-You are very sexy. [laughs] -Very handsome, very sexy.
PETER: I need to get a story every day and I just need to run into it.
And so it started here.
Are we buying shoes now? What's going on?
♪ piano ♪
♪ woman singing in Persian ♪
[music fades into the sound of traffic]
MAN: These shoes in Iran, 3 million toman.
500 bucks.
PETER: C'mon, seriously? MAN: 500 bucks, yeah.
PETER: I think I paid $50 for them. MAN: No, no, no.
All right guys, good coffee shop?
-Outside here and keep right. -Okay.
So the process is finding people that are interesting and speak English.
To get them on camera, to get that closer story of Iran
And well it's not always an easy process.
Like right now I'm just walking around.
I'm gonna go to a coffee shop and hopefully something comes up there.
So their currency, they have tomans and rials.
Toman is basically one zero less
and the notes are high denominations.
That's not even a huge one is it?
Okay, that's 500,000 rials.
So they call it 50 tomans.
In the beginning it's just impossible to get it right.
So sometimes you give the wrong amount
and in many countries someone would take an opportunity in that.
Not in Iran.
It's really amazing.
I've gotten change back even from taxi drivers.
As a traveler here right now it's insanely cheap.
-A plane ticket? -Yeah.
Around $20.
-Everything, taxes? -Yeah, all of it.
For example, I spent three nights in a beautiful guest house.
Took a flight, VIP bus, three breakfasts, and a taxi ride, and it cost me $110.
It's just their currency has gotten absolutely hammered.
I'm sure there's some people making a lot of money right now because of that
but the vast majority are getting squeezed hard.
It came as a little bit of a surprise to me
that the infrastructure is so good here.
The roads are good.
The highways are good.
The inner-country flights, good.
Using the internet on your phone, really fast connections.
There are two types of people here.
I'm gonna over simplify it.
And that can be said for everywhere in the world right now.
I feel like it's going more in that direction where
there's those that want to stick on to the old
and there are those that want to progress and want change
and so you feel that.
I think especially in the women.
They break off in those two directions.
There's many different ways from those two directions.
There's a huge split there.
The women are not shy here in the cities.
From my experience in the cities.
Assertive but not in an aggressive way at all.
Like very, just confident.
Just would walk right in and start talking.
Just walking along and this very nice young woman Zara invited me to sit.
And then her sister is over there with her beautiful kids.
I was like, "Okay, here's how this is gonna go down."
She's looking to get a free ride.
I'm gonna pay for the horse and carriage ride.
She might be in it with the man here in charge of the operation.
Got it, whatever, I'll settle on that.
[horse trotting with bells on]
[Peter and Zara chatting]
We got off.
She went, she got into her wallet immediately and went to pay him.
I said, "No, no, I can pay."
She's like, "No."
I did the... They have this tradition here, (taru).
Where they go back and forth.
Like, "No, you pay. No, I'll pay. No, you pay..."
Usually goes like three times.
But I did that, and she refused, and she paid.
As a traveler, there's zero hawking.
There's zero walking down the street and someone coming at you
trying to push a hard sale.
They don't do that here
and you're not getting ripped off.
So you don't have to do all this bargain bullsh*t.
Those are two huge bonuses in the culture when traveling in Iran.
Instead of Los Angeles...
Tehrangelas.
[laughing]
Tehrangelas.
-Tehrangelas. -Tehrangelas.
Tehrangelas. [laughing]
♪ acoustic guitar ♪
♪ man singing in Farsi ♪
[music continues]
MAN: You've very cool.
PETER: You're cool.
You do wheelies on your bike in front of mosques, that's cool.
PETER: This young woman, Faeze.
She found me on Instagram, she wanted to meet up.
PETER: What are your dreams in life?
FAEZE: To have a life, to feeling comfortable.
Because of situation, we have to control and handle the life.
Nowadays, people in my country aren't happy as usual
because of the bad situation that we have about our economy.
What are the conversations at home?
Do you guys try to avoid all this stuff or you talk about it all the time?
Talk about it all the time.
PETER: How much has the price of chicken gone up?
FAEZE: 50%.
PETER: Since when?
FAEZE: Four months ago 'til now.
PETER: Do you know the price of gold?
FAEZE: Today I didn't check it.
PETER: But most people check the price of gold regularly?
FAEZE: Every day.
PETER: So gold is like the big form of savings here?
-Yes, here. -Interesting.
♪ guitar ♪
PETER: This is beautiful, look at this.
And it stays cool in here in the summers and warm in the winters, right?
FAEZE: Yes.
[music continues]
FAEZE: I have a social life. I have a lot of friends.
Every night we go out.
PETER: Wait, wait, every night you go out with your friend?
For five or 5 to 30 minutes, just walking.
She was very sweet.
She was very cool.
[music continues]
[music intensifies]
[music fades]
Lots of educated people.
It's a culture that likes to go into the philosophy of things.
They think deeper on many subjects.
They have Rumi, they have Hafez.
This is the philosophy that's touched the world.
<Your name is Taraneh, it means music or song?
Yeah.
TARANEH: These are not all of my ideas but these are just portraits.
-Because I have to save money -Uh-huh.
And then do my art.
-Do paintings, and travel, and everything. -Cool.
So bright.
So much wisdom for that age.
So much depth.
There was a book about Van Gogh.
-You know Van Gogh? -Sure.
Yeah.
-He was mad, huh? -Yeah, but I love him.
He did what he wants, you know?
In life, in his life...
PETER: No, I'm saying not just Iran, in general, the world.
Do you think most people do what they like to do?
I think not most people.
Not what they want really.
Not what they choose.
Because of many, many reasons.
You like it?
You guys speak English so damn well.
-It's ridiculous. -Thanks.
Thank you.
Farsi to English I think is an easier transition than most languages.
So their accents aren't harsh.
So it sounds good.
It's just you and me, bro.
<You gonna go teach classes in Germany and France or what?
Hopefully yeah, if I get the chance.
And a lot of people know English.
Which makes it super easy to travel.
Ameen is this young guy.
He's got this energy sort of pulsating out of him.
AMEEN: They are marching to you.
[both giggling]
PETER: It's a battlefield. Battlefield of beauty.
AMEEN: Thank you.
American ladies, I just wanted to tell you I love you.
You all American guys, ladies.
And yeah, I don't know why this guys is just zooming it in and out
but anyways I love you, yeah.
♪ music on the radio ♪
Who is driving, bro?
[singing with radio]
[all singing as music picks up]
[music continues]
[Ameen singing with the radio]
♪ Iranian electronic ♪
[music continues]
[music stops abruptly]
[silence]
[laughter]
MAN: I have a lot of story.
Hello, my name is Mosin, I want to know you more...
[shouts] [all laughing]
Mo, super charismatic guy.
PETER: Love at first sight?
Oh yes. [giggles]
-For you? -Yes.
-For you? -[laughing]
Well he started this guest house.
The first word was, [aggressive] "What do you want?"
[all laughing]
He loves people, he's great with people.
In one month...
The relationship grow up.
Constantly there connecting, entertaining.
PETER: How many calls?
2,000.
[all laughing]
And so we went on a drive one day.
He went to drop me off at a park and put on "My Way" by Frank Sinatra
and that was my father's song.
And we played that at my father's funeral.
♪ My Way ♪
It comes out every once in a while, that song.
♪ My Way ♪
And it was special, it was really beautiful.
How he...
started singing, and listening to it, and it felt like I was...
I was traveling with my father for a bit.
So it was like transmitted through...
Through Mo.
Yeah, so surreal.
Beautiful.
[music continues]
[music fades]
[call to prayer]
[wind blowing]
As an American talking with Iranians
a lot of common ground.
The culture, yeah, the cultures are very different
but the sense of humor is not that far off.
You've been silent for five seconds you're scaring me.
[laughter]
It's such a hospitable culture.
People are glad you're here.
They're interested in you.
They want to know your story.
They're fun.
Iranians are very easy to connect with.
WOMAN: They are my yoga students
and they are relaxing in meditation.
PETER: And you're a yoga teacher? WOMAN: Yes.
PETER: What kind of yoga?
FATEMEH: Hatha Yoga.
<Is it popular in Iran?
Yes.
And many people do it.
Especially women.
And this is saran asana.
<Mm-hmm.
♪ Iranian ♪
That's a park especially for women in Tehran.
It's called Heaven of Mothers, you can go there without a scarf.
♪ Persian Tar ♪
♪ Woman singing in Farsi ♪
[music fades]