Arriving in Bam, The Desert and Earthquakes Collide
Imagine you’ve lived in your small, dusty desert city all of your life, taking out the trash, shopping at the markets, maybe running a small camel butchery. Two kilometres from the town centre there sits the old town, a citadel, a majestic arg built 2500 years ago by your great ancestors. The citadel was the original incarnation of your modern town, consisting of a massive fortress overlooking the maze of rabbit-warrens and dens that comprised the living quarters and workplaces of the people.
The foundations of your modernized city were laid not many more than 150 years ago. Contrast this with the arg that was home to the people in your area for over two thousand years; offering more civilized shelter and many more trade opportunities than a standard caravan serai, it also played an important role in the lives of merchants and travellers as they passed along the ancient Silk Road route towards whatever their fortune may have been.
Today, both the ancient and modern cities of Bam look like war-ravaged places in the throes of being rebuilt. On the 26th of December 2003 an earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale flattened 70% of the modern city and killed 52,000 people. The destruction caused by the earthquake is still being overcome four years later; however it seems unlikely that the efforts to restore the old city will ever return it to its past glory.
Destruction of the Citadel “Arg e Bam”
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As I made my way out of the deserts and fuel uncertainties of Sistan and Baluchestan and passed into the outskirts of Bam, it’s date-palms blowing in the lazy desert winds, I set my heart on finding the guesthouse that I’d been hearing about over the past couple of weeks from sand-battered, east-bound travelers. It was on my mind that I wanted to meet the man in charge, Akbar, to see what kind of stories he had to tell. After realising the roads on the map bore very minor resemblance to the actual town layout, I pulled over to ask a local man where Akbar’s guesthouse was and he replied with a jovial “Akbar is is here, I am Akbar, pleased to meet you, would you like a room?” In some mysterious way it felt like he knew I would arrive at that time, as though a magical desert wind carried news to him of the approach of a strange-looking traveler on a ridiculous motorcycle. Mystical tales aside though, I suppose if your house is a rest stop for travelers in the desert, you spend a lot of time standing outside waiting for people to come along.
Akbar was very friendly, somewhat quirky and thoughtful. He has seen a lot in his lifetime, including the destruction of his guesthouse and the death of some people very close to him. Nevertheless, his positive outlook on life breaks through and you start to believe that it will only be a year before the whole town is rebuilt and everything is back to normal. There are big plans for a new three-storey guesthouse on the land next to the current establishment, and it appears that new techniques are being implemented to ensure the structure will withstand earthquakes; something that Akbar asserted was of the utmost importance. His attitude towards the old citadel of Bam was sad, but hopeful that the team rebuilding the site will have some success with the project, considering the tiny amount of architectural documentation they have to work with.
I stayed in Bam for a few nights and worked on coming to grips with the modernity and downright normality of Iranian people and their lifestyle. I’d walk into town, sit down at a local kebab place, have a great dinner and walk home past the ice-cream stalls. It was hard to imagine I was in the middle of a Persian desert. Unfortunately though, after a few days I had to pack up and leave my little oasis of Bam. Next stop, Shiraz, for some authentic Iranian wine!
August 7th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
2 years ive been following this website for. 1 year for an update its like watching 3/4 of a good movie. sure it was a good movie but whats the point without an ending.