By Marie Tihon, SYI Facebook Group Member
Hello everybody,
I would like to share with you my incredible experience in Iran. I visited Iran twice last year. First, I traveled two weeks in january 2014. I visited different cities like Tehran, Qom, Kashan, Yazd, Shiraz, Persepolis and Isfahan. I had the opportunity to be hosted by different and super kind families. I think I will never forget what we call “the iranian hospitality”. It goes from the huge and delicious meals all those families prepared everyday for me but also to the fact (even if I try to convince them not to do so!!!!) that some parents let me sleep in their bed while they wanted to sleep on the ground to give me the best option for accomodation. I think what I realized is that this country is not only worth to visit for the historic monuments or the delicious cuisine, this country has its own particular wealth : the iranian people themselves. As a woman travelling I should say that I never experienced bad moments. I was suprised by the thousands “welcome to Iran” I could hear in the streets, and the people being so fascinated by my venue to their country. It was always a pleasure to answer the questions and to exchange with those persons. After this first and too short trip I was convinced about one thing : I’ve to come back! That’s what I did 8 months later : I came back in september to stay mostly one month in Tehran. I studied photojournalism and at that time I made a photo project for my last thesis on the role of the women in the iranian society. According to the law, women in Iran are the half of the men. But when I’ve been in Iran for the first time I realized that there were women everywhere in the public sphere (i didn’t expect that since I never experienced something like this in the different countries I traveled such as turkey, lebanon, marrocco, …). Then I thought it would be interesting to do a project about this paradox and contrast between the law and the daily life. Therefore I follow three extraordinary and powerful women that show me how in their daily activities, thanks to their values and they need of more freedom, they could change the society. I was impressed by this new generation coming full of motivations. I share many interesting and unforgettable moments with those women. I want to thanks them and also to encourage all of you to go and visit this country before the mass tourism appaers 🙂 I should say I felt kind of privileged person to discover this country at a moment where there were not that much tourists. But I know that the iranian population need this change : a country more open to tourism and a real exchange bewteen different cultures. What decided me to see whith my own eyes how does Iran look like was firstly the lack of informations of the daily life in this country, I was fed up to hear or to see at the news 2 min of reportage speaking about the nuclear bomb, Israel-Iran relations, president elections,… I wanted to meet this population. Today I’m glad to discover this facebook group cause I totally encourage foreigners to travel in this country to live a magic experience and then all the stereotypes, cliches that results of a lack of informations will vanish ! 🙂 I should say also it was super hard to summarize my adventure overthere so I will add some pictures but in any case, please feel free to contact me here or on PM if you have any question. Cheers !
Read more in See You in Iran facebook group
