern. About an hour in to the trip my driver stops by the side of the road and is met by his friend. He shuffles me in to the new car saying that it has better tyres and is newer than his car. The new driver is actually an improvement, however halfway up to mountain we hit a police road block, and he communicates to me that the road is closed due to avalanche risk. I get out to stretch my legs and within a minute I am covered in snow - it is belting down and the road ahead of us is commpletely covered in snow.The driver pulls out a flask and we have a cup of chai, and I am more than happy that he doesn't try to argue with the police like the animated white van driver in front of us. The police turn on him and almost chase him back down the hill. They turn theiir attention to us next, and I am slightly relieved, if a little dissappointed as we head back towards Tehran to find a hotel for the night.
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