I’m in Tehran, Iran now. It is 4:17 pm right now and I’m about to get in the pool soon. I meant to write my first report earlier but haven’t really had much time. Actually I realized the modem on my laptopn doesn’t work so I had to find another laptop to work on while I’m here.

The internet connection here is mostly dial-up. There is DSL connection too (which is called ADSL) but it costs a lot more. The dial up that I’m using is 1500 Tomans (Iran’s Currency equivalent of about $1.60 for 10 hours of internet. The ADSL connection starts from $90 a month to $200 a month.

So far I’ve been in Tehran - the capital. It’s been 6.5 years since I left Iran, so I expected a lot of changes. Before coming here I’d heard all sort of trip reports ranging from how bad Iran has got to how it hasn’t really changed. I personally was impressed by how improved Tehran has become. The road and highways in Tehrna have got much better. There is still traffic but to a reasonable amount.

One noticable change is that there aren’t nearly as many Peykans (Peikan) as there used to be. I mean there is maybe 1/20 Peykans comparing to 6 years ago. For those of you who don’t know, Peykan is an old British car that was being produced in Iran for maybe 30 years. It was old looking and not comfortable by any standards.

The most common foreign cars on streets are Pegeot, Toyota Camry (the newest models), BMW (the newest models), Toyota Pandra (which we don’t have in States), Hundai, and Nissans. There are also some infinities that are imported to Iran in the name of Nissan to save on import tarrifs which is about 100%. For example a Toyota Camry that might cost about $20,000 in States is 45,000,000 Tomans (about $50,000) here in Iran.

I’ve taken a lot of pictures and short videos of the roads, cars, houses, friends, and more. But I’ll post them all when I get back to States or when I get on a ADSL connection.