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Published: June 13th 2009
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… And All The Fresh Water You Need
Picked up from the train station at
Irkutsk, we were whisked through the city, to
Lake Baikal, about an hour out, for our home stay. Meeting our host, we were pleasantly surprised to find tea and biscuits waiting for us and even more so when we realised our host had a good grasp on the English language.
After 36 hours on a train, you can imagine what the first thing on our minds was, a nice hot shower…. only to find that the entire town is without hot water and there is no indication when it will be back on. I know what your thinking… toughen up princess… drink some concrete… well let me tell you, the water comes straight from the lake and sits at a rather fresh four degrees. It was enough to give our Russian tour leader a headache!!!
With just a cursory clean, we were off to the
Lake Baikal Museum where we found some interesting facts like the lake is the deepest in the world at 1637m, is the second largest body of water in the world after the Caspian Sea making it the largest
fresh water body in the world, has over 3000 species that live in it of which over 2000 are endemic including the Baikal Seal, has the second best visibility of any body of water at around 50m, and holds enough fresh water to supply the entire world’s population for forty days (and that’s not just drinking, that’s showering, washing clothes, everything).
A beautiful place, surrounded by forests and with snow capped peaks in the distance on the other side of the lake, I felt that it would be a fantastic place to head off into the wilderness for a bit of hiking or camping… if only it wasn’t for the bears. Although seeing the sun set creating a riot of colours through the sky was a surreal experience, heightened by the fact that it now doesn’t set until after 10.30pm.
The next morning, still without hot water, our host came through for us with a basin and a couple of boiling kettles. Pure bliss right up until the rinse.
Back into Irkutsk, and we headed off on a city tour, taking in the
War Memorial, Irkutsk River, the oldest Church, and some of the suburbs. Dating back
to the 1600’s, there are a lot of really old wooden buildings still around that survived the elements and a fire that razed most of the city in the early 19th century.
Whiling away the afternoon around town, we are left with the impression that Irkutsk has a lot more to offer than first expected. Back to the train station for the next stint to Ekaterinburg, we realise that it’s the longest of all the segments at 40 hours. Passing endless birch and fir trees with the occasional wooden village thrown in, we cross the
Ob River towards the end of day two. Day three brings a puzzle for all on board, as the hottest topic of conversation became “What time is it?” You see, in forty hours we crossed four time zones, two just in the last day, and the trains, as always, were still running on Moscow time. Confusing?…. yes …. but it did give us something to discuss.
“Not all those who wander are lost.” - J. R. R. Tolkien
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