The next morning we woke up, ate breakfast, and called the mechanic to see what the problem was. He explained our brake master cylinder had gone, but he would look for a new one.
In the mean time, we walked around the Tabriz Bazaar, another UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest covered bazaar in the world. The bazaar is extremely busy, with people walking in every which way. This, complete with porters delivering goods, and men on motorbikes riding through, makes it quite dangerous to walk around, and if you don’t pay attention, you could easily get run over by a motorbike or a cart wheel.
The gold and silver section of the bazaar.
Carpets in the bazaar
While doing plenty of window shopping, the mechanic called. He was able to find a master cylinder. But finding it didn’t simply involve going to the local parts shop and buying it. 80-Series Land Cruisers are quite unique in Iran. Only two types of people drive them. Tour companies and smugglers. He therefore sourced our part from some smugglers who operated on the Iran-Iraq border. We didn’t care where it had come from, we just needed it ASAP. So he had it put on a bus to Tabriz, and it arrived late that afternoon.
We also went to purchase a local SIM card. To do this you had to bring your passport and register. While filling the forms out Mike had to put his fingerprint as well as his signature!
Mike signing the paperwork
....And after.
Hamid took us to an excellent restaurant for lunch were we ordered more kebabs and Dizi. Dizi is a mutton stew thickened with chick peas, that is cooked in a traditional pot. The broth is fairly liquid and is consumed separately. Once the broth has been eaten, the meat and chick peas are mashed together and then the remaining puree is eaten with bread. Iranian bread is delicious especially Sangak!
A massive piece of Sanjak!
Iran Traffic Police's newest recruit!
We planned to go to Tehran that night, but the part for the car was talking longer to arrive than expected due to traffic. So at the recommendation of the tour agency, we changed our hotel and decided to spend the night in Zanjan, a city which is about half way.
Some delicious cookies we had before we left Tabriz
Finally that evening, the car was ready. The mechanic had fixed the rally headlights, reattached the light bar which had been knocked off the first Land Cruiser in the accident, and changed the master cylinder. He also adjusted the cooling and idle point, hoping it would fix our overheating issue and the stalling which happens when we slow down from high speeds. However, because we were pressed for time, he didn’t bleed the brakes. Since they were much improved from having basically none, we figured we would get them bled in Tehran.
A bus with some "extra" cooling
Late that night, around 10PM, we were off to Zanjan, arriving around 2AM. Early the next morning we left for Tehran, and what an “adventure” that would become.