Caught taxi to Shiraz bus station - although the bus was scheduled to leave at 8 am it did not leave until 9 am.  Driver spoke reasonable English - said it was because he had worked in  Dubai for some years - warned me about not accepting lifts with strangers.

International telephone office - near my hotel - does not open until 8 am, so could not make an international call.  Tried using my telephone card at a public telephone at the bus station to phone Lillian but did not accept international calls. 

About an hour outside Banda Abbas is a way station where the police stop and search all traffic.  They initially appeared to be looking for drugs.  The panel containing lights and airvents above my head was unscrewed and searched, as was another on the other side of the bus.  Our bus was held up for about an hour or more while about 30 carpets being transported in the back of the bus and two persons - a man and a woman - were detained.  Another woman, who was not removed, moved another carpet that the police had missed to under the seat in front of me when the police were not looking.  Some of the other passengers appeared to advise and assist in this task. The police did not appear to notice or perhaps decided they had the main culprets.

My inference was that the carpets were perhaps fakes for genuine Iraninan carpets as they were coming from Banda Abbas and the bus was travelling to Shiraz.  That or some import tax was being avoided.

While I was told in Dubai the Iranians would not permit any American products or software to be imported by foreign workers, all the coffeenet computers use Microsoft software and one of the trucks at the way station was loaded with HP printers. 

Very stark scenery for first 6 hours of trip. After that the valleys between the mountains became fertile and near Shiraz there was a large lake full of water - the name of which I was told but could not understand.

Two young fellows engaged me in conversation with the asssistance of the Farsi Phrasebook.  They originally thought I said I was Israeli when asked about my nationality - this has happened a number of times and attracts immediate attention but no apparent hostility.  Saying kangaroo does not always help.  I will have to improve my pronounciation. 

One of the fellows was a 24 year old engineer and the other an 18 year old student accompanying a woman - who I assumed to be a relative - and her child.  Not sure what happened to the engineer but the others got off at Farsa, where the woman in the first and last recognition politely said good-bye.

Another fellow who I had spoken to briefly at the lunch stop came down to talk to me for the rest of the trip.  That was a bit easier as he had some limited English.  His  family lives in Siraz but goes to university in Banda Abbas where he studies accounting.  Wanted to inspect my bag - innocently I think - asked for a couple of Australian coins and gave me a phone card in return.  I could not give him any notes because I had converted them all into foreign currency.  Invited me to visit his family in Shiraz.  When we arrived he assisted by telling the taxi driver which hotel - Shiraz Erm Hotel - I wanted to go to.

As usual the taxi ride to the hotel was a nightmare - any driving experience one acquired in Australia would be completely useless here.  I suspect panel beating would be a fairly profitable field in most Iranian cities.