Iran. Tehran: One of the funniest moments ever. (Maybe you had to be there.)

Iran. Tehran: One of the funniest moments ever. (Maybe you had to be there.)

I couldn't stop laughing. I was convulsing in coach seat 12B. I had just witnessed a piece of fundamentalist comedy that could only occur in an Islamic republic (dictatorship).

Forget the Italians, Indians or Thais - Iranians take the gold medal when it comes to the world's craziest drivers. What's this a zebra crossing? Red lights, huh? Traffic flows in different directions depending on your side of the road? Ha, you amuse me.

We were stuck in traffic about 10 miles out of Tehran. Gridlocked in one of five lanes on a three lane highway, we decided to watch the documentary Coyote Ugly. Basically it's a gritty documentary about one girls quest for stardom on the mean streets of New York. It's final line is "Gee I never knew dreams could really come true". Pity coaches don't carry sick bags.

Coyote Ugly


One scene was a rather tame sex scene between the two main characters and halfway through it we noticed that we were sandwiched between two Iranian coaches. The Iranian coach windows were filled with face planted Iranians sporting genuine Home Alone faces in disbelief at the display of flesh before their eyes. Women were pointing and giggling, men were on their cellphones calling their friends to tell them what they were seeing. It was complete mayhem.

Both coach drivers timed their speed so their passangers could watch the whole scene and our bus was in hysterics watching the Iranians satisfied smile. Yes, western films may have been forbidden but Iranians are human beings and sure wanted their dose of flesh.

Classic stuff.