In Tehran, there are many shopping centers, bazaars, food markets and shops. The builders of above shopping malls, bazaars don't care where you're going to park your car. I mean, they only build the building man, why should they care if you don't find a place to park ? They're not responsible for that you know ...
The municipality of Tehran on the other hand makes about 500 parking places per year, while there are around 100 to 200 thousand cars added to the number of cars in Tehran. Way to go Tehran Municipality !
The result is a lot of traffic, and no parking spots. The signs of no parking and no stopping (double red cross with blue background) are rarely followed, with people parking anywhere they could find. A few rules exist for parking:
a) no parking in front of garage doors, otherwise you get flat tyre(s)
b) no parking in front of taxi stopping areas
c) no parking in buss stops
d) no parking in front of embassies
While almost no parking is built by the municipality, the central metro station, and some shopping centers (Shahrvand) provide few parking spots. However, they take no responsibility over theft of items inside or outside of the car, or even the whole car !
The municipality has thought long and hard and has brought us the greates invention in car parking since the last ice age: Parking on the side of the roads !
While 3 years ago you could park on the road side, now you can do the same, but pay for it !
All thanks to the municipality or the metropolitan police, there are people dressed in blue shirts and black pants holding tickets (the ones you get from traffic police) and some other papers. Once you find a free parking spot and park your car, you then have to waste 5 minutes searching for one of these people. You then have to pay about 150 toman for 30 minutes, up to 600 toman ($0.70) for 2 hours parking. You are given a piece of paper with your car's registration number and colour info written on it and you have to put it in your car behind under the wind shield. God forbid you come 2 minutes late, and the bastard is going to fine you a nice 7000 toman ($9) fine for ILLEGAL parking. You've paid 600 toman, AND you have to pay 7000 toman, all thanks to some bright spark who thought of the original idea: why build more parkign spaces, we can just charge for the current ones.
My advice: Go find a spot in an alley or smaller street where there are no ParkBan men (as they're called).
Next, I will write about survival guide to driving in this city.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Saturday, December 23, 2006
First Post
First post is most important,
What shall I write, where shall I start ?
Ah here I've found one. In Iran, there are many beautiful things to see. However Iranian toilets aren't one. In Iran, if you need to go to toilet, you have a few choices:
1) hold it until you get to a friend/family/relative's house and seek help there
2) find a good restaurant that actually has a toilet, as opposed to a wash basin (most places have that)
3) go to a hotel, pretend you are one of the guests, and go to the loo
4) go to a park and search for the toilet there
5) look for a public toilet *
6) ask a pedesterian where you could find a toilet **
* This one is actually the most difficult one. Hardly any public toilets exist. If you happen to find one, it would probably be out of order, too full or so dirty you can not let yourself walk in there.
** To which they will reply: The Mosque is there ....
Now it is particularly interesting for me, because I asked many many people for toilets and they all show directions for Mosques. Why this is so, I have no idea. Maybe the mayor of Tehran should have thought some of the 16 million city dwellers in Tehran would sometimes need to use the loo.... apparently we don't. Now let's say you have found a toilet, the chances are:
1) it's out of order
2) it's locked and can only be used by VIP members (!), ie: Shopkeepers in a shopping complex
3) it's soooo damn dirty, you suddenly remember your trip to the zoo when the elephant had diarrhoea !
Every toilet i have been to has been so dirty, we should get a reward for that. A medal, Cup, Dirty Toilet Cup. In fact, the ONLY place I have ever been to which was clean, is ATIYEH Hospital, in Shahrak e Gharb. But I think that's a mistake. They must have done something wrong. Quick, someone go there and upgrade their hygene to the Iranian norm :P
So there.
Next post, will be about something better..... like the state of driving.
What shall I write, where shall I start ?
Ah here I've found one. In Iran, there are many beautiful things to see. However Iranian toilets aren't one. In Iran, if you need to go to toilet, you have a few choices:
1) hold it until you get to a friend/family/relative's house and seek help there
2) find a good restaurant that actually has a toilet, as opposed to a wash basin (most places have that)
3) go to a hotel, pretend you are one of the guests, and go to the loo
4) go to a park and search for the toilet there
5) look for a public toilet *
6) ask a pedesterian where you could find a toilet **
* This one is actually the most difficult one. Hardly any public toilets exist. If you happen to find one, it would probably be out of order, too full or so dirty you can not let yourself walk in there.
** To which they will reply: The Mosque is there ....
Now it is particularly interesting for me, because I asked many many people for toilets and they all show directions for Mosques. Why this is so, I have no idea. Maybe the mayor of Tehran should have thought some of the 16 million city dwellers in Tehran would sometimes need to use the loo.... apparently we don't. Now let's say you have found a toilet, the chances are:
1) it's out of order
2) it's locked and can only be used by VIP members (!), ie: Shopkeepers in a shopping complex
3) it's soooo damn dirty, you suddenly remember your trip to the zoo when the elephant had diarrhoea !
Every toilet i have been to has been so dirty, we should get a reward for that. A medal, Cup, Dirty Toilet Cup. In fact, the ONLY place I have ever been to which was clean, is ATIYEH Hospital, in Shahrak e Gharb. But I think that's a mistake. They must have done something wrong. Quick, someone go there and upgrade their hygene to the Iranian norm :P
So there.
Next post, will be about something better..... like the state of driving.
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