Tehran - Iran - page 115

The telecabin stops twice en route to the top and you can buy one-way/return tickets to
whichever station you want. The first stop is Station 2 (US$4/7 one way/return), then
Station 5 (US$6/11), where there is an easy ski run, and it finishes at freezing Station 7
(US$18 return), from where a chairlift links it to Tochal Hotel. From there, a T-bar works
the short runs and a Doppel Mayr lift goes to the mountain summit. It's possible to ski
down from Station 7 to Station 5, if there is enough snow. Skis can be rented at Station 7.
Ski passes are US$18 per day, sold at Station 1.
While the telecabin runs limited hours, you can choose to torture your legs and climb
the mountain at any time, as locals like to do on Fridays.
The Tochal Hotel ( 2240 4001-5; www.tochal.org ; r US$40-120; closed Mon
during summer) is accessed via the Tochal Telecabin.
To get here, ask for a shuttle taxi to Tochal Telecabin stop from the north side of Tajrish
Sq. From the entrance you can walk (10 minutes) or catch a bus to the telecabin itself.
NATION OF NOSE JOBS ANDREW BURKE
I was at dinner in Esfahan when the conversation turned to nose jobs. After prattling on about how many people I'd
seen in Tehran wearing a tell-tale plaster across the bridge of their nose, I asked my friend Behzad whether he knew
anyone who had actually had a nose job.
When he looked at me like I had, well, two noses, I should have known. 'She has,' he said, pointing across the
table to his sister.
'Oh. Right,' said I, embarrassed that I hadn't noticed the change, before desperately trying to recover with: 'I
never would have known.' Mahnaz, to her credit, dealt with it like someone who has had the nose job conversation
a thousand times before. Barely skipping a beat, she began explaining that while I might never have known, she
didn't really like her new nose. She was hoping to get it done again.
'It's not a big deal,' she explained. Plenty of people have nose jobs in Iran.
But I had to know: 'How much does it cost?' Well, the cheapest nose jobs could be had for less than US$1000,
she said, but that was a bit risky because it might turn out badly. A decent surgeon would cost more, and they were
cheaper in Esfahan than in Tehran. 'But the best surgeons are in Tehran, and they cost about US$4000.'
Despite Iran being a country where the average yearly wage is far less than that, Tehran is arguably the plastic
surgery capital of the universe. Surgeons report that more than 90,000 noses are remodelled in Iran every year.
Tehran alone has about 3000 plastic surgeons, and their clients are not just women looking for a cutesy ski jump. A
growing number of men are also spending big on taking the bump out of their proboscis.
The contrast with the West, where people disappear on 'holiday' for weeks so they can be remodelled without
anyone knowing, is stark. In Tehran, the nose job has become such a status symbol that some people have taken to
wearing plasters on their noses just so they can look like they've had the job done. Which might be taking it just a
little too far…