Having had a very enjoyable couple of hours at the surprisingly good Turkmenistan National Museum in Ashgabat, we then set off with a fair measure of excitement into the mountains to cross the border into Iran. The two US citizens in our party just a little more tense perhaps than the rest of us….

Compared to some of our previous border crossing experiences this was a piece of cake!  Getting out of Turkmenistan required a little patience but all was well in the end, we having had to put up with more statues and pictures of the President.  Getting into Iran did involve sitting around for about 90 minutes, [but chairs were provided!] and our two US citizens were interviewed as to why they wanted to enter Iran, but they reported back that process was brief and courteous.  Next thing we knew, we were in Iran!!

The pics show you something of our route through the mountains: including some wildlife of which we have not up to now seen a great deal!!