Mashhad - carpet factory

Large scale, hand-made carpet: I visited the 2nd largest mass carpet factory in Iran. The only larger facility is in Tabriz, the most known location for carpets. This particular location only makes carpets for the Haram in Mashhad. There are five long rooms with about 40 workers in each. Each person is responsible for about a meter width of carpet and following a colored schematic, quickly tie individual strands of wool, silk or cotton in place. Even at the lightning speed the work, the progress is very slow. At this stage, the carpet does not look very attractive, but once they trim the strands to the proper length, the real beauty stands out. Hand made carpets are far more resilient than machine made carpets. But this hand-made industry is suffering because of the proliferation of machine made carpets, and from design theft where some other country copies a traditionally regional design, and passes it off as a hand made original. The business owner said they have a warehouse of carpets destined for the US, that are still sitting unshipped due to the 9-11 attacks.

Surprise deluge of rain: I had never seen such a ferocious, immediate rain storm. It materialized in an hour and only lasted for 15 minutes. But it sent us scrambling through the house putting buckets under the ducts of an overwhelmed air-conditioning systems. Windows also flooded as the rain was too much for the gutter system. Pedar says the last time he remembers it raining like this, was 30 years ago.

A walk through "Rock Park": Rock Park is an amusement park and shops nearby my wife's home. The grounds are crisscrossed with rushing waterways, ponds and fountains. There are park rides, Ferris wheel, peddle boats shaped like swans, ice cream, coffee shops, and gift shops. Even with its 10 or so-block magnitude, it was swarming with families, teenagers, and retirees. People come by bus and taxi, or their own car, but parking is difficult. At the end of the evening, the taxis line up for blocks to take whole families back home.