Mashhad to Shiraz

7:15 breakfast and we were on the road again to Torbet e Jam.
As we approached the Afghani border (about 25 miles away), a military escort joined us on the bus. According to the military, there was Taliban in the area.
We got some local bread and took a photo of a memorial to Fatima. The town was filled with Afghani refugees (Afghani Shiites are called “Hazara”) Ten minutes later, we headed back to the police station to give them a complete list of our names. Another wait, and we were turned back. The police wouldn’t take responsibility for us, so it was back to Mashhad. It was a five-hour round trip to the Afghani border just to get bread. On the way back at the next checkpoint, we had a soldier walk through the bus.
We, once again, blew off group lunch, and headed into Mashhad. We grabbed a burger and 2 Pepsi’s—for 5500 rials (about $1.50).
Then, it was off again to the airport to fly to Shiraz. We arrive at 3:30…. take off was at 6:15. What a shift in attitude- from steely eyed mullah men to people hugging us saying, “Welcome to Iran”.
BBC Report: Iran begins flying air raids into Iraq to kill guerillas infiltrating into Iran. These flights entered the Iraqi no fly zone. The US is sending the nuclear aircraft carrier Nimitz into the Persian Gulf to stop all non-UN flights. What a strange feeling as an American visiting a country that is being intimidated by US military power. Rudy, the anal-retentive German on the tour, followed these events on his short wave radio. Rudy is so strange…he won’t tell anybody anything about himself.