Time-Traveling - it´s possible!



source: Wikipedia

Until now I thought that time traveling is impossible. But I am smarter now, because when I will leave Munich on August 24th, 2016 (stop-over in Istanbul), I will arrive in Teheran one day later, but it will officially be June 4th 1395 (Shahriwar 4th).

So I will time-travel mere 600 years back into the past. How is that possible?

 

The chronology of the Iranian calendar begins with the migration of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina.

The first day of the new year of the Iranian calendar is determined by the astronomical beginning of spring. Therefore the Iranian New Year regularly begins on March 21st, except when there is a Gregorian leap-year, then the beginning is on March 20th, just like this year.

The beginning of the New Year in Iran was Farvardin 1st 1395 and that´s how I will touch base here in the year 1395.

The year also has 12 months and the designated names of these months in Iran have remained unchanged since about 3000 years.

Now we have the month Shahriwar (=August), the name of September is "Mehr", October is "Aban" and in November "Azar" I will depart to Thailand.

Just a few words about Teheran, my first destination:

The city of Teheran has a population of around 9 million people and 15 million in the wider metropolitan area. Teheran is the largest city and urban area of Iran, the 2nd-largest in Western Asia and the 3rd-largest in the Middle East.

Located south of the Elburs-Mountains and the Caspian Sea, Teheran is located on 1191 meters above sea-level. In the north the slopes of the 3975 meter high Tochal border the city.

The metropolitan area spans 50 kilometers in each direction and I really wonder, how to leave this big city-Monster with my bike.

And by the way, it´s not just 600 years back, but also +2,5 hours.
 

Camping in the wild



camping in the wild - Paria Canyon (USA 2012)

Many of you have looked at me scared, when I told, that I will also be camping in the wilderness.

Are you not afraid? I am not sure, what to be afraid of.

Afraid of people? Where I put up my tent it´s usually in the middle of nowhere or in the mountains. Maybe there will be some shepherds around. But I doubt that many shepherds have rape potential, so I am not afraid of that. And I also hardly believe that some pervert is sitting in a deserted countryside and waiting for Mrs. Merk  from Germany passing by with her bike to drag her behind a bush. Likewise, I also think about robberies in deserted areas. 

  

Afraid of animals? Well, you could be rather afraid of that. There are bears and wolves in Iran. But are they starving to death in September / October, so they have to attack a woman camping there? No. These animals are generally shy and probably you would not even notice them. Only tarantulas and spiders I personally find pretty disgusting and I would likely scream, if such a creature happens to be on my tent. There are also scorpions and snakes, but they don´t get into the tent and shoes should not be standing outside the tent anyways.
 

Afraid of accidents? That, of course, is always possible. But it can even happen in Germany or at the alp crossing if you crash with your bike. Even there it is possible that you will not be found after several days and don´t have mobile-connection.

I think the only real danger comes from big streets and the car drivers. And that is the reason I will avoid the main roads and rather take a small countryroad or even a gravel road.

I you think like this from the beginning of your journey, your mind will not be at ease. You will see something bad behind each bush or stone. Think positive is my motto and don´t sense something bad in every human being.

For putting up the tent in the wilderness, attached there are some informations for you:

1. Put up the tent when it gets dark. So you keep the risk low that you will get discovered by
    somebody.

2. It´s best to look for a place that is not visible from the street. Some place above the road
    is good, or even where you have a lot to walk. People are lazy and have no desire to
    climb up a steep mountain to reach you.

3. At night, don´t light a fire or leave your headlamp on for too long, because that can be
    seen for miles. If you decide upon food from your camp stove, put the stove on a rock or
    look for a place where there is no dry grass or bushes around. A forest fire is
    happening quickly and can have fatal consequences.
 

4. Do not spend the night in dry riverbeds. You never know where rain is falling and at the
    end you wake up in the middle of the river. In addition it is very wet and cold near rivers or
    lakes at night.

5. Leave no garbage and take empty packaging with you. Don´t bury it, unless you want to
   dig a meter deep hole. The packaging can be dug up from animals which smell something
   yummy and lie around in the nature. It also is not healthy for animals to eat plastic or spicy
   food. Please also don´t leave toilet paper lying around. It also makes no sense to cover it
   with a stone. Just put it in a closable zipper bag and take it with the rest of your garbage.

6. Should you be discovered, it is a good idea to approach the person directly, talking in the
   native language. If you have something to eat or drink it helps to reduce the skepticism.
   Should you have chosen someone's private property by accident and it will be pointed out
   by the person, you should just ask for an alternative for one night. Most of the time people
   are very helpful and hospitable.

7. Most people don´t have anything against somebody staying one night in the wilderness,
    but staying longer usually looks quite different. So the best to do is put up the tent late
    and get up early.

8. Avoid noise, loud music or shouting - even animals do not like that .

9. Don´t feed or attract animals.

10. Don´t camp in nature reserves or national parks, except where allowed.

 

breakfast at Paria Canyon (USA 2012)



Administrative stuff

 

on the cake it says: "I´m leaving"

Before leaving of course I hade a lot of administrative stuff to do:

mail: I will organize a forwarding request with the German PostOffice and they will send everything to Martins address. 

health-insurance: worldwide insurance is covered in my private health-insurance

doctors´ visits: had all check-ups done and all vaccinations are still active (I had all those done when I visited India). Only for Thailand you need something against malaria. Nowadays you don´t take something in advance, only if you get stung by something and finally get malaria. So it´s good advice to take Off, Antibrumm or the best is NO BITE! NO Bite is available for skin and clothes. We took it in Tansania and it´s really great stuff.

theft-insurance: contract made worldwide for theft and damage of my photocamera and all the ojectives, it is even insured in the tent (on a campground if the zipper is secured with a small lock)

caretaking if my apartment: my neighbour will have a key to my apartment and if something needs to be repaired or some heating sensor adjusted, it´s also cared for

plants: I've got a plant-watering system, so no need for Martin to drop by each week. Every 4 weeks Martin will take care about it, renew the watering system, let some air into the apartment.

read electricity meter: it´s just necessary once a year, Martin will take care of it

Route planning

Since many of you have asked, how my route through Iran looks like, I decided to post an additional blog for you.
 

To make it short and whether you believe it or not, I really still have no concrete planning. I would have, if I´d have time for half a year. With my first planning I ended up with nearly 7,000 km. Divided by 3 months I would have to do 80 km per day and still would have not visited any historical sites. That does not work for me and is not my idea of a sabbatical.

The yellow stars are all UNESCO-Heritage sites, which I would love to see.

that´s how my first plan ended up

Therefore, I have currently planned only the first 2-4 weeks. First, I will stay for about a week in Tehran. From there I want to bike upon adventurous shepherd paths (where I probably push my bike more than I drive) through the mountains to Damavand. Some of you, if looking on the map, might wonder: " Why does she not take the main road from Tehran? " On this road, the so-called Haraz Road there are deadly accidents every day. And those are people who go there by car and not by bike. A view of the route via Google Earth showed me that this is a 6-lane, busy, highway-like road. No thanks! I do not want to end up driven down by a car at the very beginning of my tour.

After climbing the Damavand - not sure if I can make it - I'm on some backcountry roads  to the Caspian Sea (here it is important to avoid the Haraz Road again, which is the main road between Tehran and Caspian Sea). On the Caspian Sea I will ride about 800 km to Mashad. That´s everything I have planned right now. Anyway, I would like to ride through the desert to Yazd. "Desert" is somewhat exaggerated in this case, because there are some small towns on the way where you can get water and food. How I continue onward or if I skip the desert tour, simply depends on many things.
 

Therefore, for you it means, wait patiently  and read my blogs.
 

Traveling sustainable

What exactly is sustainable travel and how can each of you contribute?

Adjusting destination and duration of stay 

A weekend in New York or a flight overseas for a stay of one week are not exactly what you call economic if you think about how much greenhouse gases a plane blows into our atmosphere. So please before planning a trip, adjust the duration and the destination and choose travel agencies, which care for the environment.

 

Buying souvenirs

I always by souvenirs at different dealers and not in a big shopping mall. That way besides a nice good, you might have a unforgettable memory about how you bargained for it, about the contact with the dealer, the cup of tea they offered you or whatever made the souvenir so special. Also you support local families  and you take care that the small dealers survive. Please take care before shopping that you don´t buy any protected species like corals, shells, tropical wood e.g. 

Please visit this website for more informations: http://www.worldwildlife.org/

 

Buying food

I love to by fresh fruits and vegetables on a market at different spots. You get in touch with the local people and also give money to different families and not just one. It´s much better than to buy it in a big supermarket. I also avoid buying goods that are sealed or even carried there from abroad.

 

Accomodation

Of course I also have already booked all-inclusive vacations in a big hotel. Most of the times I avoid that and for longer travel I prefer to look for a campground, a bed & breakfast, hostel or a small hotel owned by private people. Also I really can recommend Eco-Hotels which have a certificate of some kind. Please use your towels in the hotel for a few days and don´t throw it on the floor after just one use. You would not do that at home, would you?

Tours and Excursions

I book my excursions with local providers. They know their country best and most of the time have valuable and interesting informations, which you don´t find in a travelbook. Also if booking with locals you support the people there.

Water consumption

Please take care, especially in dry countries, that you don´t take a shower for too long or even take a bath. Please use biological soap and shampoo and don´t use the  free samles of small bottles provided from the hotel. You never know, what kind of stuff is mixed together. You don´t do anything good for your skin and for the environment neither. Please take all your carbage with you when leaving a nice spot, the weight of your luggage will still be reduced significantly. Even if there are carbage cans on the beaches, you never know if or when they will be emptied. With strong winds and if they are full, all of the carbage gets blown across the beaches.

The best thing to do is to act environmental friendly like you were at home.

Read more about it: http://sustainabletravel.org

Traveling as a single woman

View into Grand Canyon

Of course it´s not everyones cup of tea to travel alone. Even in a Muslim country.

Well, I can not comment too much about traveling alone through a Muslim country. That will be a first timer for me, too.

On this page there will be a final blog with a conclusion after the trip.

Traveling alone, even as a woman, always is possible. But of course you need to be more careful, than if you are traveling with a man. I already tried that, of course in countries, which are concerned as "safe". But what does that mean? Even in Italy shortly before I reached Verona, two bikers were trying to have a flirt with me.

Countries to which I travelled alone were Italy, USA, Portugal, Canary Islands, Spain, Maroc (with a girlfriend), India (with a girlfriend), Cape Verde (with a girlfriend). There were no significant problems in either one of those countries, no harrasment of any kind. Quite the opposite: I was always treated very polite and courteous.

On the one hand it´s how you approach people? Do you have a healthy self confidence and are setting borders? In a lot of countries men get it wrong if you smile at them. It´s like a hidden invitation. Of course you should not act unfriendly or walk around with a mean look on your face. But flirtatious behavior, smiling or body contact should be avoided at all times. You will sending out the wrong signals that way. 

On the other hand: how do I dress? If I run through the souk of Marrakech with nothing but hotpants and a sleeveless top, I sure provoke harrassment. You should inform yourself up front about the culture and habits of the country you wish to visit. The books "culture shock" for example India are very good to read them up front. Here you can find everything about culture to avoid putting one´s foot in one´s mouth. (not sure if this serie also exists in english, but there may are similar books in your country)

Also you should not travel with a lot of gold and silver, expensive watches, brilliant rings or hang your expensive camera dangling in front of your belly. That only show how rich you are. Not that the people don´t know that you´re rich. You even had the money to buy an expensive flight, stay for several weeks in their country and stay in hotels which would be unaffordable for most of the local people. But you still don´t have to show it to them on top. And it also sreams to petty criminals "rob me!"

Of course it is not very appreciative to travel with torn and dirty clothes. That does not show respect towards the local people. Everything will be perfect if you are dressed decent and act friendly.

It is also helpful if you learn few sentences in the local language before traveling. People will be very happy when they notice, that you´re not only travelling from A to B and to tick off one attraction after the other, but that you notice them and are interested in them and their country. That does not mean, that you have to be perfect in Hindi, Farsi, Chinese etc., but some words like "yes/no", "thank you" "hello / goodbye" are worth a lot and are opening the hearts of the people towards you. I can highly recommend the bookseries "Travel Know-How": Kauderwelsch (of each language), for example Persian word for word.

Just try it and you will see, that you can have some great experiences traveling alone. If traveling alone more people want to take care of you, than if traveling with someone. A little sense in human nature next to some intuition should be in your luggage. Don´t follow everyone or take food / drinks from strangers. A healthy suspicion in any case is a big advantage.

I would like to have a time-out, how do I start?

 

 

Some of you might have already thought about the idea to take a sabbatical.

 

Right in the beginning you should ask yourself some questions:

Why do I like to take a sabbatical?

Am I stressed in my professional career? Do I want to find myself, do I just want to relax? Do I want to do an external training? Or do I just want to escape from the daily routine and see something else? For each of you there might be different reasons, why to take a sabbatical.

Up front you also need to decide: is what I like to do also possible within a "regular" vacation, maybe 5-6 weeks?

Can I even afford that?

What does my company has to offer concerning a Sabbatical? Do I have to finance that myself, meaning I have to save that much money, to cover the time I am not home? In a lot of companies you can reduce your income some months before and after the Sabbatical and get your salary even during the time-out. Is it possible to sublet my apartment, my house, does my landlord permit it?

What would I like to do during my time-out?

Also there are a lot of different things, people like to do. Does it makes sense to do the Transamerican Trail, but have never hiked before? Do I want to stay on a remote hut in the mountains as an alpine herdsman, but don´t like cows and certainly not the loneliness? Of course even that can be a great experience, but a time-out which turns out to be a total disaster, certainly is not the intention.

How long do I want to stay away?

As written on top, you should think twice, if you really want to travel for more than 2 months or get homesick after two weeks. Maybe you can fulfill your dream even in a longer vacation.

How does my partner responds to my idea?

A very important topic! In my case - even so my partner knows, that I suffer from wanderlust all the time and that traveling is a big part of me, our conversation about my dream has not been funny at all. People who do not have this wanderlust can not imagine, why someone would like to be away from home for so long. And of course Iran and Oman are not the countries my partner wanted to see me travel alone. Therefore we did a compromise, convincing him that I "only" will travel 3 months, then meet for his annual vacation and then I will again travel 3 months. 

How do I get my boss / employer envolved?

Only after answering yourself those questions above, you should talk with your employer about your wish.

During that talk it is just important that you are not insisting on your right, but lead an open and honest conversation, explaning your reasons.I am sure there are options in each company for a solution.

You can also argue that after this time-out you are refreshed and can fulfill your tasks within the company with new elan.

My solution was, that after my time-out I will look for another position within the company, since my position could not be kept for me for 8 months. But since I work in a very big company, there will be no problem to find something adequate.

Statutory regulations / Rights (for Germany only)
What also is important to know: In 2014 there was a judgement of the Court, after which an employee - even in his time-out - is entitled to get all his vacation and also the whole holiday pay. Here you can read about it. (german only)

How do I dress in Iran?

no, that´s not me

 

I have already been addressed by many of you and asked if I have to completely veil myself in Iran and bike with the Tchador or with a Burka through the country.

 

Which is of course not the case. You should dress with something that is not too tight and people can not see your figure. Your butt should be covered with a long blouse. I decided to wear a wide and  light trekking pant and blouses which are long enough to cover my butt even when sitting on the bike.

 

A Tschador (for which I take a bedsheet) I will take with me for visiting the mosques. 

Below you can view the different forms of existing veils. In Iran you will seldom see the Burka, maybe very religious people wear it or if they are visiting a holy mosque or shrine. Only the Hijab is demanded by the state in Iran.

 

In all cases I need something to cover my head, since the hear has to be hidden at all times. I could solve it with a pirate-headscarf or a cap, but then there is the problem, that the neck can be seen. Throat, neck and cleavage are not supposed to be seen, also the ankles of feet and arms should be covered. That´s why I will wear a Hijab, a headscarf which is long enough to wrap it around the neck.

I think that in cities like Teheran, Isfahan, Shiraz the Hijab is going to slide backwards more and more. I discovered this very modern dressed woman on a page called "the rich kids of Teheran":

 

And this is my outfit for my Iran-Visum (the photographer and my had a lot of fun with this fotoshooting):

 

if not for my eyecolor I could pass for a local woman, what do you think?

 

Keep your fingers crossed, that I get a Visum for 3 months right away. Maybe I can convince the officer at the embassy, that I need more time, for exploring their beautiful country by bike.

 

On the way

Today I would like to say something about my plan concerning eating, drinking and  personal care:

First the questions arises, what to eat. If possible I will buy some groceries every day, since I cannot transport a lot of food. In case of need I will take 2-3 packs of trekking food with me. There is a lot of good stuff for example from Trek´n Eat, Mountain House or Backpackers Pantry. If I know, that I will not reach a bigger village, because I am biking through the mountains, I will buy a little bit more (= more weight to carry). And I also have a gas-cooker with me, so I can prepare tea, soup and also noodles. All that, of course, has to be carried too. What´s also very good: nuts, dried fruit, high protein bar, hard boiled eggs, stuff that makes you full and stay full longer.

 

For my water supply I have a 1- and a 2-liter waterbag from Platypus with me. One of them goes into my backpack with a hose directly to the mouth, so you do not have to get off the bike all the time. In addition I have a 5-liter waterbag from MSR and a 10-liter waterbag from ..... Also I have two bottles at the bottle holder right at the bikeframe.

If I fill up all my bottles and water-bags I will have 20 liters, which of course is way too much to carry on top. Just on my tour through the desert from Mashad to Yazd, I'll carry this additional baggage, since there are 800 km with not a lot of villages. 

 

I heard that the water-quality in Iran is very good and in the small villages it is even possible to drink from the faucet. Nevertheless I have a Katadyn waterfilter with me. With this filter you can even drink from standing water and it´s safe to drink it right away. It tastes ugly, but there are no germs and bacteria in it anymore.

 

Another problem is washing my hair. How am I supposed to wash my hair / myself in a country where I need to wear a headscarf when outside? I have thought about that a lot and finally I decided that there are some possiblities: first, I can wash my hair outside when it´s dark already and nobody is around. When I have to do it outside I will sleep in my tent in the middle of nowhere in the mountains anyways and there are no people around. Secondly, if I sleep in a town I will have a room where I can refresh myself. Third option: I don´t wash it for a couple of days and the fourth option is to use dry shampoo. I already bought one bottle. You spray it on your head and through this dry powder the grease in your hair gets bound and you can brush it out.  I am curious how that works. 

In addition there are pump houses for watering the plants near fields. Near those houses there are even areas where you can put your tent. There I also will have the possibility to wash myself when it´s dark. 

 

Just read my blog when I am on the go and you will see, how I finally will resolve all these problems. You can plan a lot in advance, and in the end everything will turn out different.

 

 

mobile, GPS and maps




 

Persian Empire 500 B.C.

 



For Iran there are only three maps available: Reise Know-How with a scale of 1:1,5 Mio., Freytag & Berndt with the same scale. Or Gizi-Map with 1:2 Mio., which of course is totally inappropriate for cycling.

Orux and Locus have a lot of very good topographical maps for downloading, which you can use offline after you have downloaded it first. Unfortunately Apple has nothing to offer for Iran. That´s why I can not use the iphone, which a dear colleague of mine has given me as a present.

But since I have ever so nice colleagues, who have to listen to my stories and problems about the trip all the time, one of them gave me her old Android phone, a Xperia Z1. Orux and Locus just work for Android phones. I already downloaded the map for Iran and Oman. You can zoom in to the smallest path and you also can see the height lines. 

With GPS you can track routes, see the height profile you accomplished, the kilometers you´ve done and you can also view your current location. You can set waypoints and steer towards them.

I also bought a handle bar mount for the smartphone.

Does anyone know the App "GeoZilla"? It´s a location-App, which Martin and me have on our smartphones now. With this App he can see where I am. Since I will not have mobile data roaming in Iran, of course that only works when I have WLAN.

Tent

Quelle: Wikipedia

Since my old tent is too heavy (actually it´s a 2-person-tent) I bought a new tent from "Wechsel". It´s the model "pathfinder" and just weighs 1.9kg and has a really small size.  You can set it up without the raincover so there is just the mosquito net, which is much airier. In less then 10 minutes you can mount it and it even has some space in the inside for panniers and outside under the raincover, to put the stove and stuff.
 

The first I did, was to set it up in my living room.

and if it´s raining - no problem

When there´s no wind it even stands without herrings, which is very advantageous for dry and rocky areas. Or, if you have a little more wind you can moore the cords with large stones. The only disadvantage: it has no loops inside, where you can hang the flashlight, but I will take a headlamp anyway. Also, the zipper runs like butter. Just perfect!

Whether it will prove itself outdoors, we'll see ...

stands even without herrings and raincover

 

very small and handy and just weighs 1,9 kg



 

Technical problems

Today my blog is about the problems and questions I had concerning my technical equipment. 

Finally I decided to take an iPad with me. In early 2016 Yello-electricity has advertised, that if you change your electricity to  Yello you get an iPad Air2 for free. Since Yello was even cheaper than my former provider, I quickly changed providers.

Just awesome! So I've already solved my problem with the laptop. An external keyboard and I am ready to write my journey reports while I´m travelling.

I decided for an external keyboard from  Logitech. It´s small, handy, super light and it´s also very good to type on it. You have to get used to the keyboard first, because the keys are slightly closer together than on a normal keyboard, but after some pages of typing it works great. It runs via Bluetooth coupled to the ipad and I'm curious how long the battery will last.

In addition I have bought a drop-protected cover for the iPad. The cover is from Thule, you can bend the cover with the iPad on it to different angles, depending on the light. Now I only need a dust-proof thin shell to put it in. I bought a cover made of felt. If I insert it between some clothes or a sleeping bag, nothing can happen. It is even big enough to put in my Kindle reader and my smartphone.

Quelle: Wikipedia (License)

My new camera is a Canon EOS 6D with two lenses (24-70mm and 70-200mm). I added the necessary Pol- and UV-Filter  and five batteries. Bargaining was simply not possible, since Canon has too little price margins on their products. Well, for the filter I got a 20% discount and the lens hoods were coming with the lenses anyway.

Accidentally I left the camera on for two days now and already the first battery is empty. While on tour I have to remind myself to turn off the camera, as I have planned with only five batteries. 

In addition, I bought an adapter cable for transferring the pictures I like to have in my blog from the camera to the iPad. It will just work for the blog because the iPad has only 16 GB.

But the Internet in Iran is supposed to be a litte lame and it will maybe take too much time to upload it to the cloud or dropbox. I need to take enough memory cards with me. But I am not quite sure how much I need during a 6 months vacation.  The pictures with the new camera are quite large with 4-6 MB. I have bought four  64 GB- and two 32 GB-cards. In addition a case, where the memory cards are kept water- and dustproofed.

I also needed a new handlebar bag for my camera equipment, because the new one would not fit in the old bag. The equipent is heavier also, but for good pictures nothing´s too heavy. 

There is still missing a  sturdy tripod and a remote trigger, so I can always take nice pictures of me on the bike and don´t have to get in position within 10 seconds (self-timer).                                          

Packlist

"Bici" - my faithful mountainbike

Certainly some of you have been wondering what I will take with me and how I transport it. This is my checklist, if you´re interested:

Bike and equipment:
- Cube Mountainbike (picture above)
- Frontroller from Ortlieb
- Backroller from Ortlieb
- airpump
- handlebar bag for camera equipment
- saddlebag for repair kit
- small taillight / small front light (demountable)
- small lock
- rearview mirror
- 2 bottle holders
- demountable mudguards
- safety west
- pennant rod with flags from Bavaria / Iran (later I will put on the Oman flag)

techniqual equipment:
- Canon EOS 6D
- Objektiv 24-70mm
- Objektiv 70-200mm
- charging cables, batteries, tripod, memory cards, transfer cable to ipad
- Solar battery charger (in the sun you can charge 2 devices)
- ipad Air 2
- small keyboard from Logitec
- Xperia Z1 mobile
- older mobile for iranian SIM-Card
- binocular
- travel adapter Middle East
- Kindle reader
- headlamp from Petzl


clothes:
- Softshelljacket / Softshellpant
- hat and scarf
- gloves
- rainjacket
- 2 light biking socks
- 2 padded bike pants
- 2 blouses for going out in islamic style (found on this great website)
- 2 blouses for biking
- 2 multifunction-shirts (to wear below the blouse)
- 1 Jeans
- 1 long trekking pant
- 1 sports pants
- 2 Hijabs (headscarfs)
- 1 pair of light trekking shoes
- 1 pair of biking shoes with click-function
- 1 pair of mountain shoes
- 1 pair of flipflops
- 1 pair of climbing shoes, harness and belaying device (GriGri)
- Carbine for belaying device
- 4 slips
- 2 sports bras
- 2 T-Shirts
- Bikini (for the swimming-pool in Teheran which is for women only)
- 2 "pirates"-headscarfs
- bike-glasses with photochromic glasses (great, when driving from light into shade and vice versa)
- needle and thread


cosmetics:
- combinaton of showering gel and shampoo (Lavera 2 in 1 shower-gel)
- toothbrush / toothpaste
- lipstick
- sunscreen
- deodorant
- equipment for contact lenses
- glasses for emergency in case I can´t wear lenses / spare contacts
- washcloth
- trekking-towel (it´s small, light and dries very fast)
- nail scissors / file / tweezers
- earplugs
- handkerchiefs / baby wipes


Accomodation:
- tent "Pathfinder" from Wechsel (I will post an extra blog about that)
- plastic groundcloth for tent
- sleeping pad
- down-feather sleeping-bag
- light silk sleeping-bag
- cord


emergency:
- signal mirror
- whistle
- compass (a small one at the handlebar and another more exact one)


cooking:
- gasoline stove / gas stove (I still think if it makes more sense to buy a gasoline stove.
  Meanwhile, there are the even multifuel stoves, where you can use petroleum,
  kerosene and unleaded gasoline). I still have a gas stove and I always have problems
  finding the right gas cartridges. 

- 1 pot
- 1 plate
- 1 set of cutlery
- salt- and peppershaker
- pocket knife
- 4 packs of dried food (emergency ration)
- waterfilter from Katadyn
- MSR Dromedar waterbag (10 liter)
- Ortlieb waterbag (4 liter)

- Source waterbag (1 liter)
- Platypus waterbag (1,5 liter)
- 1 no-name waterbag (2,5 liter)- 2 drinking bottles á 0,6 liter (mounted to the bike)
- lighter

repair:
- Multi-Tool
- chain rivet kit
- repair kit for tube
- spare tubes
- cable binder (different sizes)
- wire / ducktape
- chain oil
- WD40


medicine:
- painkillers
- Imodium
- sterile syringe and cannula (if needed I have my own sterile stuff, you never know)
- antibiotics
- sore ointment
- first-aid bag


documents:
- passport
- driving license
- passport photos
- purse for small change
- bag for passport and all important documents (I will send that to my own e-mail address as a scan)
- dictionary farsi
- Point-it-booklet
- Kauderwelsch persian
- travel book Iran (German only) - I heard that Lonely Planet is very good, too.
- pencil
- "business" card
- small photobooklets with pictures from home to show around
- map Iran
- diary
- creditcard / debit-card
- cash
- my profile translated into farsi and arabic