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Published: October 12th 2006
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Well we have finally reached Siberia
Irkutsk is a large industrial city whose biggest claim to fame is its proximity to Lake Baikal (The deepest lake in the world and home to 1/5th of the worlds freshwater). Arrived early morning and were immedately whisked to our Russian family for homestay (Although we technically never actually slept in the house). We were brought to what seemed to be a dodgy Soviet tower block (Which turned out to be really cosy) for a bite of breakfast and a shower. We were staying with Olga and her daughter Lucia.
The house was near the city centre so we decided to go "sightseeing". Unfortunately Irkutsk is not overly endowed with sights and after a couple of Lenin statues, a river dam and an Orthodox Church we headed back to the homestay. We had arranged to do a two day hike along a part of the lake. We were greeted by our guides Anton and Alexei. Well technically Alexei wasn't a guide so much as a nutter friend of Antons but as it transpired he was more useful than Anton.
The lake took about three hours to reach. Our guides opted for the
busiest bus to the lake and thus we were standing for most of the trip. We got a real taste of Russian country roads winding and bumping our way through some of the strangest villages we had ever seen. The wooden houses seemed to be falling down and poverty stricken yet the people hopping off the bus at various stops seemed well dressed and prosperous. Finally reached our destination point along the lake, a village called Bolshoe Goloustnoe. It sits right on the shore of the lake. Our guides had laid on a luxury floor in a locals garage for the night. Before that we got our first taste of dinner (And all other meals) for the next two days, noodles, sausage and cucumber. After a few beers (and our first experience of the proper way to drink vodka - with dinner and always accompanied with cucumber) the alcohol ran out. Our drunken guides decided to go find more beer by bicycle at 2am. Amazingly after a minor bike accident they arrived back with some.
The house we stayed in was also our first experince of a Siberian Izba. No running water, no shoes in the house and an
outdoor toilet. Early start the next day was greeted with groans from our hungover guides. The fact that it was lashing rain didn't help. We trekked along the shore through dirt roads, along stoney beaches and forest. After 10km we stopped for some lunch. Scenery was spectaular and the rain eased off. After lunch of instant mash potatoes and noodles we headed on. Ended up covering 30km our first day and saw a hugely diverse range of scenery. Our guides were entertaining along the way, particularly Alexei who appears to have been raised in the wilderness. More than once while we stopped for a breather he scampered up some ridiculous cliff to pass the time. We set up camp along the lake beside a sandy beach. The myth goes that if you dip your hands in the water you get 1 year onto your life, your feet 5 and jump in 15. Our feet was as far as we got in the coldest water we've ever set foot in.
The tents weren't exactly warm during the night but our guides had a plan. Having watched them gather random leaves, berries and mushrooms the whole day we were then treated
Sydney Opera House (Not Quite)
Actually a hall for hosting dog shows to a "Siberian Cocktail" including all the above, tea and of course vodka. We sat around the fire drinking it while Alexei pulled huge branches off for burning. Still we were both glad when morning arrived. The fact that the tent was pitched on a hill also meant that we were practically on top of each other for the night.
The nex day after some instant potatoes and noodles we hit the road and made our way through much more difficult and mountainous terrain. We finished our trip exhausted in a tiny village and wrapped it up with a couple of cold beers and some local salted Ommel (Fish unique to Lake Baikal). Then Alexei decided that as we had an hour to kill before our hydrofoil we should join him climbing one final sttep hill. Managed to drag ourselves up and down it before catching the boat to the village of Listvyanka. Said goodbye to our guides and were greeted by our next housemother, also called Olga. We wre brought to her izba where we were shown our room a cosy liitle garden shed with a NASA Satellite dish strapped to the roof (Still only had one channel).
We got a chance to have a russian banya which is a sauna where you also can wash yourself. After two nights in the woods we needed it. We then had dinner which was a delicious potatoe concotion (Anything but noodles).
We met up with two english couples who were staying with Olga - James and Alex and Greg and Sarah. We decided to head down to check out the local nightlife and had a few beers. We were delighted to settle down for a well earned nights rest. We got a lift back to Irkutsk and our homestay. After attempting somemore sightseeing and failing to find anything new we stocked up on food for our train journey to Ulan-Ude. Also had some Ommell (This time cooked) for dinner before heading to the train station that evening for our overnight train.
Next stop Ulan-Ude......
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