We expected to arrive at something like 11, so it was particularly frustrating as the hrs went by + there was no sign of any city, just bare + barren desert. It was especially bad because I was assailed by a violent + almost debilitating headache, so it was with mixed feelings that we finally steamed into our final destination. It was an enormous relief to be there, of course, but it did mean we had the immediate pressures of having to find somewhere to stay. And this indeed proved too much for me – we made our initial enquiries, got nowhere at all. I was in no condition to make any decisions about anything, + when Val pressed me, overmuch I thought, I simply burst into tears. Not a pretty spectacle, tho’ luckily we weren’t, for once, surrounded by curious locals. The pressures of travel are getting to me more + more, + when this was combined with a headache I could barely support, I was not able to cope.
We took a motor rickshaw to the cheapest hotel listed in the book, where we met the Kiwi we’d met at the Iranian embassy. While I collapsed into a handy chair, he + Val inspected the hotel, then another one just down the road. Val returned after a few mins – the hotel down the road was much nicer, but beyond our price range, tho’ the Kiwi had decided to stay there. Our prevarication did us some good, however, for in Val’s absence they had dropped their price at the seedy one. And seedy it was, tho’ not really all that much worse than many we’ve stayed in. And I was so bitterly cold that I crawled immediately to bed, + was asleep not long after. Val sat up for a little while longer, reading.
It really was time I was back, as I was not coping at all. So it was just as well that Val had a male companion to accompany her on her search for somewhere to stay.
