Arriving in Masuleh

We succeeded in getting to Masuleh the following day. We took a minibus from Fuman. Ben got 'chatting' to a Mullah - revered holy-man with turban style headgear and flowing beard and robes. I followed behind them on the street - (two steps behind), and was again so amused and impressed to watch Ben being able to communicate in Farsi!

Holy man directed us to the spot where the mini-bus was and we loaded on our bags and joined two guys sitting inside huddled around a gas stove! The driver simply waits until he has enough passengers to make the journey worth his while. So after lots of parping horns and engine revving, we finally pulled off.

The bus was better equipped for the icy roads and we were soon past the place where we had to turn back the previous day. We started climbing higher into the mountains and the snow covering got thicker the further we got. Every now and then, we'd stop to pick up some craggy mountain folk who bundled in beside us.

We arrived in Masuleh and the village looked beautiful covered in a blanket of fresh snow. We started rolling our cases up the hill and soon we saw a little boy come running towards us. He asked us if we were looking for a room so we followed him up narrow stone steps and to his parent's house. His name is Nima.