Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – August 21, 1997

I did not sleep well at night, even though the weather was pleasant. After the morning prayer, we went to the historical fortress of Hassan Sabah. On the way, I visited the covered water transfer channel. It was planned before the revolution, but it was finished two or three years ago.

The entire area under our feet was covered by fog and clouds, and we were moving above the clouds, which was truly a unique sight. In Khokhchal village, which has been turned into a village for the time being, I talked to two female farmers who were irrigating their fields. They are from the northern people who work in the fields like northern women. They said that due to the abundance of water, some parts of the village had landslides.

Then we left the cars in the village of Gazerkhan and went to the top of the mountain to see the ruins of Alamut Hasan Sabah Castle. It has a very steep slope. We sat down to rest several times. Mr. Hosseini, the Imam of Friday, the teacher of Kalaye, also came and gave useful explanations. There are no significant monuments left and the interesting thing is the survival of two water reservoirs, whose water does not decrease much and it is not yet known where and how they are fed. Some say that they are probably related to water reservoirs in other peaks.

Efat and Badri lady came halfway and sat down. On the way, I talked to some people of the region about their life and work. The cold and mountainous region, mostly covered with cold and low-yielding trees, and due to the lack of industries and employment for young people, they have a lot of migration, and their population has decreased by 30% compared to the beginning of the revolution; Even though they have school, electricity, road, water and telephone.

Then I went to the interesting and natural lake Evan, next to Zarabad. They said, it has an area of ​​several hectares and is about ten meters deep, and it is sweet. A group of people from Tehran and Qazvin had camped there for fun. They had prepared a good breakfast: we ate a lot of kebabs, honey, butter and cheese; Instead of breakfast and lunch.

Then, on the same beach, I went to the house of a farmer's family to use the toilet and greeted the family and a group of tourists. To return, we returned by another route, which was a dirt, uneven, mountainous and shorter road; For seeing the area we had gone to see. We passed by the banks of Andaj River, Alamut River and Taleghan River, which together form the Shahroud River, which goes towards the Manjil Dam.

Finally, we reached home at three in the afternoon. In the evening, at home, I rested and read, swimming, and writing memories for two days. I hope that this area will be settled with the construction of Alamut road to Tankabon and the use of pressurized irrigation.