Tower of Freedom at night in Teheran, Iran. [Photo by Tan Yingzi/China Daily]

After touring the nearby bazaar, Imam Mosque and Ali Qapu Palace, we sat down by a giant pool on the square, just as locals do, lounging around, picnicking, riding bikes, taking rides in horse-drawn carriages and simply lapping up the atmosphere.

In China the Iranian government has stepped up tourism marketing in recent years, and it is proving to be as mightily effective as those windcatchers in lapping up the wind. That was evident by the number of Chinese who went to the country during the recent National Day Golden week holiday. When we arrived in Teheran, it was as though we had not left home, so inundated was it with Chinese travelers. The hotels we stayed in were also full of Chinese, and if any more proof were needed that Iran is becoming a big tourist destination for Chinese it came in the form of two words: the ebullient "Ni hao" that locals so often greeted us with.

From what I could make out, it was simple enough for those traveling alone to make their way around the country with relative ease, although as a group we rented a van and hired a local English-speaking guide who markets his services through social media, such as WeChat and Facebook.

For a country that many might regard as out of reach, we were pleasantly surprised－indeed overwhelmed－by how approachable and friendly locals were. In fact many often sought to have their pictures taken with us, so exotic were we.

On our first day in the country, as we waited for our guide who was doing a banking transaction one of our group took photos of the bank lobby. A young employee politely asked her to desist, saying that taking photos inside the bank was prohibited. But instead of shooing us off he invited us upstairs for tea and biscuits, and eventually the general manager even popped in, treating us as if we were potentates from afar. Before we left, the employee apologized for having bothered us earlier and bade us well for the rest of our trip.

Ten days later, on our last day in the country, there was much more to reflect on than this encounter and the glorious architecture that makes a tourist magnet of places like the Pink Mosque. As I told my guide before we left: "For me one of your country's biggest attractions is its people."

It was through friendship that my love affair with Iran began, and it is friendship that has sealed it.