After a day by the seaside in Bushehr we were ready to move on, starting the journey back into the mountains and towards Shiraz once again. There we’ll get our Iranian visa renewed for a further month but there was another visa challenge to sort out before we left Bushehr. Getting our papers in order for Central Asia has proved trying, to say the least. Answers never come easily and contradictions are frequent. It took five hours of calling embassies and travel agencies and sending emails to lodge the first step of our application for an Uzbekistan visa. Only then were we able to hit the road with our minds at ease.

The ride out of Bushehr was as expected: very flat, very windy and heavy on traffic. Seeing the Persian Gulf was nice but we’re not sure it justified 50km of motorway cycling into and out of the city. There’s little else in Bushehr in terms of tourist attractions, unless you count the spicy Bandari sandwiches sold at all the small stands. They made a mouth-watering change from the standard Iranian fast food fare.

For us, the real highlight of our trip to Bushehr will be the new friends we made, Ali and his uncle Fatallah. We met Ali through Couchsurfing and he arranged for us to stay at Fatallah’s home. We enjoyed our evenings with both of them and they certainly showed their talents in the kitchen, cooking us a wonderful breakfast. Quite a change in Iran to see two men in the kitchen frying eggs! We were constantly amazed by Ali’s energy in particular. He was always in a jovial mood, smiling and laughing from morning to night. When he invited us to his family’s home in Borazjan of course we couldn’t resist.

Ali met us in the town centre and fended off the herds of motorcycles that followed us for much of the way to his home. It’s such a treat for us to have a night in a warm house and we feel fortunate to have fallen into such good hands once again.