Despite the health and safety stuff I mentioned before, it seems to be a generally safe environment for kids.
With the result that we often see quite young children, usually boys, out and about without parental supervision.
They are usually less successful than older people at controlling their excitement when they see a foreign tourist. When we arrived at Hafez Tomb there were a group of about a dozen boys aged around 11/12 near the entrance. When they saw us they immediately all wanted their chance to say "Hello Meester. Where you from ? What's your name ?". So we walked along with this minor mob behind us making quite a fuss - we felt a bit like the Pied Piper. Eventually they got bored and left us alone.
Later the same day I encountered three boys aged about 9 - they tried to sell me some kind of gadget for threading needles. Three for only a dollar. They were unable to explain to my satisfaction why I might need three, or indeed any.
But they fell in alongside me and walked with me for some time - going through the usual questions above.
After a while I wanted to get rid of them so I offered to give them a polo mint each if they buggered off.
The first one took two with a big grin, and the second and third, seeing this, took three each. Cheeky sods.
And they carried on walking with me - apparently not having understood the deal. And now, to them, I was not only an unusual foreign tourist - I had become an unusual foreign tourist with sweets.
About now I began to realise my predicament - I had turned myself into an infidel stranger offering sweets to kiddies. And they wouldn't leave me alone. And I didn't speak any Farsi to explain myself. I could see them following me all the way back to the hotel - if some responsible adult didn't intervene in the meantime.
My only way out was to grab the first passing taxi. A lesson learned.
With the result that we often see quite young children, usually boys, out and about without parental supervision.
They are usually less successful than older people at controlling their excitement when they see a foreign tourist. When we arrived at Hafez Tomb there were a group of about a dozen boys aged around 11/12 near the entrance. When they saw us they immediately all wanted their chance to say "Hello Meester. Where you from ? What's your name ?". So we walked along with this minor mob behind us making quite a fuss - we felt a bit like the Pied Piper. Eventually they got bored and left us alone.
Later the same day I encountered three boys aged about 9 - they tried to sell me some kind of gadget for threading needles. Three for only a dollar. They were unable to explain to my satisfaction why I might need three, or indeed any.
But they fell in alongside me and walked with me for some time - going through the usual questions above.
After a while I wanted to get rid of them so I offered to give them a polo mint each if they buggered off.
The first one took two with a big grin, and the second and third, seeing this, took three each. Cheeky sods.
And they carried on walking with me - apparently not having understood the deal. And now, to them, I was not only an unusual foreign tourist - I had become an unusual foreign tourist with sweets.
About now I began to realise my predicament - I had turned myself into an infidel stranger offering sweets to kiddies. And they wouldn't leave me alone. And I didn't speak any Farsi to explain myself. I could see them following me all the way back to the hotel - if some responsible adult didn't intervene in the meantime.
My only way out was to grab the first passing taxi. A lesson learned.
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