Watch-ya wanna buy in Tehran’s big bazaar?

Perhaps Aladdin’s lamp is somewhere in there

Fancy a pair of underpants—or maybe some knitting wool

Tehran’s main bazaar might not be one of the most beautiful markets in the world, but you can buy almost everything you need.

It’a one of the world’s largest bazaars with about 10 kilometres of covered shopping and plenty of outdoor stalls too.

Poor John and I spent half a day wandering the labyrinth of corridors getting ourselves lost and then found—and finding lots of unexpected gems as we explored.

For starters, we replenished our supplies of dried fruit and nuts, and I found a headscarf that didn’t make me look too frumpy. It’s black, red and gold and has sort of an Aboriginal design. I might even wear it in public in Australia.

Plenty of choice in the scarf corridors

It’s compulsory throughout Iran for women to wear a headscarf—or even the full shapeless chador rig with or without face covering, which is way too hot in summer and not expected of foreign women. I brought two scarves with me from Australia, but neither quite covered my head, hair AND neck, so a better version was required.

I was also tempted by, but resisted buying, some fabric or a large men’s shirt (to cover my bum). In addition to a headscarf, a woman who doesn’t wear a chador seems to be expected to wear a jacket that is long enough to cover her bum. Good grief, I’d brought black trousers and black, long-sleeved (but not very long) tops, and figured I’d wait until someone complained about my outfits before I bought yet another layer of heat in summer. No one ever said a word.

We also ignored the touristic trinkets. There are plenty of wonderful temptations, but after years of travel, we already have too much of this stuff at home.

An array of evening gowns—pick a colour

Window shopping for evening gowns

The evening gowns were most impressive and most unexpected, but I resisted buying one of them too—not really right for camping. I’m still wondering who buys these shapely, slinky, low-cut numbers festooned with beads, sequins, ruffles and glitter. I saw plenty of women in chador lingering before the displays of gowns, and I asked in several shops as to when and where people might wear such get-ups. But the language barrier was too great to get an explanation. I can only imagine that headscarves, long jackets and chadors are not required in the privacy of one’s home, and that a dinner party among ‘consenting adults’ would be the perfect place for a plunging neckline.

So skipping the party clothes, I was especially pleased to be able to resurrect my watch. You may remember that my trusty watch of ten years fell off my wrist—and was lost forever—in Sydney’s airport late last year. Luckily, I had a convenient spare in my backpack. It’s a Timex and, while it’s been mostly okay, it’s also been a nuisance.

General goods

Gold

Hairpieces

I love the watch’s beautiful big face, large readable numbers and sweeping second hand. Plus when I push the winder spindle in the middle of the night, the face lights up and I know how many hours I have until I have to crawl out of my sleeping bag.

All these good points reminded me that when I was a child, Timex’s promotional slogan was ‘takes a licking and keeps on ticking!’ I vividly remember the watch being tied to the blade of an ice skate and being whizzed around the skating rink, and then shown to still be keeping good time.

Clearly, I didn’t get that watch! Within a few months of normal wear, the face edges had chipped. I can live with a few chips, but not when the shards lodge under the face and stop the ticking. I could shake the watch to re-distribute the shards and get the hands going again, but I was always wary as to whether the time shown was accurate.

Then one of the pins holding the watchband in place fell out. Hmm, and I hadn’t even gone to the ice skating rink in Dubai! But Dubai is the land of copies, so I packed away the Timex and purchased a cheap Rolex copycat that was way too dressy for my wardrobe of camping clothes. Maybe I should have looked more closely at the evening gowns in Tehran.

These kind fellows put in a new watchband pin for free

That said, the Tehran bazaar came to the watch rescue. Early in our wanderings, Poor John found a proper clock shop. They couldn’t replace the face, but they were happy to provide a pin for the band—for free!

Later in the day, we found a proper watch shop and—yes—for a mere $5 they could replace the face by the next day. Our challenge was going to be to find the shop again, which we did—eventually.

So I’ve got a watch again that doesn’t need sequins to go with it. Sadly, the frequent and extreme changes in temperature (from boiling hot in the desert to the air conditioning that’s available occasionally in hostels) have caused the watch face to crack, so I’ll need to go replacement shopping again in one of the Stans. I’ll keep you posted.

Party decorations

Shirts

Snacks