Olkhon Island

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Hi everyone,

We have come a long way since my last email we have now covered about a
quarter of the world. We have been on 1 plane, 4 buses and 8 trains
travelled through 8 time zones, spent 120 hours travelling, slept in 19
different beds and gone 6185km ish and all the transport only cost 202
pound, not bad! and still since we have left Latvia we havent spoken to
another english person, so about a month!

At the moment we are on the most amazing Island called Olkhon, on Lake
Baikal, it is the deepest lake in the world and at the moment the whole
thing is frozen. It was a bit of an experience getting here, the night
before we left the mainland we met two french guys (one who looks like
jesus) and a german guy and we all decided we should go to the island
together, we tried to organise some transport but there were no buses so we
ordered a taxi, which was about 10 pounds for a 6 hour drive. We were
getting the taxi at 11 in the morning but the two french guys had to go to
the embassy to get ther mongolian visas sorted for there on word journey, as
we didnt go to bed until 6 that morning those guys didnt make it back in
time to come with so we left just the three of us.

This taxi ride was one of the most scary in my life, we drove at about
140km/hour over ice and snow and on really bumpy roads, we were flashed by
another van and had to swap cars, as the other car left the man said he
wouldnt take us where we wanted to go and we had to stay at his guesthouse,
so we didnt have much choice either go with him or live in the woods with
the bears for the rest of our lives, so off we went another couple of hours
up gravel tracks we eventually got to the point to cross to the Island, the
ice is about a metre thick so they all drive across it, it was such a weird
experience being in a car driving across a hige lake- very nerve wracking
especially when you can see the cracks in the ice below you!

We made it though and drove to this mans little house, we toook our bags to
our little log cabin and we are the only 3 guests staying here and we dont
really have any idea where we are! We were taken straight into the kitchen
for a welcome snack, which was actually a whole meal, and shortly after we
had sat down, the russian vodka was brought out and within about 10 minutes
we had drunk the whole bottlke in shots- they get very offended if you dont
driink with them here. It wasnt the best feeling after all the beer we had
drank the night before!

After another meal at 9 of the local delicacy Omul fish caught from the lake
it was time for bed. About 3 in the morning I heard knocking at the room
next door but Thomas didnt here he was snoring so loud, it went on for quite
a while and then stopped, these really slow heavy footsteps then walked
along the floorboards to outside our door, i was really scared by this
point, i was expecting a knock at the door but instead this man ripped the
door open pulling the lock off and stepped inside our room, my heart was
going crazy and i hid under the covers and told Aaron theres a man in our
room!!! He didnt belive me until he rustled through our stuff and left, then
the door went again and he came back in and turned the light on, I looked up
and there was this huge Mongolian looking guy stood there in army gear just
staring at us, I didnt know what to do I wanted to get under the bed but he
just said "tourist?" and then left. I was so scared i sat there all night
with the bed chained to the door and me sat on top of it in case he came
back. Must have just been drunk and looking foir somewhere warm to sleep,
crazy russians!

So after this we left and came to a different hostel as we are on the town
we wanted to be in after all. Its lovely here this Island is amazing and
becuase its all frozen you can just walk aroung on the lake and there are
huge ice caves everywhere, so as well as being one of the scariest it has
prrobably been one of the best places ive ever been, ive never seen anything
like it before.

There is no sewage on this Island so we all have to go tho the loo in a hole
in the ground and everything is heated by stoves so washing is in the banya
where you fill a metal tub with water in a sauna thing and your supposed to
whip each other with tree brances that they leave in there for you!! very
traditional.

Last night we met up with the french guys again they finally made it to the
Island and we had dinner then joined up with some locals, they had a guitar
and we had to drink stupid amounts of shots whilst having an international
singing competition russia, english, austrian and french, playing guitar and
playing an out of tune piano i think we woin with, head, shoulders knees and
toes!!! all we could come up with after the vodka.

So it will be into Mongolia in the next week or so. Many more adventures to
be had im sure.

Hope you are all well, love you lots

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