Of all the stories I had heard about the border crossing into Iran being difficult, long, dangerous, officials confiscating things like camera equipment, and generally not being friendly none of them appeared to be true as I pitched up at the border. Within 20 minutes I was through and the hardest part of it seemed to be getting out of Turkey who spent ages questioning my entry stamp! The actual border is amusing as once you are through the Turkish emigration post, a gate opens and you are instructed to go through, where 1 metre on you are greeted by the closed iranian gate/ The Turkish gate then shuts behind you and you are left in limbo for five minutes in the "cage", before an Iranian official checks your passport and allows you through. The fact that I was from Switzerland, "the best and most democratic country in the world" according to the beaming border guard, meant that I was dashed to the front of the queue and my entrance was easy.

In fact the only problem I had at the border was that my stomach cramps, which I had felt early that morning in Dogubeyazit, were getting worse and worse. Indeed as the terribly nice man who took me through, trying desperately to practice his English for as long as possible, I nearly fainted. He didn't seem to realise how serious the situation was and just kept telling me where to visit in Iran. I tried not to appear rude and answered him but he didn't react when I said I needed to go to hospital ASAP - simply replyin "ok, ok, no problem" and then chattering on. I did think of fainting and seeing if he might call an ambulance, but in the end a shared taxi came and despite loads of people waiting, I was allowed to get in.

I went straight to the hospital and was seen almost immediately. The doctor, who luckily spoke good English, gave me a very cursory check up - which basically involved prodding my stomach and asking two questions before diagnosing me with a peptic ulcer. Great. He wrote out a prescription and then made me go up two flights of stairs to the pharmacy to get a price for the medecine, which I then had to take back donwstairs to pay for and then go back up to collect. Ludicrous and also not fun when I was in such pain. The one consolation was that the price of the medicine, 2 injections and the consultation was ludicrously cheap. I was ready to have to get out my insurance number and begin the process of making a claim, when the total came to 25,000 Rials, less than 2 pounds! I have decided not to claim.

I spent most of the rest of the day in bed in the upmarket but very cheap Maku Tourist Inn. For 15 dollars a night I had the most enormous room with shower (sadly also a squat toilet) and in every nook and cranny there was something interesting to find. Everywhere was littered with what must have been rejected Christmas Cracker presents - mini sewing kits, mini shoe kits, a mini hair comb and then all the usual mini bathroom stuff including a toothbrush and slippers!