At eight the train arrived in Banderabbas at the south coast of Iran, even though it was mornig the heat was heavy and the slightest movement made me sweat like usually only a big work out does. In the city center I found the shipping agency without much trouble and was lucky enough to get a ticket for a a ferry for this very evening. While roaming the city, killing the time until I could board the ship, I ran into David and Magnus from Ireland. After talking with David for a while, we figured out that we would be taking the same ship tonight.
The boarding procedure was a long one but luckily we had to exchange quite a couple of stories to make waiting a lot easier. At some point we were approached by Marco and Nathalie from Switzerland. They travel with their own Van, actually it is not only travelling, but they actually move to Cambodia and decided to do so on the land way.
It turned out that none of us really have planed to go to Sharjah and all of us had to come up with a plan B for different reasons. Exchanging the impressions in Iran was also a major part of the discussions. The spectrum of emotions that accompanied our experiences was wide spread and ranged from amazement and admiration to confusion and uneasiness.
I spent quit some time speaking with Marcos. He originally comes from the Ticino (The southern canton of Switzerland) but speaks 3 out of our four national languages fluently and with little accent. He told me that he was managing Gotthard from their beginnings on for quite some time, which left me in awe.
It was already late in the night, when the chef of staff of the ship called us to come with him. Marco and me already suspected that he would lead us to some beer stash (since we asked earlier) but instead we then stood on the front deck of the ship, which is usually out of bounds for passengers. Here it was calmer than on the rear decks, being further away from the machines and there was a nice warm wind in our face and a clear sky above our heads. I joked about this spot being the Titanic-movie-spot and the sailor laughed and went on that we unfortunately have to miss out on Rose here. So we stood there for a while looking at the stars in the sky, the fluorescent looking water hitting the bow of the ship and at the barely visible fishes swimming in front of the ship. The sailor said, that spending time on this part of the ship made him working this job for 25 years without getting tired of it, he is on the contrary still loving it.
Back on the rear deck I later chose a bench to sleep outside. The temperature was ideal, not to hot and not to cold, so I quickly and comfortably fell a sleep on the wooden bench caressed by a summer breeze.
The boarding procedure was a long one but luckily we had to exchange quite a couple of stories to make waiting a lot easier. At some point we were approached by Marco and Nathalie from Switzerland. They travel with their own Van, actually it is not only travelling, but they actually move to Cambodia and decided to do so on the land way.
It turned out that none of us really have planed to go to Sharjah and all of us had to come up with a plan B for different reasons. Exchanging the impressions in Iran was also a major part of the discussions. The spectrum of emotions that accompanied our experiences was wide spread and ranged from amazement and admiration to confusion and uneasiness.
I spent quit some time speaking with Marcos. He originally comes from the Ticino (The southern canton of Switzerland) but speaks 3 out of our four national languages fluently and with little accent. He told me that he was managing Gotthard from their beginnings on for quite some time, which left me in awe.
It was already late in the night, when the chef of staff of the ship called us to come with him. Marco and me already suspected that he would lead us to some beer stash (since we asked earlier) but instead we then stood on the front deck of the ship, which is usually out of bounds for passengers. Here it was calmer than on the rear decks, being further away from the machines and there was a nice warm wind in our face and a clear sky above our heads. I joked about this spot being the Titanic-movie-spot and the sailor laughed and went on that we unfortunately have to miss out on Rose here. So we stood there for a while looking at the stars in the sky, the fluorescent looking water hitting the bow of the ship and at the barely visible fishes swimming in front of the ship. The sailor said, that spending time on this part of the ship made him working this job for 25 years without getting tired of it, he is on the contrary still loving it.
Back on the rear deck I later chose a bench to sleep outside. The temperature was ideal, not to hot and not to cold, so I quickly and comfortably fell a sleep on the wooden bench caressed by a summer breeze.
