QALYAN LOUNGE | https://www.ankarahayati.com/qalyan-lounge

Novbeti layihe. Youtube kanalında Ramil Nabran Gixom yazin daha boyuk hecmde baxin. 《 GIXOM 》 Görsən agciyərlərində yerbə yer ola bilmir dəli musson Onları tarazlaşdırıb, sakitləşdirən tam var dostum. Düşünsənki, gec tez hətda bütün tamlara var belə bir son. Nə qədər yanıldığını sənə sübut eləməyə hazırdı Gixom. Gixom! Gixom! Tütün imperiyasında yeni bir ad. Dad. New brend Gixom. Oliqarxlara xoş təəsürat. Dart. Otel klub restoranlarda atmosfer geyinib dumanı Gözəlim darıxma sənə sifariş eləmişəm Gixom qəlyanı. #gixom #gixomtabacco #hokkah #qalyan #smoke #azerbaycan #baku #aztagram #azrap #ramilnabran #like4like #instamood

Day 45, 14 Feb 2019, Shiraz

There are many reasons to love Shiraz: it’s colourful mosques, beautiful gardens, magnificent shrines, and invitations to lively dinner parties. Having reached Shiraz at 6am in the morning after our overnight bus journey from Yazd, we found our hostel and took a quick rest, before making our way to the Qajar-era Nasir al-Molk Mosque (also known as the Pink Mosque), which is probably the most photographed mosque in Southern Iran. With dazzling stained glass, thousands of painted tiles on the ceiling, and Persian rugs covering the floor, the mosque turns into a gorgeous rainbow of colour in every direction, akin to stepping into a kaleidoscope. While the photos make the mosque appear to be deceptively empty, it was actually filled with tourists, especially female travellers who don light-coloured chadors so that they would be able to photograph the colours of the stained glass spilling on themselves. The next stop was Negarestan Garden, which was a small, but well-preserved historical garden, which saw the inauguration ceremony of the third Shah of Iran, Mohammad Qajar, in 1834. After spending the afternoon at the city’s bazaar, we visited the Shah Cheragh complex, which is the third holiest place in Iran, after the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad and the religious city of Qom. Here, the complex is actually a mausoleum which houses the shrines of Ahmad bin Musa and Muhammad bin Musa. They were the brothers of Imam Reza, the eighth Imam; all of them were descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. Ahmad and Muhammad were martyred in Shiraz during the persecution of Shia Muslims by the Abbasid Caliphate, which, according to Shia belief, also ordered the Imam’s assassination. After being led on an informative tour around the complex by its guards, we headed back to the hostel for dinner (at 10pm), where we were invited by our hosts to dine together with his friends from his previous workplace. Turns out that they all used to work at the famous Haft Khan Restaurant in Shiraz, so basically we had five-star quality food back at the hostel, but also with much more interesting conversations over qalyan, board games, and music-making.

Sheesha or Qalyan (a water pipe used for smoking tobacco) among the youth here is as popular as back home in Karachi #bicycletouring #cycletouringlife #LondonToPakistan #iran (at Tabriz, Iran) https://www.instagram.com/p/By2gIFCJ8B6/?igshid=7zsee0i4p4hn

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY KITAKALIMANTAN

Awalnya aku masuk ke komunitas ini pada tanggal 27 Januari 2017. Habis sidang skripsi dan segala kericuhannya. Aku lihat dari @tumbloggerkita yang post ada open member dari @kitakalimantan. Ikutlah daku ke komunitas ini karna aku suka nulis.

Awal-awal masuk aku justru menjadi silent reader, karna aku bingung untuk gabung dengan mereka yang sudah asik duluan. Lah apalah daku yang remahan roti ini. Dijapri terus sama bang @pertigaankekiri buat nimbrung, dan kucoba meski cuma ikut pas ada materi doang.

Gak berapa lama disuruh jadi pemateri rekreasi oleh @tyassiyess *meskipun gak jadi*. Dari situ aku nimbrung dikit-dikit. Dan sekarang nimbrung banyak serta “agak” rusuh.

Terima kasih untuk kalian keluarga mayaku, udah bikin hari-hariku tidak biru. Tiap hari ada aja yang bikin ngakak. Ya poster lah, ya meme lah, ya belnis lah, atau ada yang monolog lah. Sama kalian itu meski belum pernah ketemu tapi bisa nyaman share masalah yang bahkan gak penting sekalipun. Pemikiran-pemikiran dari kalian yang akhirnya membuka wawasanku yang sempit ini.

Selain lucu-lucuan juga aku banyak dapat ilmu dari kalian serta tamu dari region lain. Serta karya hasil palakan ku juga banyak.

Terima kasih juga untuk Tim Huru Hara Mantan yang sudah mempercayakanku untuk bersama kalian mengurus segala dibelakang layar.

aQo3h Th4ii@nQ aM3 QaLyaN. Mwah 😚😚😚

Banjarmasin, 13 Januari 2017

With love, TANTIR

- Dari laman biru tua hingga seribu sungai bermuara -

Cc @tumbloggerkita @kitakalimantan

Day 36, 5 Feb 2019, Tehran

So our story continues with Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who decided to move his place of residence to the northern suburb of Tajrish for he was desirous of peace and tranquillity in frantic Tehran. Many of his close allies, including high-ranking ministers, army generals, and wealthy businessmen, also followed the Shah’s relocation. Today, Tajrish is a gentrified neighbourhood that is home to hip coffee shops, fancy restaurants, and upmarket hotels. While we were not chasing after the rich and famous in 33109 in America or in the exclusive District 10 in Singapore, nonetheless, we tried to experience a typical upper-middle class Tehrani-style excursion to Tajrish by visiting two spots: Darband and Tochal.

Darband sits at the foot of the Alborz Mountain, of which the latter is also known as the North Star of Tehran, because the entire city is built on the gentle, lower slopes of the mountain range. Apart from gifting the city an extremely picturesque backdrop, the mountain range also serves an important navigational function to tourists. In other words, if you ever find yourself lost in Tehran, find a road around you that leads uphill and chances are that you are heading north. Anyway, because Darband is situated so far away from the maelstroms of traffic that dominate Tehran, the air here is crisp, and there is also the sound of water cascading down the slope. Enterprising shopowners set-up teahouses along the meandering river by building cushioned seats over the flowing river, and locals kick back with tea and a qalyan without a care for the world. A short hike of about 1.5 hours can be completed in Darband by taking the chair lift to the summit-ish, where there is a spot that commands a good view of Tehran on the rare day that the city is not covered by smog and pollution.

We returned to Tajrish the next day to ski at Tochal Ski Resort. There is a system of gondola lifts connecting Station 1 (at the foot of the mountain) to Station 7 (at an altitude of 3933m, where the ski resort is). The entire journey takes about 45 minutes to run 7.5km up towards Station 7, and this is possibly the world’s longest gondola lift system. In fact, this system was the brainchild of none other than Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, whom having been educated at Switzerland in his adolescence, dabao-ed the idea of building ski resorts from the Swiss Alps to Iran (Tochal, Dizin, Shemshak). The interesting bit is that one would also notice a further network of metal structures to hoist the gondola lifts beyond Station 7, even though the system ends at Station 7. This is because the 1979 Revolution halted the development of the gondola lift system, which if it had been brought to its fruition, would have reached the Caspian Sea 100km further up north. Nonetheless, skiing in Tehran was an exciting experience, and I can say with great certainty that the facilities at Tochal are on par with international standards. So, there is nothing to worry!

Reza, smoking hookah (Qalyan) in his friend's yard. Ahvaz, Iran. Hookah is very popular among Iranian youth and due to restriction of smoking hookah in public places it is prevalent in houses now.