Iran- Meet the people with Rick Steves

[glenn kangiser]

I have spent the last year working for an Iranian family building an apartment complex.  They were so pleased with our work that we have the next contract without it going out to bid.

I have to say that without question, they have been some of the nicest people I have ever worked for.  

I contend that the problems of the world are not between the common people of the world, but between the government's political factions and they in turn are pushed by big business and greed.  In my experience, the common people of nearly any country for the most part seem to want to get along.

Politics aside, Rick Steves has done a great job of getting out to meet the people and to make an attempt to bridge the gap in what is implied by the media we see, and what the actualities in the feelings of their people are.

Below is a link to his documentary - about 55 minutes of his fascinating trip to help us understand the people of Iran.

At this time they want to be our friends.  Hopefully that will continue in spite of political pressures.

We enjoyed this glimpse into the lives and feelings of the Iranians.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/94075/rick-steves-europe-rick-steves'-iran

[Virginia Gent]

That was an awesome video. However he, frequently, made mention that the people he was with were "Upper" class or the likes, which would surely explain why the areas of the cities they filmed extensively in were so beautiful. I think it would have been nice to see more of the "Middle" & "Lower" class areas/ people of Iran.

[MountainDon]

I've seen parts o that video. One must remember that the Steves group had an official government escort at all times. That does not necessarily detract from the good will exhibited by the people shown, but is indicative of the restraints they are under in their everyday life.



Rick Steves tours, BTW, are great tours. They are not your ancy, "we stay only at 4 star resorts" type of tour, though. We have several friends who have been on his Europe By The Backdoor tours and they have all gone back for 2nds and 3rds. We have one planned for July '10.

[glenn kangiser]

I noticed that the country area seemed to be a bit like our higher desert areas -say Mojave and east.

In Mexico we had a government military escort when we traveled as a group for our safety.  Most loved us - some thought we had a bit too much and would like to even the field.

I was aware of the escort which could steer things some but again, there is also enough bad publicity out there and I am sure they were concerned about their image.

The college girls seemed surprisingly free to talk in my opinion.  I pictured them as being more repressed.  We also need to remember that customs in other countries are different than here, so things that may seem repressive to us are normal to them,  I think I recall Rick Steves saying that the women seemed to take a bit of pride in some of that.  I heard in the comments, that government pays for higher education there.

I noticed no graffiti on the subway.  How nice is that?    

[MountainDon]

I watched the entire video late this afternoon. I suspect that Steves' controller may have kept him out of the poorer neighborhoods. Or perhaps that is just him keeping more or less to the same self scripting he does in any of his travel videos. One of his reasons for his videos is to convince people they should book tours with him.

He does make note that the people are not free, their theocracy is no democracy.

There are some similarities between "us and them". When the taxi driver, vexed by traffic cursed, "Death to traffic," Steves asked,  "What? I thought it was death to America."

The taxi driver replied, "Here in Iran, when something frustrates us and is out of our control, we say 'death' to that."

Then I thought, when people in my society say "Damn those teenagers," they don't mean they wish them to die and burn in hell for eternity...they just want the kids to turn down the music.

All things considered I'd rather live here, and it seems that many Iranians agree.