Photo by Behzad Montazeri

"Excuse me sir..."

This is one of the many crowd scenes we seemed to create wherever we went in Iran. As I unlocked the Land Rover, a young woman approached me with in a typically polite way. "Excuse me sir, would it be rude of me to ask from where do you come?"

She was a university student traveling with her parents during No Ruz, and before long, several relatives and friends started showing up to meet us as well. Encounters like this are one of the true joys of Iran. It is wonderful to feel free to talk to people without the fear that they will try to hustle you.