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Published: October 13th 2012
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I opened the curtain to a freezing scene outside. During the night a good few inches of snow had fallen. My room was warm, I think the heating and hot water is always on and supplied to the entire block (I have looked round the flat and can't find a boiler) from a central boiler room. Olga had prepared some kind of oat/ porridge for breakfast, probably noticing my dislike for her pancake things. The porridge was no better though and in an effort to entice me to eat it she added a dollop of butter which made the situation even worse, I insisted that bread and jam was a sufficient breakfast even in Siberia.
I left the homestay with a plan to head up to Listvyanka village about 70km from Irkutsk by public transport. The village is located on the shore of Lake Baikal the largest fresh water lake in the world. This lake is over 636km long by 63km wide and is over 1600m deep and holds enough fresh water to supply the world for the next 70 years. The lake has a fifth of the worlds fresh water and is 20 million years old, and a must
see. Legend/myth has it that if you submerge yourself up to your waste you live an extra five years, completely submerge yourself and you gain an extra ten years, I packed my swimmers!
I successfully located the bus and made the hour long journey on a very slippery road. The driver obviously understood that I was starving and desperate for a drink and floored it all the way, quite exilirating really.
Using a few key phrases from my guide book I ordered a hot meat pasty and a cup of coffee in the first cafe that I found. Sitting looking at the lake eating a plain roll and sipping a glass of tap water was a great moment. Surrounded by pine covered hills partially hidden by the heavy snow fall the lake looked awesome and well worth the visit. There are 2630 species of living organisms in the lake with 75% found nowhere else on the earth. The Nerpa seal is the only freshwater seal and the Omul fish is only found in Lake Baikal and is available to eat in the village either smoked, fried, poached or dry roasted if you want! I found a restaurant at
the end of the village and successfully ordered baked Omul and a large piece of bread. The fish stuffed with potatoe and red peppers was delicious and tasted similar to salmon.
The snow was falling very heavily all day and the wind was bitter. I had all my winter and wet weather clothes on that I had bought with me. The locals seem to wander round in leggings or skinny jeans with the most unsuitable footwear you can imagine. Olga told me that it was a fresh day but not cold, for Olga -30 to -40 is cold.
I returned to the the city and back to my homestay to warm up and to look forward to tomorrow's breakfast offerings.
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