Sayonara Bam!

Leaving the hotel before 6:30AM and doing our last filming, we reached the airport at 7AM and then flew back to Tehran before 10AM. It could be a while before I could return to the city... I hope the people will recover soon!


I hope the buildings will be finished when I return... whenever that will be!


plane to take us back... to fear and reality...

Back in Tehran, I was really worried about so many things still left unsolved! I was too tired that I had to retire a bit early... Today will be the last day I'd sleep earlier... sadly...

PS
We changed our internet to ADSL! I hope my decision was correct! Let's see if the wireless works!

this gadget's quite expensive you know!

Doomed...

Everything did not work as planned and when the last day sucks, everything sucks! I'm too scared to talk to Tokyo about how things went, but sadly I'd have to face it sooner or later...
It made everything hard as it was a Friday when nothing is working, and since I had to think of priorities, I had to leave many things to film today which was a mistake.
I'm always mistaken and I feel so frustrated that I can't negotiate by myself with language barriers. Still, I'm happy that I could meet many people in my trips and since I'm using my organization's money, I can't be too frustrated that I have to be the servant.
How can I smile when I'm so sad... but I have to... and I did so in front of many nice people here in Bam so I could show my happiness to their hospitality. I just hope that things had gone the right way for my job too!

Let's at least enjoy dinner!

hmm... these chicken look really tasty!

can't wait!

pretty good!

My arm was all red...

because of the sunshine!

Getting used to the heat...

It was another hot day, but since we started filming outside before 8AM, the heat gradually heated up and our body was able to catch up with the heat. It was also good that there were some moderate winds blowing from time to time. Still it was impossible to film around 3PM and we took some rest in the middle and start again from the evening before 6PM.
I really can't understand how people can live in this climate, but I felt the same at Dubai when I went there last summer. It's still May and I don't want to find out how crazy it would be a month or two later!

Some pics...

reconstruction on the way...


near sunset time...


Japan is still helping!

Over 40 degrees!?

Waking up right after 4AM after sleeping for less than 4 hours, I was at Mehrabad Airport before 5AM and leaving for Bam in an hour after that.

It was only two months ago that I took the same flight out of Tehran, but the weather was terrible! The winds were strong and it was suicidal for me to use contact lenses as dust kept flying into my eyes! In the daytime, I believe the temperature was easily over 40 degrees and my mouth was dry at every moment! It's been months since I trully wanted to drink water so much!
Our coverage was average... Not super, but not bad either... I still have two days here and I hope I can nail the story... well, I must nail the story or I will lose all the trust!


the plane to Bam...


a ruin of a famous adobe building...

Hopelessly tired...

It was just after 3AM I went to bed in a hotel room in Bushehr. It took us hours to finish the feeding and I also had to send some voices for the report I had proposed to Tokyo.
Waking up after three short hours of sleep, I was very drowsy but the morning chai gave me just enough strength to get to the airport again meeting many of my colleagues that spent the night. (They looked more fresh! I'm sure they had a nice dinner!)


time I went to bed...


teatime! at 6AM!


and breakfast!


last look of the streets of Bushehr...


the nearby square...


and the airport!

In the plane I was so groggy that I felt the flight was just a ten minute ride!


fly away!


back to Tehran...

In the afternoon, I attended a funeral service of a relative of my staff and worked a bit in my office as the drowsiness got worse and worse...

It was around six o'clock in the evening that I couldn't resist going to bed... never to wake up again this day... (obviously I'm writing this later on... well I think my memory is correct about this day!)

PS
In the garden...

it was now a battle of three cats to get the food!

Nuclear adventure!

After going to bed right after midnight, it was already time to wake up... With my cameraman I left the office at around 4:30 in the morning and joined a pack of journalists at the Mehrabad Airport. After about an hour and a half flight we reached the southern city of Bushehr and found out there were more of my colleagues waiting there for the tour into one of the most important sites for this country.


a pic from outside the site... for security reasons I won't paste the ones I took inside!

We were there all day as the press conference ended at nearly 5PM and my troubles continued as the feeding process we were planning did not work out... We had to skip dinner and fight our way to finish our task... This is our job and I really don't want any surprises...


in the street of Bushehr... colder than I thought here!

Burned like a kebab!?

The city of Ahwaz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahvaz) is a beautiful place situated in the banks of the Karun river flowing into the Persian Sea.


a nice city next to a tranquil river

Riding through the street, it reminded me of the brief drive I did in Baghdad this early spring. Like Baghdad, the city was steamed with heat and I think it was more than 50 degrees, perhaps near the average 55 degrees that they say it would be! My blood was boiling and my skin was burning with the gleaming sun! I was lucky I took this job to film inside where we could get air conditioning, but if I were staying outside, this could have melted me down to chunks of meat and burned me like a kebab!


the ice was melting in seconds!


the restaurant "Riverside"


in the riverside, of course...

for lunch, I had the speciality dish of the area...

fish with some weeds... it tasted like something a bit sour than curry!

honestly, it wasn't as bad as it looks, but quite tasty! finished!

back to the airport in about 22 hours!

I said good-bye to friends I made and flew out of the city at around 10:30. When we returned to Tehran, it really felt cooler, though it really should be as hot as everyday!

My first trip!

It was quite an adventure to leave Tehran, but I just made up my mind to go, as I had no idea when I could get the next chance to be out of town!

In the evening, I took the plane out and arrived in Ahwaz, a city near the border with Iraq, where a large oil well is supplying tons of the golden natural resource.
Landing at the airport just before 10PM, the heat attacked us right at the moment we started to walk down the landingsteps... It was clearly over 40 degrees and it felt like walking in a sauna room! They say it is better with the winds, but honestly speaking it was a heat wave wind which didn't help us at all! How crazy can it be tomorrow!?


Iran Aseman Airlines-EP code
I haven't even ridden a Iran Air plane yet!


arriving in Ahwaz... yap, it was hot!

I think I'm ready... I packed up compactly.

a garment bag, a carry-on rolling luggage, and my usual backpack...
I think I can carry at least five days worth of clothes, but I have to find places to do my laundry as I will stay in India for 4 weeks minimum and maybe 6 weeks maximum!

OK! Gotta go to sleep! Maybe about three hours of sleep till I have to wake up! Good night!

Back in Tokyo!

After leaving with a delay of about 30 minutes, the 8 hour flight to Osaka was quite pleasant as I was able to sleep about 3 hours and watch "No Country For Old Men" and "Juno" till our landing at around 5PM.

I was able to meet my parents at the airport and of course I was happy to let them know I'm in good shape. I had some udon I just couldn't resist to get my hand on.

I flew out of Osaka at around 9PM and landed on Tokyo after 10PM.

Looking at the tall buildings and the Tokyo Tower, I finally realized I'm back to the city where I live...

a blurry pic... but it's Tokyo Tower!
it's blurry not because my eyes are wet, but because I took this picture from a speeding taxi!

I stopped by my office... it's just the same... everything's normal... not like it was in Baghdad!

Visiting the neighboring country...

Amman Day 1

I arrived in Dubai at around 6AM and then headed to Amman on the Royal Jordanian.

a shopping frenzy at this airport even from the earliest hours!
many were sleeping on the floor though, waiting for their flight...

And at around 9:30AM, I arrived in Jordan. I was surprised to see snow on the ground while heading to my hotel. They say there were heavy snow for two days stopping everything in the city last week. I was lucky that wasn't today!

Amman City...


with snow...


having some Turkish coffee...

After spending some time with a Japanese organization, I went back to my hotel waiting to go out for dinner... but... at around 5:30PM (just around midnight in Japan) I fell dead on my bed... When I woke up it was before 10PM...
Oh well, I'll try my best to wear the fatigue away and get great food tomorrow!

Leaving Tokyo...

At Haneda, I spent my last hour to relax at the lounge using my own credit card. When I return, I hope I will be smiling, with the best condition like the football team in New York.

at the lounge waiting for the flight to Kansai Int'l to head for Dubai...

See ya Tokyo!


my last dinner in Tokyo... sashimi!

I was very fortunate I was able to finish watching the great game at my office!

When I turned on the channel, the Giants were leading, but easily lost the lead with a Brady-Moss hotline TD. But the dramatic drive by Eli Manning wrapped up one of the most stunning upsets of all time!

they win!!

I was a New Yorker a long time ago, but never a Bostonian, so it was quite natural for me to root for the Giants, but I never would have forecasted this ending!
Too bad for the Bostonians, as they won the World Series and are doing very well at NBA, and they just needed a Super Bowl victory to monopolize American sports, but they could not secure the most wanted title!


the snow turned to ice, was still on the streets!
with four baggages I had to be really careful not to slip!


if I die... I have to ask someone to clean up this room...
oh, I'll do anything to live!

Good-bye Pakistan!

Islamabad Day 17
I have no idea when I will be here again, but I hope it would get more stable than now... I really do, because I'd like to visit more places in this country! Mohenjodaro, Rohtas Fort, Peshawar... you name it!
In the morning, I left the Capitol city of Islamabad for Lahore... It's always a little bit sad to leave some place you stayed for a while even though there are suicide bombers everywhere!

taking the PIA for the first time... only to Lahore!


here I am again in Bangkok's international airport!
let's get some souvenirs!

My last full day in Islamabad...

Islamabad Day 16
A cloudy day... and in the morning, the lights went out again... Oh, see what Mr. Musharraf has accomplished in his reform! We have generators to bring back light to our office, but I hope he has many gadgets to bring light to many citizens with nightmares!

even the fish have lost their light! say something to the President guys!

It was another greatly peaceful day. And I stayed around my office to get ready to leave the city. Well I really didn't acheive anything this past week, but what the heck, it's better than going back to Japan to get back into the shift job.

my last dinner... Pakistani style!

My last night in Islamabad... sayin' good-bye to the stove I've been together for more than two weeks!

oh I'll miss this warmth...