Train ride from Istanbul to Tabriz (Iran)

With Eren & Younes Aga in the compartment

Same dry lands all along the way

The ferry crossing Lake Van

Transferred into the Iranian train

It's the second day of my train ride that will be taking 2.5 days from Istanbul to Tabriz (Iran). First night an Iranian Turk named Younes joined me in the compartment, and the next morning another Turkish guy called Eren joined us. From there on the three of us traveled together for the rest of the journey. Compartment is more comfortable than I had expected. Despite taking a day longer than the bust to get to Iran, it's totally worth it to travel by train for the comfort of being able to slepp on a bed. Younes Aga, as many other in Tabriz, deas with carpets. He gets the carpets he collects in Istanbul repaired in Tabriz. Eren has just finished the university in Visual Media, and spared a year traveling around the world. He was planning on heading towards Syria and other middle eastern countries after Iran but after our discussions he started considering India as his next destination. We might meet up again later in our travels. Train ride has been very calm as expected. It's the same dry lands seen through the window all along the way. Our route consists of Ankara-Kayseri-Sivas-Malatya-Elazig-Tatvan by Turkish Railways, crossing Lake Van by a ferry, and riding the Iranian railways to Tabriz. Only annoyance during the train ride has been the rudeness of a waiter at the food compartment of the train. The toilets are filty, I don't think they have been cleaned all through the the journey, and the blankets they provide are old and dirty. However, it's been a pleasant ride so far. Most of the passengers are Iranian. Most of the women are not wearing the headscarf, with make-up on, and dyed hair; teenagers fashioning the latest hairstyles and clothing. I'm curious to see how they will change going into Iran. A few security personnel get on the train with their machine guns, they will be guarding the train for the rest of the ride in eastern Turkey. A security measure taken against the Kurdish rebels more out of habit than the real threat anymore I think. As we travel east surroundings become unfamiliar. From being the host and treating others as tourists, now I've become the tourist and others the hosts. Eren and I are the only two Turkish passengers on the train, all the rest are Iranians (and a few tourists from other countries) Younger crowd play music and dance at every chance they get. Females, not having to wear the head scarf, dance with the males and interact freely. Ones who are recording them dancing to a video camera are warned not to record, because they're afraid of getting in trouble in Iran if the police or some others see the tapes. It's sad to see them live with such a fear. The older crowd, with ages 60 and above on the train had to live through two different lives between the first half and second half of their lives (Before and after the Islamic revolution). Such a contradiction must lay a heavy burden on the person.