Tea Room, Esfahan, Iran

Our visit to Iran is ending. If asked what I thought of Iran in a word, I'd say very homogenous. The cities look similar to each other. They all have similar, streets, roundabouts, parks, infrastructure, housing, etc. The people are basically from the same ethic background (at least when compared to America) and are Muslim. I would also describe the country as prosperous and extremely clean, and the people very friendly and happy. The stores are well stocked with food and consumer goods. Every city has numerous, manicured parks. Education is free, including at the University level. Not knowing for sure, I'd guess most of the country's prosperity is financed by the government's oil revenues. All of Iran's oil reserves are owned by the government and the profits are given back to the country and its people.

On the other hand, the dress code, especially for women, is very restrictive. And there is no alcohol severed in the country. Yes, that is right; it's been almost two weeks since I've had a beer! There seems to be an air of conservatism about the country which limits personal freedoms and diversification. Whether the limitation on personal freedom outweighs the benefits provided by the government, I don't know. The development of science and technology also seems to be absent from the society. While Iranians seem to adopt the product of scientific and technological discoveries, there seems to be little effort to develop new discoveries. We visited a number of museums mostly related ancient civilizations and anthropology, but none related to science or technology.