Rural Village Life

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Hi All. First the legal part:

"Ailsa Katherine Hart, herein after known as Ailsa, wishes it to be made clear that at no time past, during or future has her name ever been connected with the word laxative in a public blog. Ailsa wishes it to be known that any further suggestions of this type will result in a court action."

Right! That's that then!!! So Siberia. Well we had a fantastic day to arrive after a longish journey. The eleven hour border change between Russia and Mongolia is a bit epic. We were staying at a lovely homestay (B&B) with the lovely Tamara cooking for us. The toilet involved a good walk into the garden for a long drop toilet which Catriona was in mortal terror of! We had a banya at the house so each evening we would head off for sauna and clean down which was lovely. The lake looks like the sea as it's so huge. The village we stayed in looked more like something from Fiddler on the Roof. We went cycling last evening as the cows were coming home into the village. The older women were herding their own cows into their gardens for milking.

The girls are doing brilliantly. Ailsa was charming Tamara with her attempts at Russian and Bethy and Catriona have had some closer sisterly moments. They all survived the 3/4 hour walk in driving rain before we abandoned it. It should have been a 4 hour walk but what the heck.

Next thing will be the three day train journey to Moscow. I'm still worried about the Belarus visas although folks tell me we can get anything if you throw dollars at it. We've met lots of great travellers. It's a bit like playing snakes and ladders - sometimes we overtake folk, meet up again, move on , meet others, see familiar faces. All in all it's working well just now.

I'll try to upload photos but the whole system is in Russian so I'm struggling a bit!!!
Thanks for the messages - we love the contact.

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Photos

Village Church
As Ailsa was forced into her floor length skirt she wished she had put something more decent than shorts on that morning!

Comments

[Ally Shedden]

Hi Girls, Good to see you getting acclimatised for the return to sunny Scotland not to mention Catriona getting used to good old home style cooking! Should Ailsa's disclaimer not have read "public bog"? Have fun and looking forward to the next entry. Love Al et al

[Elinor Shedden]

Love to all
The church looks so pretty. Not at all what I imagined. You must have passed through such a variety of amazing scenery. I thought perhaps Beth was helping to bring the cows in.

[Rose, Tom, Ben, Nic and Rachel]

Fab to see your photos and blog!
Really enjoyed seeing all your pics. Wish we were doing it too! Enjoy the rest of your trip. We miss you!

[Maggie]

Chocolate......
Ailsa maight prefer admitting to the need to eat chocolate - I find it works wonders! Glad to hear that all is going so well - sounds jaw droppingly amazing. I've been decorating.......!