By Syma Sayyah, Tehran

As much as I did not do any traveling at all though the summer months, my luck seems to have changed as autumn gets here.  These chunks of rest are most needed for my soul as I dwell in bewilderment to the fact that the weather continues to be hot and we still have the coolers on as the new school year starts.

Taleghan is the birth place of many famous Iranians including Jalal Alahmad the well known writer and Ayatollah Taleghani. Now that autumn is coming along much slower than ever I can remember, after many arrangements a few friends and I accepted the kind invitation of Parisa, Payman and their daughter Taraneh and traveled to Taleghan, about 90 km from Tehran.

We were a good mixed crazy lot and had a great deal of fun and laughter during our drive along the Qazvin expressway until we turned towards Taleghan, when immediately we sensed the brightness of the beautiful open blue sky and the lovely, enchanting change of air, which was devoid of the pollution we are so used to in Tehran. We made a short stop before we got to the Taleghan Dam for a good view of it all while Afsaneh my good friend sneaked away for a cigarette. Not all of us are health freaks after all.

Soon afterwards we got to Parisa and Payman's lovely villa which is a nice medium size one,  built on a big plot of land a couple of kilometers out of Taleghan with many fruit trees and a lovely rose garden which belongs to their neighbors Bahram and Soraya.  It is in a lovely valley, surrounded by hills and mountains.  We were welcomed most warmly and as soon as we had left our stuff in one of the two rooms and had some tea we decided to go for a walk in the woods.  It was peaceful and lovely. The late afternoon sun touched our skin and hair and once we got to a huge walnut tree by a stream we did not go any further.  I had forgotten what fresh walnuts tasted like.  There were many other things that I had forgotten that this short trip brought back.

There was a simple joy of being with people who are easy going and caring, when everybody feels that great sense of sharing and joins in doing what needs to be done and the joy of leaving the pains of the mad world behind.

In the evening, we were joined by some other friends and started a huge bonfire with the dried wood that we had collected earlier by the stream. Using the hot charcoal from the bonfire we had the most delicious barbecued meat and mushrooms and especially garden picked eggplant and courgettes.  As we were talking the full moon slowly rose over one of the hills nearby and shone on us brightly with a silver glow.  We sang songs, told jokes and remembered happy memories.  Sometime about two I fell asleep and woke up late in the morning feeling fresh and rested and we all had breakfast out in the balcony under the warm morning sun and in the fresh air. It was most heavenly.  It reminded me of times I had almost forgotten.

Lunch was chelokebab (barbecued fresh meat and rice) cooked outside on the barbecue and after lunch we moved to the veranda and had tea and relaxed.  Some of us played cards, some puffed a galyak (water pipe) and we played backgammon and some just sat quietly drifting in sweet dreams.  A shepherd took his flock of sheep along the hillside on one side, and a man on a horse slowly rode by along the stream.

We set off in the late afternoon as a lovely dog and her puppy gave us a send-off.  Even though it was a short trip lasting just over 24 hours we all felt so close to nature for a change, as well as feeling refreshed as if we had been away for many days.  What a place and what an air! - jaye shoma khali (we missed you).

I have a few pictures to share with you from our trip.