The 'c' from ...

Cycle? No, not this time. Celtic nard and camels is what's making my world go 'round for now.



Seems like it's a long time ago that I wrote you. Had some troubles to upload pictures, and google sites were blocked for a some time too. I do have a lot to share though. I am still in Yazd, were I am applying for my second visa extension. The officer at the police station told me this process can take as long as 10 days, which I then managed to bargain down to 5. By the time I was done filling the form he told me to come back after seven days, so now I don't really know when to expect my extra Iranian time. As I am enjoying myself it doesn't really matter. After the rides to and from Shiraz, I felt like having a break. And Yazd is perfect for breaks. Great ice cream shops, nice weather (some days of winter here are like summer in the Netherlands), and a fantastic labyrinthine old city (named 'old texture' on the signposts) make it a great place to veg out for a while.

From the start I've been staying in the Silk Road hotel that is partly run by a Dutch guy, Sebastiaan. He needed someone to help out in 'the Celtic Nard' (print-out in the dormitory: "We need you!"). The Celtic what? The Celtic Nard.. Blogger and Gmail might have been out of reach, the omnipotent search engine's still at hand. Define:nard. "Besides an aromatic ointment - I love this word; it somehow creates a visualization of what it is, a semisolid preparation, without having ever heard about it - used for antiquity, a nard can also be a board game similar to Backgammon or a flowering plant that grows in the Himalayas and is used as a herbal medicine." I guess it's the latter that gave the name to the coffee and chai corner that I am servicing at the moment, for it has a big jar full of tobacco like mustaches labeled 'celtic nard', and no cousin of Backgammon or ointments.

Before having researched the name, all kind of wild speculation surrounded the nard part of the name. As it is brown and hairy (and not flowery) and as my predecessor was a Welshman, making tea from what looks like pubes from Wales did not appeal to me. But as I am of the opinion that a salesperson should know what he's selling, I decided to give the nard a try. I must say, good chai, the Celtic nard. Also on the menu: maidenhair (popular among adolescent Iranian motorcyclists), camomile, thistle, oregano, cinnamon... green, black and red tea. + 20 other types of herbal tea I did not get to try yet. And then there is real ground coffee! Valhalla! After weeks, no months, without a descent cup of coffee, I am now spending hours next to a solid espresso maker. In return for drinking all this tea and coffee, uhh, I mean, serving all this tea and coffee, I get half a bunk bed and three meals a day. Great meals I may add. They truly have talented cooks working in the restaurant. Like this I have been enjoying delicious Indian curries, great Iranian eggplant dishes, a vegetable stew from Suriname with spinach (the recipe once imported by a Dutch guy from Surinamese descent), and a filling vegetarian spaghetti with whole chunks of fried potato. Pasta and potato, it might sound as a strange combination, but I find it very tasty.

All in all I have been in Yazd for a bit more than a week now. For those of you who have never heard of this city, Yazd is said to be one of the oldest settlements on earth. Or at least one of the oldest 'mud brick' cities, but as I don't think there were many stone cities 4000 years ago apart from Venice, we can state that it is one of the oldest living cities. But Yazd is not only old, it is also very sophisticated. It lies in the middle of a desert, so it has to deal with drought and warmth. The Yazdi's found ingenious solutions for both of these challenges. They built tall badgirs or wind towers that function until this very day as environmentally friendly air conditioners, and underground qanats, or canals that direct water from the mountains to people's homes. Sometimes for tens of kilometres on end. And when you visit the surrounding villages you can see clever irrigation systems that enable agriculture in this arid environment. The province is known for pomegranates and pistachio. Tried both: top notch stuff.

But there's more than agriculture and food, coffee beans and cappuccino's. Made some nice trips with fellow travellers (hope to do a 'Friendly Faces (AZD)' soon to give you an impression) that I've met in the hotel. On one of these excursions something happened that I won't forget easily. So Sebastiaan took Itoh, from Japan, Hans, from Norway, Jaschenka, from the Netherlands, Faroogh, from Iran and me out on a day trip. We visited a camel farm where we did a bit of camel riding, a stud farm where we saw a magnificent white Arabian stallion named 'Mayor' that had just been flown in from Germany to mate with some Iranian white mares, and - the highlight of the day - Sebastiaan's camel Camiel. Sebastiaan found a farmer who's willing to take care of the two year old black camel and as he spends most of his days alone, he was happy (not to say enthusiastic) to see us. We brought him a case full of banana's, tomatoes, turnips (another one of those words that stirs your imagination) and cucumbers. Camiel dug in right away. When I took a bit of the stale bread that we had brought for him, Camiel got angry with me. If it wasn't for the rope around his neck that fastened him to a tree, his bungling jumps would have made him collide with me within no time. Luckily this did not happen.

Mental note: camels don't like it if you give them something, and then take it away from them.

A little while later we were all standing outside. One of Camiel's caretakers thought it was funny to "feed" Itoh to Camiel. Camiel got very excited with this gesture and released himself with a sudden pull from Sebastiaan's steady grip. Itoh started running, Camiel followed suit with his awkward jumps. Cutting capers he soon caught up with Itoh. One push was enough to work the frightened Japanese 20 year old to the ground. Camiel sat down on his conquest. Itoh screamed for help. All of us were too stunned to do anything. Then the caretaker realised the danger and ran towards the camel, that was fully arched over - I am not kidding - our Japanese friend. He tried to push the camel of Itoh, but didn't manage; it might only be 2 years old, but I reckon it weighs up to 200 kilograms easily. I ran towards the brawl and grabbed Itoh's hand, in order to try to pull him from underneath the animal. Together with the push-pull of the caretaker and Sebastiaan, I got Itoh to stand again, who then didn't hesitate a moment and started running as fast as he could. Seeing 'his' toy run away, Camiel then leaped up, surprising both the caretaker and Sebastiaan, who could not stop the animal. Camiel's chase after Itoh was one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. Sebastiaan in turn ran after Camiel and grabbed the robe that was dangling behind the camel, after which he skidded for some metres until Camiel slowed down. After some wrestling and wringing, Sebastiaan managed to get Camiel back into the garden where he's kept, and only after he was safely tied to the tree, Itoh, in shock, dared to come back.

It was one of those things that happened before anyone could realise, that was hilariously funny for those who were not physically involved, and absolutely terrifying for Itoh who had to undergo the camel attack. Afterwards he could laugh about it too, and I think it'll be one of the stories he'll be telling his friends by the time he returns to Tokyo.


(Picture: Sebatstiaan pets Camiel, Camiel nibbles at Itoh's nipple)


(Picture: caretaker 'fake feeds' Itoh to Camiel)


(After picture of Camiel, Hans, a shaky Itoh, the caretaker and me)