This content was published: April 24, 2023. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
The Place I Will Never Forget
Written by: Xin Liu
As a traveler, I have had the opportunity to visit many interesting and exciting places. However, there is one place that stands out as the most unforgettable. This place is Iran, a country that I visited with a friend for a personal photo project. My goal was to capture the essence of the Iranian people and their way of life.
We decided to travel to the deep east of Shiraz, a city that receives fewer tourists and is known for its natural beauty. However, finding a hotel and internet access proved to be a challenge. But I found a solution called Couchsurfing, an app that connects travelers with local hosts who provide a couch or bed for cultural exchange and to meet new people.
After some searching, I found a host who lived in a state park with his mother. They were kind enough to take us in, and we were the first Chinese guests they had ever had. To show our gratitude, we decided to share a special Chinese dish with them called hot pot. It’s an extremely spicy soup with meat and vegetables. We set out to buy the ingredients to prepare the soup, and that’s when we had the shock of our lives.
As we walked into the Iranian grocery store, we were greeted with a plethora of vegetables we had never seen before. Being a shopaholic, it was like a different kind of heaven I had never experienced. In an hour, we had already bought all the things we needed. And that’s when we realized that we had spent more than $2,500,000 in local currency!
That’s why I will never forget this trip, not only for the beautiful scenery and kind people we met but also for the unexpected and amusing experience we had in the grocery store. And I learned a valuable lesson. If you ever want to be a millionaire, going to Iran is easier than going to America.