Updates

 by Wiebe

Day 248 – 250 | Last days in Tehran and visiting Qom

Day 248 | Thursday November 17

We headed back to Tehran and in the afternoon I had another interview. This time with the guys from Radio Budio, a podcast about tech-related stuff. The Iranians really like that there is a Westerling here who gives some positive attention to Iran. What you see mostly on the news is bad stuff and not really true. The guys also arranged that I could stay at one of their friends and we went there with the crew for dinner and watch some movies.

Day 249 | Friday November 18

Good internet is a rarity in Iran and as I had a decent connection at my host and time (which is a rarity too the last weeks) I spend some hours working.

For lunch I went with Nima to a cafe were the guys from Radio Budio joined us. Some of their friends came by and said I was a celebrity etc. Cool stuff.

Today I was actually supposed to leave to Qom early in the morning but I still had my luggage at Ali’s place and he had some delay. He was supposed to return in the afternoon but it became evening and I stayed another night in Tehran.

Day 250 | Saturday November 19

Now it was really time to leave. I said goodbye to my new dear friend Ali. Even since before entering Iran he had been taken care of me and he made my stay in Iran so far very pleasant. He set up meetings with sustainable related companies and organized the presentation at the University. He has a girlfriend in Holland so I’m sure I will see him again.

Time to leave to Qom. Aidin, who interviewed me last week had a friend there were I could stay. The road to Qom was pretty amazing, I suppose you can call this already the desert and I had never been in the desert before. Sand blew over the highway. Some people had warned me not to go to Qom. It’s the most religious city in Iran and until just 3 years ago it was forbidden for non-moslim people and some areas are still not safe.

My host Leilli was a cool woman who welcomed me with some pizza and french fries. Iranians really love fastfood. She showed me the city and the highlight was the holy shrine, or more like holy shit! From the inside the building was decorated with mirrors and silver, it shined so bright it almost hurt my eyes. In the middle of the mosque was the cemetery of some special person. People were crying while touching the grave, a special moment to witness.

Leilli got tired and went to her parents place to rest. I walked around through the small alleys and old neighborhoods, very interesting to visit. Funny moment: a kid saw me taking pictures and they approached me to take one of them. Exactly at the moment that I shot the picture he sneezed and I captured him at his not most prettiest moment. Watch the picture below.

When it started to get dark I walked back home, the whole day I didn’t feel unsafe for one moment.

PICTURES

The grave at the shrine
People touching & crying at the grave
So bright!
in Updates 0 comments
 by Wiebe

Day 246 & 247 | Sustainability & Cars in Tehran

Day 246 | Tuesday November 15

Today started with a second meeting at NRI. The researchers explained me their renewable energy programs. They are in the progress of creating a battery car with a micro turbine inside. An interesting and intelligent concept. I interviewed them about the projects and how sustainability is being applied in Iran. Stay tuned for the video.

Tehran

The afternoon I had no appointments and finally some time to explore the city. Tehran is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With a population of around 9 million in the city and 16 million in the wider metropolitan area, Tehran is the most populous city of Iran, the 2nd-most populous city in Western Asia and the 3rd-largest metropolitan area in the Middle East. It is ranked 29th in the world by the population of its metropolitan area.

The majority of the people of Tehran are Persian-speaking people,and roughly 99% of the population understand and speak Persian; but there are also large populations of other Iranian ethnicities in the city such as Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Lurs, and Kurds who speak Persian as their second language.

There have been plans to relocate Iran’s capital from Tehran to another area; due mainly to air pollution and the city’s exposure to earthquakes. To date, no definitive plans have been approved. A 2016 survey of 230 cities by consultant Mercer ranked Tehran 203rd for quality of living.According to the Global Destinations Cities Index, Tehran is among the top ten fastest growing destinations.

Day 247 | Wednesday November 16

Another day, another interview. This time with Aidin from IranKhodro Magazine. IranKhodro is one of Iran’s 2 biggest car manufacturers (I have visited them both now) and they have their own magazine. Of course they write about cars. Aidin was a very nice guy and like most Iranians they tell me things like: it’s a big honor to meet you, I had the best day this month etc. It’s very heartwarming. Aidin took me for breakfast and wanted to shoot pictures after. He thought the car was dirty (which was true, the last time I cleaned the outside was in Norway) so we went through a carwash. The the car is 50 shades more blue now.

2 days ago at the office of Autoworld I was interviewed by a journalist, Pegah. Today we met again and she showed me her city. We went to Sa’Dabad Complex, this is a 300 hectare complex built by the Qajar and Pahlavi monarchs, located in Shemiran. Today, the official residence of the President of Iran is located adjacent to the complex.

The complex includes more than 180 hectares of natural forest, streets, qanats, galleries, and museums. The complex was first built and inhabited by Qajar monarchs in the 19th century. After an expansion of the compounds, Reza Shah of the Pahlavi Dynasty lived there in the 1920s, and his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, moved there in the 1970s. After the 1979 Revolution, the complex became a museum.

We arrived a bit late and only had time to see the Green House. An impressive building which was the resort of one of the kings. One room was completely decorated with mirrors and silver. The king didn’t had a bed in his bedroom because he preferred to sleep on the floor. He used to be a soldier and sleeping on the ground was common. He always had his boot within reach so he could take action when needed, a strong guy.

In the evening Pegah took me to her friends, about 20km outside of the city. We had a lot of drinks and this was the first time in Iran and probably since Istanbul that I had some alcohol. Good times.

in Updates 0 comments
 by Wiebe

Day 245 | More cars in Tehran

Day 245 | Monday November 14

With professor Afshar I went to the R&D department of Saipa. Saipa is Iran’s biggest car manufacturer. A representative came to the presentation yesterday and invited me to come over. They gave a presentation about the brand and their plans to produce their own electric car. The car will be an existing model which they would convert to electric. Some specs: 20 kWh battery, 150km range, topspeed 140 km/h. I was given a tour e around their facility which they call ERIC. They have areas were they simulate different environments, acceleration tests, quality control and more.

It was an interesting visit and great to see that there are companies who want to bring electric cars to Iranian customers.

In the afternoon I had a special meeting, I was invited by the deputy of the Iranian Minister of Environment. He heard about my visit to Iran and contacted me via via, interesting how things are arranged here. The meeting was at NRI (Niroo Research Institute). NRI has played a leading role in developing new technologies for the Electric Power Industry and is the major research organization affiliated to the Ministry of Energy of Iran. There were a lot of very interested professors, researchers and delegates who came to have a look at the car. Because I found out they are doing a lot of interesting things regarding to renewable energy I asked them if I could come back tomorrow for some interviews.

Than we headed back to the office and from there we went to the office of Autoworld, who published an article about me in their newspaper today. The owner wanted to meet me and we had some talks about the project. Every Iranian who I speak to wants to know how I experience the people in the country. Apparently they find it very important that the people here are friendly and welcoming, which is definitely so.

After the meeting the guys from Asbebokhar picked me up and they took me to the Milad towner. The world’s 4th biggest broadcasting tower. It’s 400 something meters tall and it has stores, restaurants and a museum. Unfortunately it was not possible to go to the top today as the level of pollution was to high. Instead we went to a pizza restaurant for dinner and after they brought me home.

Today was a crazy hectic day. Especially here in Tehran as the traffic is so busy and crazy and it exhausts me a lot. Im staying at Ali’s place at the moment who still takes care of me like a hero.

PICTURES

The professor explaining the technique of EV's
The deputy.
First time for him in an EV
View from around the Milad tower
Dinner with the Asbebokhar brothers
in Updates 0 comments
 by Wiebe

Day 244 | A lot of cars in Tehran

Day 244 | Sunday November 13

One of the journalists who interviewed me yesterday was part of Asbebokhar, it’s a Youtube channel about cars in general and they wanted to meet me to make a movie about the car. I met them in a deserted part of the city were some buildings were destroyed. They had a big land rover and in this setting they wanted to show the differences between big polluting cars and electric cars. It were all young guys who published these videos on their youtube channel and are very active on social media. After the interview they invited me for lunch at a very fancy restaurant in the rich part of Tehran. I am really getting spoiled in Iran! The guys posted some photos about me on their Instagram account and within an hour I got 250+ new followers! So great. This is their account and also check out The Rick Kids of Tehran on Instagram. It’s a very interesting account about how young and rich people life in the city. It’s another world.

After lunch we drove to the office of BYD. It’s a Chinese electric car maker and they are planning to bring their EV to the Iranian market. They heard about my project and wanted to meet me. They explained that Taxi companies are interested in electric cars. Taxi’s drive about 200km a day and their car (the E6) can drive 400km. In the city are 5 million cars and of course this contributes a lot to the air pollution in the city, which is huge. I could testdrive the E6, it’s a big car and very heavy, 2.400kg but it’s silent and drives good. It also has a very flashy and futuristic display which looks like a Japanese pinball-machine.

Than I had to rush back to the city. The traffic here is very aggressive and dangerous sometimes. Drivers totally don’t care, they just go wherever they want without thinking about the cars around them and not even using their turning signals. Apparently there is just one rule here: fill in the gaps.

Professor Afshar invited me for dinner, I drove to the office of Ali and Mehmet and met the professor and 2 other ones of the university. The restaurant was very fancy. Between waterfalls we have a private cabin were we ate some delicious local food. Pure joy.

PICTURES

Shooting the video
Action car
Lunch with the crew
Iranian food so delicious
Dinner with the professors

in Updates 0 comments
 by Wiebe

Day 355 – 371 | Beautiful Oman & Latest updates

The last weeks have been full of adventure, interesting encounters and hecticness. I try to summarize my experiences in this blog which is this time not a day-to-day overview.

Some days in Muscat

Way before my host woke up I left his apartment in Sohar because I wanted to be in Muscat around noon. It was a 209km drive and 200km is about the maximum I can do. However the car is capable of doing 250km max under the most ideal conditions. Meaning 20+ temperatures, flat road, no wind and max speed 90km/h. Today all these condition were there so I decided to test it. And it was a succes, with even 15% left I arrived in Muscat at my host Faisal. When I posted I was going to Oman a Norwegian guy told his friend Faisal that I was coming there and he wanted to help me out. Faisal is a really good guy and owner of the Brotherhood motorbike shop. He even arranged that I could stay in an apartment for 5 days

On one of the first days in Muscat I was contacted by a journalist from Muscat Daily who wanted to do an interview with me. That article was published a day later and I received a lot of requests. Not just from nice people who could offer me a place to stay but from 3 different school. They wanted to know if I was willing to give a presentation. Why not?

Presentations

The first school I visited was the OurPlanet School, a grade school were the children get lessons on the environment from already a young age, unique in Oman the principal told me. I did a presentation in 3 different classes and they all were so enthusiastic. The questions I got from the kids were hilarious “how do you brush your teeth?” and “can I play with my playstation on the screen?” were some of the best ones. 2 kids who “have their own washing company” even did a nice wash on the car. A few days later I went to the American School for another presentation.

After I stayed in the apartment for 5 days I went to a Dutch family. Very kind people who showed me around town. The next day I went to another Dutch couple, Agnes en Goos. Agnes contacted me earlier as she is working for a magazine for the Dutch community here and wanted to run an article about me. Coincidence or not this night was the annual Dutch Gala night and Agnes managed to get a ticket for me. We parked the car right next to the red carpet. It turned out the be a great night, free Heinekens and bitterballen were served so it couldn’t be a bad party.

The Green Sheikh whatsapped me, he saw I was in Muscat and he needed to be there for a presentation at The Sultan’s School and he invited me to join him. He gave several presentations and asked me to give a few words too.

Visa issues / Leaving Oman

The reason I needed to go to Oman was because there was a possibility that I could receive the visa for India in 2 weeks time. If I needed to wait for that my visa for the UAE would have expired and I would be in trouble. After just 3 days in Oman I already received a call that I could pick up the visa. So on Tuesday the 15th I decided to go back to the UAE to make the final arrangements.

In the morning I had some time to visit the Sultan Qabooz Grand Mosque, a stunning piece of architecture. Up until a few years ago they had the biggest chandelier in the world here, until some Emiratis decided to make a bigger one. They also had to biggest carpet in the world, until some Qataris decided to make bigger one.

First I made a stop in Sohar were Mark was waiting for me, he is the CEO of the Port of Sohar and I wanted to interview him because they are working on sustainable projects in the port. 

I left from the far side of Muscat and it was 250km to the port, I wanted to see how far I could go. So on the final day of the first year I set a new personal record: 233km on a single charge. I had 7% left but was sure I couldn’t reach the port and stopped at a fuel station. Some nice people allowed me to recharge there and the driver of Mark picked me up to bring me to the port.

At the port I gave a presentation for the the team including some Dutch people as the port is partially owned by the Port of Rotterdam. Than Mark took me for a tour around the port, which is quite huge and told me about their efforts to make the port more sustainable. At the moment they are building a unit which is fully self-sustainable. A unique project in this country as the awareness on environmental issues is very low here, the country relies on 99.8% on oil.

The next day I tried to reach Dubai, I stopped at Mikkels place (where I stayed on the way to Oman) and recharged for a few hours. I really wanted to reach Dubai today. I needed to bring my passport to the visa company and it would take 4-5 days before it would be returned. I managed to reach Dubai around 6 and handed over my passport.

1 year!

Today I am also on the road for one year! It’s still a dream and can’t believe all the interesting encounters and adventures I had in the past year. What a ride it was.

Damn…

Than I suddenly realized I might have another issue. On Sunday the car would be shipped by the nice people of DGL, however to enter the port you need your passport and I would receive this on Monday at earliest. I called with the company and they confirmed, fortunately it was no problem to delay the shipment. This night I stayed at Jan Willem’s place, the legend who were I stayed in the first weeks of the arrival. The next 2 days I went to Adnane who I had also stayed before. With Adnane I went into the desert to take some nice shots with my drone of the car. This will be seen later in a very special movie.

On Saturday I already received the news that my passport would be returned to me today. That was only after 1 official working day so that was kind of a surprise. So now the car will be delivered to the port on Wednesday and on Saturday I will fly to Mumbai.

Eco Donut Boats

Sunday morning I had a meeting with Dubai Carbon, a governmental organization and I wanted to know from them everything about energy in the country, the video interview will be online later.

After the interview I went to Abu Dhabi to visit Eco Donut Boats. This is a cool company who has donut shaped boats powered by the sun. The owner, Berend, sponsored me with a drone and in return I will make a movie about this project.

I didn’t had a place to sleep for tonight yet but next to the Donut Boats was a beautiful hotel, the Eastern Mangroves Hotel by Anantara and Berend knew someone there. We asked if they could host me for a night and they were ok with that! And I am very lucky as this was a 5 star hotel! The suite was stunning and it had a bath which was big enough for my tall body, great!

The next day I spend the morning at the outside infinity pool after I had one of the best breakfasts ever. The buffet in the hotel had more than I could even wish for.

Now I am back in Dubai to do the final preparations before setting off to Mumbai. It will be hard to leave but I am really up to the next stage of this journey.

PS. Yesterday I was on Dutch TV program Hart van Nederland! Check it here: www.hartvannederland.nl/nieuws/2017/wiebe-ziet-de-hele-wereld-zonder-een-cent-uit-te-geven/

PICTURES

With the man Faisal
The washing car crew
Visit at the Netherlands Embassy
The Michels family in Muscat
At the Dutch Party
Muscat Old Town
Muscat Old Town
Muscat Old Town
Muscat Old Town
Muscat Old Town
Muscat Old Town
Muscat Old Town
Muscat Old Town
Muscat Old Town
Muscat Old Town
Muscat Old Town
The Sultans Palace
The Sultans Palace
Agnes
Chandelier in the Grand Moscue
Grand Moscue
Grand Moscue
Grand Moscue
TAISM School
in Updates 0 comments
 by Wiebe

Day 242 & 243 | Tehran

Day 242 | Friday November 11

Time to head to Tehran. It was over 200km and Ali arranged a recharge place at his family in Karaj. When I got there I had 37% left and it could be possible to reach Tehran. Because there were enough possibilities to charge the car in the chance I couldn’t make it I gave it a go. With 15% left I got to my address in the capital and did 211km on a single charge, that’s a record!

So finally I met Ali. Ali had been helping me to get from the border to Tehran by connecting his friends and family and he had made the first week very easy for me. We drove to his parents place were I was introduced to his family. Later Mehmet, a colleague of Ali came by with his kids. His 3-year old son called me ‘Bibi’ all the time.

Day 243 | Saturday November 12

Ali arranged a presentation at the K.N. Toosi University in Tehran, a technical university. I was welcomed students of the uni and professor Afshar who builded his own electric car already in 2010. The story behind this was a sad one: his mother died because of the air pollution in the city. He than decided to build an environmental friendly car while using only cheap and local parts.
All the students came to see the car and they even made a banner with my name and personal welcome message on it, how great!
In the big auditorium I gave a presentation about Plug Me In, how the first months have been, my experiences with the electric car and my findings on sustainability. It was the first time I had to speak for a big audience. I always hated to speak to audiences, for examples at school but now I kind of enjoyed it. I thought it was special that so many people came to hear my story.

After the presentation there were some interviews and I was introduced to the board of the university. Everyone was very polite and eager to hear my story. I found it’s also really great that even in Iran they find sustainable mobility important.

PICTURES         

 

The Uni
in Updates 0 comments
 by Wiebe

Day 239 – 241 | While in Iran

Day 239 | Tuesday November 8

The last week I got behind with a lot of work and as I was alone in the house and with a decent internet connection I catched up with that.

Day 240 | Wednesday November 9

A long day awaited me, I wanted to cover a distance of 300km so I set the alarm at 7 and left at 8. My host in Maku arranged that I could charge halfway down in Miyaneh. A friendly guy was waiting for me there and showed me around. It was not a big town but I can enjoy all the small streets and people walking here. We went to a bridge which was destroyed during WWII by the Persians to prevent the Russians coming in. Here in Iran family relationships are very important so whenever I come in touch with someone their nephews, cousins, aunts all come by to meet me.

Around 5 the car was charged 90% and I thought it was enough to do the remaining 150km to Zanjan. Many people warned me that it was dangerous to drive at night but now there was no other possibility. It happens a lot that policeman stop me, every time I think they wanted to see documents or check the car but in stead they shake hands with me, ask me where I from and let me continue. Everyone is very friendly here. Driving at night was not that scary, the route I’m taking was the old Silk Route and it’s still an important transport route. I drive behind trucks so I have an extra guard and nothing weird happened.

A new host was waiting for me, Saeit. 32 year old guy with wife and 2 children. He wanted me to park in his garage but the ramp was steep. I still have a trauma from when I hit a bump in Russia and thought it was better not to try it. His neighbor didn’t had a ramp so I parked my car there. A few hours later he rang the door and told that his socket was melting, ai. This didn’t happen before. We left the car their and made a connection with the cable over the street to the garage of Saeit. While getting farther away from Europe I have to do more McGyver tricks to charge the car.

All the family of Saeit came by, we had some fruit, drinks and food and went to bed early as I was dead tired.

Day 241 | Thursday November 10

Saeit showed me his university were he was working. I still don’t know exactly what kind of job he is doing there but I’m sure its interesting.

Next destination: Takestan. 140km from Zanjan and when I arrived there I had 40% battery left, a top 3 record, it was around 20 degrees and mostly flat roads. I was early in Zanjan and wanted to discover the town on my own. In stead of going to the center I drove and walked through the outskirts and attracted a lot of attention with my car. Kids drove to me with their bikes to say “hello, howww arrr you?” and took a lot of selfies with me. In another neighborhood some guys approached me, offering me chia and thea. All the people are so damn kind here.

In the afternoon I got in touch with Ali who arranged a place to stay here. He gave me the address of my new hosts and I started driving there. While driving there was a car who was horning at me all the time and blocking my way. I thought he was some crazy driver but Ali gave me a ring and told me his cousin was behind me. 

PICTURES

Miyaneh
Private taxi
Miyaneh
My host
Saeit & Fam
In Takestan
Kids
in Updates 0 comments
 by Wiebe

Day 236 | Khoy

Day 236 | Saturday November 5

Maku

Mr. Behrouz took me into town to get an Iranian SIM-card, now I can call and use internet on my phone. There are some restrictions on internet in Iran though. All the populair social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are blocked so I use a VPN to connect to that.

To Khoy

After breakfast I started driving to Khoy, were I found a CouchSurfing host. The traffic here is crazy! Drivers pass you from all directions and there don’t seem to be much rules here. If a car is parked next to the street and wants to join the traffic he doesn’t use his signals and not even watch behind to see if a car is coming. He just starts driving.

My hist Shahin picked me up in the centre of the city. At his house he introduced me to his brother, father and mother. All very hospitable people who appreciated that I was here. Shahin guided me through his city. A very typical Iranian city were not many tourists can be found. The place is well know for the biggest sunflower-seed market in the country country, which gave the city the nickname ‘Sunflower City’ and the grand bazar.

Toilets

Something maybe worth mentioning: the toilets. They are the same as in Turkey but I didn’t mention it. They are weird holes in the ground and you need to squat the do your business. It’s a but uncomfortable when you are not used to it but and hard to keep your balance. There is no handle to hold on too and with the wet ground im sometimes afraid that I fall into my own… you know what. This kind of toilets are more hygienic because you don’t sit on a toilet seat I still try to avoid them. Restaurant and hotels usually have regular ones.

Khoy

Around 200.000 people live in this city and it’s the capital of Khoy County. People here speak Farsi and Turkish. Khoy was named in ancient times for the salt mines that made it an important spur of the Silk Route. Khoy is located in the mountains, so the weather is very cold in winter and cool in summer. Spring weather in this city is very pleasant. The city is located in the vicinity of mountains such as Chelekhaneh Mount and Avrin Mount (The highest mountain of West Azarbaijan Province).

PICTURES

Khoy
Repair shop
Bazar
in Updates 0 comments
 by Wiebe

Day 235 | Entering Iran

Day 235 | Friday November 4

I ended the latest blog on this day before I crossed the border. As I’m out of Iran now I will share all my experiences so from here I pick it up again.

Border Crossing
Crossing the border was actually an easy process. To be honest, the easiest border I had ever passed when there was a check necessary. I arrived around 7pm and it was a little dark. I was afraid that they would got a little suspicious with all me gear and weird stuff (battery pack, cables) in my car. The guard was calling with one hand and smoking a cigarette in his other hand. He asked me to open the rear door, looked at it, closed the door and said it was ok. I had to go inside of the building for passport control and carnet de passage formalities. This was the first time I had to deal with this. A carnet is a document for which I made a deposit of 5000 euro. For the country this is a safety that the car will be exported from the country. If I would leave the car inside the country I will lose the deposit. I got an entry stamp on one form and if I leave I will get another stamp. When this was done I got a temporary car insurance and everything was good. The whole border crossing process took me about 45 minutes.

Into Iran
I’m in touch with Ali for a while. He’s the friend of Madelon, a woman who found me via social media. She had been giving me some tips about traveling through the Middle East and got me in touch with Ali who lives in Tehran. He had been looking for hosts around the country for me and helped when needed. A friend of Ali, Behrouz was waiting for me at the border with his son. We drove to their house in Maku which was just 15km away.

Maku
Behrouz is owner of a oven factory and apparently had been doing very good business. His house was stunning. I could park the car in the garage which had underfloor heating. My car was still full of ice and snow so perfect that it could melt here.

Behrouz’ house had 5 floors and with an elevator we went to my room, which was very impressive. The bed was lit by many colorful lights and I had a private bubble bath, impressive. With the elevator we went to the first floor were the living area was. On the third floor he had a swimming pool but I didn’t see it, unfortunately.

In the living room his wife, 2 daughters and cousin were waiting. I wanted to greet the woman by shaking their hands but they couldn’t do this. A bit uncomfortable situation but thats their religion.

They showed me how hospitable the Iranians are. I got treated with fruit, thee and more delicatessens.

PICTURES

The Behrouz family
My room
in Updates 0 comments