http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Siberia/Olkhon/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Russia , Siberia , Olkhon en-us Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:12:02 BST Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:12:02 BST Hi AllI hope this missive finds you all well We are still alive so the St Petersburg Mafia have not found us after our last email. I fell I should add that everyone else we have met so far who has been recently has really not liked it either other than people who have livedworkedstudied there so perhaps it's more of a locals place.Anyhoo we will start with the Trans Sib. After 3 city breaks http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Siberia/Olkhon/blog-290247.html After a great trip around the north and east of the island we take one further excursion to the only inland lake on the island. We are joined by two Russians and the Koreans and Magdalene a Polish lady teaching poilsh at Irkutsk University. It is a bank holiday in Russia to celebrate Victory Day over the germans and so the Irutsk people come over to spend some time here. Another dirt track drive http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Siberia/Olkhon/blog-286058.html Today we took our first excursion to the north of Olkhon Island whixh was a great journey. We ploghed through the dirt tracks in the russian version of a vw camper for most of the day to see the coastline around the north and east sides of the island where the ice is now completely gone. We stopped at the site of the gulag on the island and were told that there was one lady who still lived on the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Siberia/Olkhon/blog-285257.html Over the next few days Florian and I just exolred the island on foot before taking the organised tours to the north of the island later in the week. We got up into the hills and explored the coast I will let the pictures do the talking http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Siberia/Olkhon/blog-284584.html So after a very exciting time in Listviyanka we head back to the hostel and a couple of days of Russian Beauracracy to register our visas and then plan the final stages of our time in Russia. Florian and Lonneke have both cleverly overlapped there Mongolian visas with the Russian one so they get an easy route out of town on the TransMongolian and from Irkutsk this takes less than a day to cross t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Siberia/Olkhon/blog-283629.html Ok this has to be short as I am heading off on the trans Manchurian soon and also into bandit territory without internet access. SO I can promise some great photos of the trouble that me and and a few others caused later but for now my favourite which got me into a lot of trouble with the locals as they were not happy that we went out on the ice sheet which is rapidly melting but we had alot of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Siberia/Olkhon/blog-275384.html Entering Russia is a tricky thing to do. Our train stopped outside of the Border for about 6 hours and then we spent another 4 hours just on the otherside in Russia. My advice to anyone every embarking on this trip make sure that you go to the bathroom before you hit the border. I did not think to do this and it was a very long day until I could go Once I made it to the bathroom I was informed http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Siberia/Olkhon/blog-202344.html We alighted the TransSiberian train at Moscow on July 26th not really knowing what to expect from the journey.We booked ourselves into a 1st class cabin thought this luxury would be a good way to break us in gently to the travelling life online when back ay home. This journey is the longest in the World There are I think 3 different routes in total you can go through Mongolia into Bejiin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Siberia/Olkhon/blog-192207.html angement IKT7 Olkhonen Turen gr til Olkhonen den strste og smukkeste i den 600 km lange BajkalS. P den 70 x 15 km store kan man nyde den flotte og varierede natur p cykel vandre eller rideture. en er desuden kendt for sine legender og siges at vre et shamanistisk kraftcenter. ens 1200 indbyggere bor i den hyggelige landsby Khuzjir 47 Transport om morgenen fra indkvarterin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Siberia/Olkhon/blog-188614.html Pourquoi comparer mon sejour au lac Baikal avec Bilbo le Hobbit c'est le titre anglais Deja parce qu'a mon arrivee a Irkoutsk on est alle prendre un pot avec 3 hollandais dans un pub qui s'appelait Hobbiton avec vous l'aurez compris theme Seigneur des Anneaux. Deja ca met dans l'ambiance. Ensuite le village de Khujir sur l'ile d'Olkhon sur le lac Baikal semblait sortir d'une autre epoqu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Siberia/Olkhon/blog-183001.html Am 28. August gings los richtung Balkalsee. Ca. 5 Stunden Fahrt bis nach Olchon der Insel mitten auf dem groessten Suesswassersee der Welt. Die Landschaft ist mal wieder unbeschreiblich schoen und diese Weiten...Hier bin ich angekommen und kam das erste Mal zur Ruhe. Ich habe 5 Tage lang nichts anderes gemacht als gegessen gelesen geschlafen oder bin einfach nur rumgelaufen. Duschen gabs keine http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Siberia/Olkhon/blog-92191.html So i'm in a hospital on an island in the middle of the largest lake in the world in siberia.. The tv's on in the corner of the surgery my translator swears he's with the KGB the doctor is asking me if it's true that we send busloads of Kiwi girls out into the country to marry farmers. 'Didn't really expect to be here.We've been in Russia for just over a week now 20 days until we kicke http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Siberia/Olkhon/blog-89052.html Olkhon Island North of Irkutsk the road is quite uneven and ridden with potholes. In fact one man stands on the roadside waving his arms in an undulating fashion so as to alert drivers of bumps ahead. He smiles and waves as we pass his horse waits unbothered. Does he really do this all day long The landscape is featureless. Other than random shrubs patches of forest and yellow wildflow http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Siberia/Olkhon/blog-87059.html