DAY 50 - Irkutsk, Russia

Just to balance all that derogatory stuff I wrote about the Moscovites, I can happily report that most of the other Russian people I've met have been really nice, decent people (although they still don't smile). Lilianna, the lady who was sharing our compartment, was really sweet and spent the whole trip doing Sudoku puzzles. In Irkutsk the people were generally pleasant enough.

 

We arrived early in the morning, were picked up from the station and taken straight away to Listvyanka on the shores of Lake Baikal. Just to bore you with a few facts, it's the deepest lake in the world and contains over 20% of all the non-polar fresh water in the world. It's also very pretty which is just as well, because there's bugger all to do in the village itself except stare at the water. On the first day we had a look in the local museum with its pickled fish and couple of Nerpa Seals (cruelly kept in a tank no bigger than a shed – but at least they weren't pickled), then took a chair lift to the top of a hill to stare at the lake again (but from a slightly different angle).

 

The second day was better. A local guide took us for a hike along the side of the lake through Port Baikal along the old Trans-Siberian Railway tracks. Originally the railway followed the edge of the lake but the route weaved and turned so much they couldn't go very fast as they had to keep an eye out for rock slides on the track and gormless British tourists taking pictures of the lake, oblivious to anything going on around them. We had a nice camp fire before heading back.

 

On both nights we had a banya. This is just a sauna, only the Russians flail themselves with birch twigs repeatedly to encourage the impurities to ooze out. They were quite relaxing actually and I could see the attraction of them particularly in winter when it could get to -30C outside. (The lake completely freezes over in winter and the locals drive over to the other side.)

 

Saturday we were taken back to Irkutsk for a look around the city. It's really quite a typical European-style city and in general Siberia has turned out to be nothing like I imagined. I'm sure that would all be different in winter though when there's half a meter of snow on the ground.

 

Part of the deal on this trip was to use "homestays" rather than hotels. We thought these would involve us occupying someone's spare room and eating with the family so we thought this would be fun. The homestay in Listvyanka wasn't like this at all though, it was a bit of a hole. The bedclothes stank of old sweat and the toilet was of the poo-and-view variety. The owner didn't actually live there: he sent round the cleaner each meal time to shove some pre-packaged food onto a plate for us. The homestay in Irkustk was much better, complete with little old lady in huge lensed glasses (think the super-suit maker from The Incredibles). The room was pretty and she cooked the wonderful food herself.

 

Had a bit of an electrical disaster on the train before Irkutsk. Camcorder charger blew-up. The plug socket on the train was a bit loose and I think I'd stacked too many converters, splitters and chargers on top of each other, jenga-style, for it to cope with. Iain's bringing out the replacement when we get to Japan.

 

On the train now to Ulaan-Baator. We had to get up at 03:30 to catch it and then it was an hour and a half late. So I'm grumpy today. Get over it.

 

Rich.