Today was a travelling day and for the most part I spent it travelling in a car or on a bus. I left Kashan relatively early in the morning and managed to find a savari (shared taxi) that would take me the hour's jounrey to Qom for 15,000 rials (less than $2). Qom incidenatlly is famous for churning out Mullah's by the dozen. And as soon as we arrived at the bus station every other person seemed to be one - identifiable bvy their flowing (and often brown) robes  and white turbans wrapped around their heads.

 I didn't spend much time in Qom as I caught the next bus out to Qazvin. The one amusing incident though occured just before I boarded my bus. Suddenly there was a mad rush through the nearly deserted bus station and what I presumed to be Saudi Arabian Sheiks rushed to and fro with their wives, their "tea towel" headgear baraely staying put. They were on their way to Mashad, with their belongings packed into plastic bags and balanced on their heads. An entrepreneurial group of young boys followed in tow trying desperately to sell them copies of the Quran.

I was tired by the time I got onto the bus and a pleasant though talkative engineering student sat next to me, eager to practice his English. I tried my best but in the end just fell asleep knackered. When I woke up though, he persisted and ended up inviting me to stay at his friend's house. This time I refused and politely answered that I woul come next time, inshallah (if God willed it).

I took a taxi to a ridiculously expensive hotel (by Iranian standards), but it was getting late and I made do with it for one night. In fact it turned out to be a godo choice as I bumped into a French guy, Patrick, who I had met about a week earlier in Yazd. We decided to head out for supper and made plans to visit the Assassins castles for the next day opting to "do it ourselves" rather than take the ludicrously expensive tour that the Hotel Iran offered us for visiting just one castle.