DJ - Greetings to everyone from Carl and Don in Iran. Our report comes to you this time from the city of Esfahan smack in the center of Iran. Esfahan is one of the most important historically cities in Iran and is the third largest city of this country of 59 to 69 million people. The city has the population of 1.2 million people, contrasted to Tehran, the capital city, which has a current population of 12 million and some estimate that it will soon rise to 16 million. Tehran is about 400 kilometers away from our present position. Before the war with Iraq, Tehran had a population of about 9 million. As a result of the destruction of many towns and villages along the Iraqi border, the population of Tehran swelled as people fled from the battle zone area. Esfahan is similar in location to say Chicago, being in the center of the United States. Esfahan, to the north, is about 600 kilometers from the Caspian Sea and 800 kilometers to the south from the Persian Gulf. In the east, 800 kilometers to Iraq. We have traveled over the last two days to Esfahan over a distance of 1,000 kilometers, which is approximately the distance from New York to Chicago.

We have arrived in this wondrous city, which is perhaps similar to Paris or Rome, in terms in its cultural importance. This city dates back 1,700 years ago and is considered to be the Paris of Persia. There are some extraordinary buildings, gardens and grounds here. We arrived late in the day and tomorrow we anticipate having the opportunity to see first hand these wondrous sites.

Being in Iran, it's become obvious that there is a gap in our own understanding and awareness about the history of Persia. We find that with each passing day it becomes sort of compounding and dumbfounding to intellectually try to put it all together - all the historical, geopolitical, cultural and the human aspects of the place called Iran, or historically Persia. We would certainly encourage any young people to devote some time to researching the Persian history, their culture and civilization. Apparent to us, being here for this length of time, is that there is much to be learned about Persian history. As we have said before it predates both Greek and Roman history. We have learned just a little bit through personal experiences about Islamic customs and Muslim faith, which is part of the political infrastructure of this country. You see that, for example, along the highways where you will see signs in most cities and towns indicating where the nearest Mosque is located. In the United States public signs indicate universities, hospitals, or any other major attractions, but not churches. Here in Iran, highway signs indicate the direction and location of the nearest Mosque. In the Islamic faith, it's recommended and encouraged that people pray five times a day. There is also no alcohol in the country. In fact before we entered the country, we were required to sign a statement that we were not transporting or carrying any alcohol.

I had a personal experience, which reminded me of how little I know about Islamic practices. I got to meet the families of the six Iranian drivers that are participating in the motor challenge at our hotel stop here in Esfahan. Upon being introduced to the children of the family and extending hands and greeting them, I was introduced to the spouses of some of the drivers. I extended my hand only to have the lady step away. I was politely told in a matter of fact way that under Islamic practices a lady was not allowed to touch another person or specifically a man.

Here in the country and in our travels today we encountered most unusual and varying weather conditions. We traveled across terrain that was very similar to west Texas in that it was very flat, very dry and very hot. We encountered a wind and dust storm that Carl says was similar to storms in South Dakota. We experienced a temperature inversion as we came up off of the desert floor up into a mountain pass. The temperature inverted to cool, cloudy, and foggy conditions, where the warm air and the cool air were colliding. We were driving in fog for awhile in the middle of the Iranian desert and then descending down from the mountains back into a sand storm with very high winds. It was an overcast and sort of a gray, eerie condition. We also saw any number of tornadoes in the open desert. We would call them tornadoes in our part of the world. Here they are referred to as whirlwinds. They are in fact full scale tornadoes that reach from the ground all the way up to the cloud layer. They have spouts and a modest amount of force. The most unusual thing is you may see several occurring at any one time. They occur in the open desert. It is really quite a remarkable phenomenon to see.

The attitude of the public as we drive across Iran, is summed up in my use of the word, exuberant. There is a lot of enthusiasm for the visiting caravan of Peking to Paris Motor Challenge competitors. Many of the cities and towns have banners that say "Dear friends we are glad to have you in our city." Many people that line the route have banners as well. So there is a lot of enthusiasm for what is an unusual event here in this country to have visitors and unusual motor vehicles traveling through the country. The children are kind of unpredictable and will at times even throw stones or paper objects at the cars. A couple of cars report that they've had windshields broken by these young people who appear to be excessively excitable and almost out of control as the cars pass through their cities and towns. There is quite a friendly attitude here, nothing like what we might have perceived before we ever came to Iran.

The people seem to be informed about political events but they are reluctant to get involved and just seem to go along. The recent election of a more liberal president is thought to be a slight positive shift in the direction of the country. In the United States there are pictures in public places of sports figures, some political figures. Here it is very common for pictures of three or four major religious leaders to be on display of public buildings and billboards. We frequently see the profile of Ayatollah Khamenei and some of the other key figures in the revolutionary movement which is now nearly 20 years old.

Our connection with the outer world has been very limited over the last week. We have received absolutely no news of any kind, either in broadcast television or in newspaper reports. We have not seen any media or news and consequently we feel really unaware of what is happening. We can report to you some of our observations of what our sense is of Iran based on our three days of traveling 1,000 miles across the country. It appears to us that the economy is quite robust and that industrial activity is very strong. We see a remarkable amount of construction of industrial and commercial buildings which we were told is financed from the private sector. We see an extraordinary number of transportation trucks on the highways carrying material and industrial goods of all kinds. Truck traffic here is equivalent to that in the United States. On the highways the makes of the truck are principally from Volvo, Scania in Scandanavia, Mercedes, International Navistar, and as well as a significant number Mack tractor trailer truck. All used as part of both single axle and sixteen wheel semi tractor trailers that transport across Iran where the highways are in very good condition. The infrastructure here, the utilities, all appear to be in very good condition. Microwave communication systems are being used. Iran has a very up-to-date GSN digital cellular telephone network in the country and most young adults use it and bypass the regular analog telephone network.

Our hotel in the city Esfahan is really quite spectacular. It is referred to as a Caranvon Sare, which means a caravan house. It is a square building with a garden in the center and we are told that in ancient times caravans with camels arrived at the entrance to a Caranvon Sare and then people were put up inside the caravan house in individual rooms. One of the facilities has a fort-like appearance that had been converted into a modern hotel with a lot of Persian decoration and design in architecture. It is really quite spectacular and marvelous to be a guest here. At times we feel like a modern Marco Polo as we come upon sites and experiences that seem to be a gap in our understanding and our own education about this place of Persia.

I must say thus far I would have no hesitation in recommending that a visit to Iran would really be quite marvelous. We are going to have some very unique experiences over the next couple of days here as we visit the bazaar, which is several miles long and visiting some of the architectural wonders which exist here. So you can perhaps get the impression it is quite a marvelous and revealing visit that we are having as we continue on our trip across the planet heading in the direction of Paris.

A few comments on the rally competition. A couple of cars have bounced back quite unexpectedly to the credit of the drivers. One being a Citroen station wagon which lost its transmission two days ago back in Pakistan and through some extraordinary effort of the operator of that car from the Netherlands, was able to bring the car back to the rally. This is quite an unusual feat. The Aston Martin operated by Murdoch Laing of Montreal Canada, whose mother is monitoring our Internet site, has made repairs in Pakistan and has re-entered the competition. All indicative of extraordinary effort that has occurred time and time again when many vehicles were thought to be down and out have been repaired and brought back. Today two vehicles were affected by the 600 mile distance of today's trip. A Jaguar from the UK and an MG from Germany both either had to be towed or trucked as a result of today's travel. The 1954 Packard had a good day today on good road conditions. We found some shock absorbers to replace our present ones. We are encouraged that we can get the undercarriage and the suspension system restored to the way it should be. We are getting tired of some of the good nature characterizations of the Packard as a road grader. We have a low profile due to the lost of our suspension system. So the car mechanically is running very fine and through the very hot conditions of the Iranian desert, the car has performed very well.

On the health front, Carl and Don are doing just fine, trying to keep balanced nutrition and getting enough rest.

Finishing up this update, we report to you that we are in Esfahan, which is in the center of Iran. It is an extraordinary place of architectural and cultural wonders that we are going to have the opportunity to explore in the next 24 hours. That's this update, coming to you by satellite telephone with the courtesy and cooperation of the Discovery reporting team for whom we give our thanks for making this connection possible. We are delighted to be in Iran. We're as we say dumbfounded and confounded by what we are seeing and experiencing here and we will do our best to work hard to absorb it and put it in perspective. So for now this is Don on behalf of Carl saying so long until our next update in 24 hours from Iran on our trip around the world, this stage being from Peking to Paris. Bye.