Africa to Asia: One man, two continents, eleven countries by Smart Jason

Author:Smart, Jason [Smart, Jason]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Smart Travel Publishing
Published: 2016-08-19T04:00:00+00:00

Clockwise from top left: A beautiful door, one of many, in the medina; A great monument in central Tunis; Minaret of the Al-Zaytuna Mosque; The backstreets near my hotel; Wandering towards the clock tower; Inside the medina; Glitz and red flag of downtown Tunis; An old man contemplates life during the lockdown

Part 2

Asia

Iran, South Korea, Mongolia, China, Maldives

Chapter 10: Kish Island: the easy part of Iran

To be honest, I was a little nervous about visiting the Islamic Republic of Iran. Aside from the possibility of police detainment, there was also the threat of kidnap. In 2007, Robert Levinson, an American private investigator, disappeared while visiting Kish Island and hasn’t been seen since. Nothing, not a whisker. Even so, I was intrigued by the Middle Eastern nation. Every report I’d read about it, aside from the ones about kidnappings, nuclear weapons and Ayatollahs, was positive, especially about the friendly folk who lived there. I just had to see it for myself.

With only one day set aside for visiting Iran before jetting off to South Korea, I knew going to the mainland was out of the question: the visa hurdles were just too cumbersome. No, the only way was to fly to a place called Kish Island (pronounced Keesh), an Iranian free zone, where a visitor could procure a 14-day visa on arrival, free of charge, without any burdensome formalities whatsoever. Glitzy hotels, shopping malls and lush beaches would greet me when I got there. The Iranians’ wish was to make Kish Island their Dubai.

The only way to reach Kish Island from outside Iran is to fly from Dubai. Kish Air runs a series of scheduled flights every day and, if I booked sensibly, I could be on the island by 11am, see the sights and be out by 8.45pm: plenty of time to see an island three times smaller than the city of York.

Kish Air flights are popular with workers from the United Arab Emirates, mainly Filipino visa runners living in Dubai. Every month or so, they leave the UAE because their visas are about to expire. To get a new one, Dubai immigration has to stamp them out of the country, which then allows them to fly to the cheapest different country. After 24 hours, they can fly back into Dubai to collect another visa. A nice little industry has grown up around these visa runners, with quick thinking Iranian companies on Kish organising airport transfers and cheap hotels for these short term visitors.

Located in the bowels of Dubai Airport’s Terminal 2 is a tiny office belonging to Kish Airlines. For anyone living outside of Iran, visiting the office is the only way to buy flight tickets. The Filipino woman behind the desk seemed efficient, tapping away on her computer. She told me there was a seat for me on the next day’s flight. “But why you go to Kish for only one day?” she asked.

I had my excuse ready; I would probably be asked the same thing when I arrived on Kish Island.

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