In

In
Shiraz – the weed capital of the
Middle East – I find myself couch-surfing with a friend of a
friend. Sina, like me, has travelled a lot. A member of
Iran‘s National Hiking team, she knows the lie of the land and
suggests that I head to Balochistan. People in Iran don’t visit
Balochistan; it has a bad reputation and is considered dangerous.
Most significantly, Baloch people are Sunni while Persians are
Shea. Despite this, Sina promises that it’s safe and would make a
great adventure. I was looking for an adventure.

Now in Chabahar, an important port and the capital of
Balochistan’s Province, I am couch-surfing again, this time with
Enriq, a Catalan traveller, and Mobin, a Baloch tour guide. With
several CDs of Baloch and Urdu music at the ready, we head out in
our rental car to explore. The Martian mountains, mango
plantations, Darak desert and the warm coastal towns of south

Iran are all on the agenda. Over the next 15 days, our road
trip takes us to the border towns of Pakistan, the three islands of
Iran (Queshm, Hengam, Hormuz) and then through Lar as we head
north.

Sipping milky tea as we welcome the sunrise in these
semi-deserted surrounds, Mobin’s departure brings a sense of
ending. While all journeys, be they literal or figurative, come to
a natural end, ours didn’t feel over quite yet.

And so, Enriq and I decided to head to Kurdistan…

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