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"Come to my house to play"
The green of the mountains and the abundant mineral springs are the two specialties that make Khansar full of tourists. Friday is the weekend, like Sunday in our country, people from all over the country flock here. Parking lots are full, cars are parked on both sides of the road.
The city's mountainous location makes Khansar's streets wind up and down the slopes. Half mountain, half plain. Half city, half countryside.
Walking down the street, suddenly you come across a green barley field. Walking down the street, suddenly you have to climb a few dozen steps on the mountainside to get to another street. Walking down the street, suddenly there is a path leading to a park full of spring water. Water is a specialty. For Iranians, just seeing water, playing with water is also a joy.
Mountain lake supplies water to five provinces in the region - Photo: HAT
At 3 pm, in the spacious courtyard of the Zagros Hotel, while looking up at the mountain behind the house, some guys came to get acquainted. They spoke Farsi, I spoke English, and yet we understood each other in a moment.
The brothers are from Arak, about a hundred kilometers away. Today is their day off and they came here for a picnic. Where are you from? Vietnam. Vietnam? Come visit my house, come tonight.
I remember on the way here, when we were almost in Khansar, we decided to turn into a farm by the roadside. The trees were green, the source of clear water trickled down from the mountain. The crumbling earthen walls ran along both sides of the garden path, a typical wall often seen in Persian carpets.
"Let's go home and drink some water" - Photo: Ho Anh Thai
Suddenly there was a sound of bells. An old couple and their flock were approaching from a distance. The old man was sitting on a donkey laden with bundles of hay and vegetables. The old woman was walking behind the donkey with some sheep.
We raised our cameras and took pictures of the scene as if it were a hundred years ago in Persia. We even asked the old man to stop the donkey so we could take more pictures. After taking the pictures and smiling, the old man invited us: "Let's go home and have a drink first."
That is Persian hospitality.
Hanging Tulip, Inverted Tulip, Bell Tulip
Actually there is only one kind of tulip. The flower is purple-red, when it first blooms it turns upside down normally, after a while it turns upside down and then before it fades it turns upside down again.
The longest period is when the flowers are upside down and look like bells, clusters of bells hanging on the branches. Looking at the flowers like hanging bells, it seems like there is a bell ringing in the wind.
You call them hanging tulips, upside down tulips, I call them bell tulips. Whatever you call them.
Go up Golestan mountain to see bell tulips - Photo: HAT
The name of Golestan mountain means garden, flower garden. The great ancient Persian poet Saadi has a collection of poems that has been translated into Vietnamese asRose Garden, in the original Persian the book of poems is also called Golestan. It is as if we were walking through Saadi's rose garden.
The name of the city Khansar means the land of spring. You should come here in spring or you can understand that it is spring all year round. As mentioned above, this area has two specialties: plants and water. Plants give flowers, flowers give honey to bees, the best honey in Persia.
There is a special kind of honey from an insect similar to a bee, which is used to make a cake called gaz, which is famous throughout the land. Wherever people come here, they buy this cake to take home. As for the water specialty: a large lake on a high mountain, a dam was built, providing water for daily life for five provinces around the area.
Buy Khansar specialties: honey and gaz cakes - Photo: HAT
From above, the lake surface is blue with white clouds reflected. Villas and resorts with bright red tiled roofs appear in the dense foliage, adding to the atmosphere of the sky and water in the land of spring.
