Ultralow Budget No More! 超低预算不再！

Leading up to the new years, our time in Iran was presented with a difficult situation. With what money we had left after the theft, our daily budget was restricted to 30,000 tomans¹ (300,000 ﷼/Rial, $4 NZ). 今年在过新年时，我们在伊朗遇到了困难。我们在盗窃后留下了多少钱，我们的每日预算限制在30,000 托曼¹（300,000﷼/里亚尔，$4 纽币）。

Entrance ticket to Persepolis for a foreigner is 20,000 tomans

Why couldn't you take more money out? 为什么你不能拿出更多的钱？

The international sanctions limited our ability to withdrawal cash from any Iran ATMs. Various financial services like Western Union or PayPal didn't work as well. Regardless of how much we had in our NZ account, we could not access it!

Many tourist carpet shop had the "Visa/MasterCard accepted" sign but they wouldn't help us withdraw cash. Some friends who worked in Dubai had PayPal accounts but their funds are frozen until sanctions are lifted. Our options were running out.

国际制裁限制了我们从任何伊朗ATM机取款的能力。 Western Union或PayPal等各种金融服务也不起作用。无论我们在新西兰账户中拥有多少钱，我们都无法访问它！

许多旅游地毯商店都有 “Visa / MasterCard接受” 的标志，但他们不会帮助我们提取现金。在迪拜工作的一些朋友有PayPal账户，但他们的资金被冻结，直到解除制裁。我们的选择已经不多了。

Was it difficult living on $4 a day? 难以一天只能花$4吗？

Yes and no. The Rial devalued a lot. Back in 2017, a US dollar could be exchanged for 40,000﷼, now it is floating around 100,000–140,000﷼. We could easily afford food for cooking, but no way could we afford restaurants or hotels. Using social media and local connections, we camped in between cities and stayed with hosts many times.

是的，也不是的。里亚尔贬值了很多。早在2017年，美元兑换40,000美元，现在大约在100,000-140,000﷼之间。我们可以很容易地买到烹饪食物，但我们无法负担餐馆或酒店的费用。通过社交媒体和当地联系，我们在城市之间扎营，并多次与主人住在一起

Keyvan's parent showed us a great time in Bam, even giving us a ride up the mountain on the last day

FK and Mohsen (from left 3rd and 4th) gave us the best times in Gerash and Shiraz. Here we visited a sesame plant and got 4 jars of tahini!

Two kind strangers invited us to their home and the next day took us to see the waterfalls and we finished with ice cream.

As highlighted in our post in Isfahan "Good things always come out", we felt we couldn't visit any of the attractions. Regardless of how many kilometers we've cycled to get there, our budget could not allow for the entrance tickets.

正如我们在伊斯法罕的帖子中所强调的那样“好的东西总是来自坏事”，我们觉得我们无法访问任何景点。无论我们骑多少公里到达那里，我们的预算都不允许入场门票。

What positive thing came out of this? 这出了什么积极的事情？

We learned about the extreme hospitality of the Persian people. Everytime we share our situation, they would apologize to us even though it was not their fault. The random acts of kindness toward us kept us going.

Usually the visa can only be extended twice, giving a total of 90 days. However, in Bandar Abbas our situation was compelling enough to convince the immigration police to give us an extra extension. It saved us big time as leaving for Dubai and back would have been a costly exercise.

我们了解到波斯人民的极度款待。每当我们分享我们的情况时，他们都会向我们道歉，即使这不是他们的错。对我们的善意随意行为使我们继续前进。

通常签证只能延长两次，共计90天。然而，在阿巴斯港，我们的情况足以说服移民警察给我们额外的延期。它为我们节省了很多时间，因为前往迪拜并返回将是一项代价高昂的演习。

Our host Feresteh got us into the Fath Abad Garden

On Instagram we shared photos of many beautiful places we visited. Sometimes they are free to enter, and some require tickets. We could only get into the ticketed attractions because our host purchased the ticket for us - even though we refused them many times.

在Instagram上我们分享了我们访问过的许多美丽景点的照片。有时他们可以自由进入，有些人需要门票。我们只能进入已开票的景点，因为我们的主人为我们购买了机票 - 即使我们多次拒绝它们。

How did you finally get more cash? 你怎么获得更多金呢？

In Shiraz we were running really low, so we had to find a way. We visited the Shar Cheragh (the Holy Shrine in Shiraz) and saw the sign in front stating entrance was free with a tour guide. After going through the security pat down, we got inside and was shown around the massive complex.

The tour guide spoke great English so we asked for help about the money situation. We could trust them because they are volunteers at the mosque and wouldn't scam us (so we'd hope). She took us into the International Affairs office and we met the volunteer coordinator Ghazal and Amirhossein.

在设拉子，我们的运行非常低，所以我们必须找到一种方法。我们参观了Shar Cheragh（设拉子的神圣圣地），并看到前面的标志说明入口是免费的导游。经过安全拍打后，我们进入了内部并在大型综合体周围展示。

导游说英语很棒，所以我们请求有关钱情况的帮助。我们可以相信他们，因为他们是清真寺的志愿者，不会欺骗我们（所以我们希望）。她带我们进入国际事务办公室，我们会见了志愿协调员Ghazal和Amirhossein。

Our mosque helpers Ghazal and Amirhossein

After four days of calls and arrangements, we finally got a plan to get cash.

1. We transfered NZ dollars to our friend Ting Ting
2. Ting Ting transfered UK pounds to the volunteer's friend that lives in the UK
3. That friend transfers rials to our volunteers account
4. The volunteer hands us the cash

It was a stressful four days as we waited for the plans to come through. We took so much of everyone's time. But as we've witnessed all throughout Iran, they would help us in anyway possible … taarof² or not.

经过四天的电话和安排，我们终于有了获得现金的计划。

1. 我们将新西兰币转给了我们的朋友婷婷
2. 婷婷将英镑转移给居住在英国的志愿者朋友
3. 那位朋友将里亚尔转移到我们的志愿者账户
4. 志愿者递给我们现金

当我们等待计划通过时，这是一个紧张的四天。我们花了很多时间。但是，正如我们在整个伊朗目睹的那样，他们无论如何都会帮助我们......taarof²与否。

Celebrating the last night in Shiraz with the helpers from the mosque

What's changed now the ultralow budget is finished? 超低预算已经完成了所有现在怎么样？

We could buy food at the shop more freely. We could afford nuts and energy food again. The bikes got some much needed maintenance. Occasionally we'd treat ourselves at a restaurant.

我们可以更自由地在商店购买食物。我们可以再次买到坚果和能量食品。自行车得到了一些急需的维护。偶尔我们会在餐馆里对待自己。

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¹ Soon they will cut out 4 zeros, so the notes will display 30 instead.一会儿就会掉4个零子，所以音符会显示30。

² There's a whole Wikipedia page explaining the culture of taarof. 有一整个维基百科页面解释了taarof的文化

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Posted from Steem中文社区 : http://cnstm.org/blog/2019/02/18/ultralow-budget-no-more-%e8%b6%85%e4%bd%8e%e9%a2%84%e7%ae%97%e4%b8%8d%e5%86%8d%ef%bc%81/

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