A not-so-busy afternoon on Westbound Hemmat Freeway. I would say about 50% of the cars in Tehran are Iranian-assembled French cars like Peugeot 206 and 405. Another 40% are Iranian-made South Korean Kias.

I am amazed at how much business both Coke and Pepsi manage to do in Iran through all wars and political sanctions. They're more powerful than the UN. The Iranian Coke still uses sugar, which makes it taste better than the corn-syruped American version.

I have no idea what these horses were doing way up in the mountains north east of Tehran in Darabad.

Looking at a painting inside Tehran's Museum of Contemporary Arts.

A river runs through it in Darabad.

Tehran's underground metro. Its actually more modern than the New York Subway or London's Underground. But Ahmadinejad has stopped expansion plans because of a political rivalry with his former opponent Rafsanjani.

A four story apartment building in Jolfa.

A building under construction in Jordan Street.

An Iranian "cooler" on the roof. It seems like a primitive air conditioning system; a fan blows air over a surface of water and shoots it down the vent. But its highly efficient and very effective. Getting ready for a hot summer ahead.

Two friends being silly and covering their faces inside Asr Jadid movie theater where we watched a horrible Iranian film named "Mask." I would say out of the 100 films produced every year only 5 are worth watching.

Spring is in full effect and the green leaves stand out in a background of gray buildings and a smoggy city. A building in Valiasr Street near Saee Park.

A couple enjoying a meal at Avache fast food restaurant. These hip fast food joints are actually comparatively expensive. An average meal costs $6, which is too much when you factor in the average income.

Tony Blair's final visit to the White House, live on BBC. George Bush looks and sounds even more dumb and ignorant when watched from across the planet. Though compared to the Iranian leaders we see on TV, he looks clean and well dressed.

The local fruit store. You can't find those cantaloupes in the US. They're a lot more juicier and sweeter. Overall fruits taste better here. No wonder my fruit consumption has increased by 500% since coming here. Did I already mention this?

Best activity for writing partners is to go on hikes; it gets your brain working better. Specially when you are above the city. Another view of Tehran from Velenjak, with purple flowers in the foreground.

An Iranian public phone. As in the US, you rarely see people using them. This is due to availability of cell phones. I'm told 19 million cell phones are roaming the network of the Persian plateau.

My blanket. Though you can take it for an abstract painting if you so desire.

A yellow Samand taxi cab and the yellow key. Samand is Iran's "national car" and it's currently being exported to Belarus, Venezuela and Syria. But once they turned them into taxi cabs, it lost its appeal to Tehran's car buyers.

A car would have to get really really messed up before it can be considered totaled. I mean there would have to be no way of fixing it.

Otherwise even these cars at a junk yard would still be running and a 40 year old Jeep like the one above would still sell well.

Playing cards are illegal in Iran. But that just makes them more fun and more readily available. As in the US, we play for peanuts; a $10 buy in is the max per person in this group of friends. And even then the winners usually give back their winnings so that there isn't any real gambling.

Iranian-style 5 card poker; you play with half the deck (6 and up). This increases the chances of getting good hands and makes the game more exciting.

A "jigar" (liver) stand. There are these little restaurants that solely sell liver kabobs. They're very tasty and good for your cholesterol! They also have [sheep] kidney and stomach kabobs. Tastes better than it sounds.

I believe my camera phone distorted this building a bit, which is funny, because it looked distorted to begin with. One of Tehran's leading engineering schools; Amir Kabir University (aka Tehran Poly Tech University).

The current basket of fruits that is put in front of you at every Persian household contains such tasty seasonal fruits as "gojeh sabz" (green plums) and "zard alou" (apricot).

Dancers in the dark, at a small gathering of friends.

Bonnie Film is Iran's Hollywood Reporter. Only instead of reporting on Hollywood, it reports on Tehranwood (I just invented this word).

Gasoline prices are set by the government and the price per gallon was for the longest time locked at $0.38. Now, after much debate in the parliament and elsewhere in the government, much to people's disappointment, the price was increased to a whopping $0.41 per gallon.

The new sidewalks of Valiasr street are part of the plan to "beautify" the city. Nothing beautiful about them yet. Same department in charge of this task also put up billboards of the Leader all across town.