It has been an unexpected pleasure to realise that Yazd was one of the great Silk Road Oasis towns during the days of the silk road and even after its decline. The fact that in and around the city of Yazd there are some 30 cravanserais attests to its trading importance. Added to the fact that I am staying in the most delightful hotel in peaceful surroundings and constantly meeting interesting people, I have decided to stay a little longer and soak up the atmosphere as well as do a little more exploring.

Today there were a couple of Greeks, Stelios and Panos, who were up for hiring a taxi and guide to take a tour (Inshallah - if God wills) of the surrounding oases in the Khavir Markazi Desert, an 80km wide desert in central Iran. They were extremely interesting and having travelled to exotic places such as Yemen and other Arabic countries had intriguing stories and comparisons with Iran. For me Iran is the first Islamic country I have visited and by the sounds of things is one of the most liberal! Of course the young people I have met often make references to being imprisoned and lacking the freedom that they see in the West, but manyof the older generations are genuinely content at the society they live in next to those of other Islamic countries.

Our first stop was the all but abandoned village of Kharanaq some 70km from Yazd where only 2 families now live. A fully restored Caravanserai provided the focal point  of the village around which a series of mud-brick alleyways and decrepit houses lie. It is hard to imagine that just 20 years ago the village was bustling with life, but owing to a lack of passing trade and conseqeuently jobs, many have abandoned the village seekign a new life in Yazd. The views of the village from the minaret of the old mosque are aimply stunning and having climbed to the top using the narrowest of staircases, our guide, Ali, could shake it from side to side vigorously - I just prayed that it was God's will not for it to topple over.

We drove several more kilometres along a dirt track to Chak Chak (literally "Drip Drip") which is a Zoroastrian Pilgrimmage site in the middle of the desert where nowadays just one man lives. He is the keeper of the temple there where, as you might imaging, water drips constantly and legend has it that afterthe Arab invasion a Sassanian Princess scaped here but low on water when lo and behold she threw her staff at the mountain and water has dripped ever since allowing her to seek refuge there. Sadly a buch of 1970s buildings built for the yearly Zoroastian festival in June don't make for scenic views anymore.

We ate camel kebab for lunch and then moved on to another Caravanserai, in Meybod, and returned to Yazd via the village of Cham, 15km southwest of Yazd. Here there was another Tower of Silence but this time, set next to some stunning desert mounatins, it really was silent. At one point there were so many Zoroastrians slaughtered that they were all "buried" and left to the vultures. It was the wish of the local inhabitants that the bones should not be touched and today you can still see the odd bits of bones as a grim reminder of the past. Nearby "God bless them" has been grafittied onto the wall.

We returned with Ali and ate some Iranian Ice cream and then spent the evening at the hotel lounging around the fountain in the courtyard with some English guys, who I had met before in Shiraz, and who worked for the Foreign Office. It was the perfect evening after a long, hot, sweaty but satisfying day.

View from Kharanaq Minaret over adeserted part of the village

Playing the archaeologist at the Zoroastrian Tower of Silence in Cham. Notice the remains of human Zoroastrian bones... and the stunning desert mountain scenery.