Crash!

There was an accident but I'm okay. A car hit me from behind and I flew rear-first through the air before sliding 20 metres on my back to a dusty stop.

I have a lot of bruises, a limp and some minor road rash. It shook me so badly that I was only a mouse-click away from booking a flight back to Canada. I was more than a little paranoid at the time. I only spent 45 minutes in hospital, but had to endure six hours in five different police stations before I could convince a judge -- via interpreter over the telephone -- that I didn't want to press charges or sue the driver. At one point the judge pulled a copy of the United Nations Declaration of Rights from his bookshelf. This made me gulp, but he simply wanted to give it to me. He even signed it!

As for the driver, well he was an alright guy, too. He was a dentist with a very nice family. I stayed with some of his relatives that night and he paid for my taxi back to Tehran.

The bike is toast and I've given away the camping gear that survived the crash. I've bought a small, cheap backpack and will complete the rest of my trip on trains and buses. No more biking for me in this part of the world. The drivers here are just too crazy. Even the sidewalks are dangerous because motorcycles use them.

My bike -- though loved -- was just a piece of metal. I'm really lucky to be alive.