Blogs from Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russia, Europe - page 5

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Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal September 24th 2011

Gracias por preferir leer esto antes que ver la tele. Great choice, guys!!! De la isla de Olkhon, regresé a los dos días a Irkutsk. Y además en la misma furgoneta que la que nos había llevado allí. Afortunadamente, en el viaje de vuelta no tuvimos que trapichear el precio con el ladino que a la ida nos tangó 200 rublos. Ya os contaré esa historieta cuando nos veamos, ok? Pues eso, que recuperé el bolígrafo que había olvidado en el asiento y nos piramos hacia la ciudad. Al llegar allí saqué algo de pasta para el resto de mi estancia en Rusia, y nos fuimos hacia el albergue que habíamos decidido ir. No habíamos hecho reserva porque vimos que quedaban muchas plazas, pero al llegar allí, sólo quedaban 3 plazas. Las 3 últimas plazas para ... read more
Lystvianka
Decembrista

Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal August 27th 2011

Siberia: "El lejano este". 11.149 KM en 30 días Harbin-Vladivostok-khavarovsk-Komsomolsk.Na.Amure-Lago Baikal-Irkutsk-Changchun La palabra Siberia viene de Sibir, nombre de un Kanato turco que gobernó la región desde finales del S XIV. En 1580 los cosacos liderados por Yermak tomaron la fortaleza de Tyumen, capital del Kanato turco de Sibir. Hacia 1639 los cosacos ya habían llegado al Mar de Okhtotsk. En el siglo XVII los siguieron los comerciantes europeos, los deportados políticos, rusos ortodoxos (exiliados por reformas religiosas en 1653). El comercio de pieles, la "fiebre del oro" y el comercio con China estimuló la inmigración a Siberia. A partir de los años 30 y durante la era de Stalin los presos políticos no era fusilados pero eran enviados a campos de trabajo forzado. La revolución industrial en Siberia se hizo a costa de millones de ... read more
Siberia
Harbin
Harbin-Vladivostok

Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal August 3rd 2011

Half way through my trip, time to do some statistics : • 45 days have passed • 18 places visited • 53 people met only including people I have spent more than 1 hour with and had at least one decent conversation – so random 15min talks on park benches and sleeping people in the train don’t count ;) o With 10 I spoke mostly English o With 1 German o With 1 Swiss German I guess you can do the math – that’s a lot of impressions and information! So for the next two weeks I’ll switch from Russian to mainly English and change my status from traveler to tourist ;) Danny is coming up from Switzerland to give me company for two weeks around Lake Baikal :) The train ride from Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk ... read more
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Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal July 20th 2011

What a whirl wind start to the trip. We were definitely not ready to go what with wedding planning beginning (alot earlier than D thought)! Anyhow... We got dropped off by S' parent very early in the morning-thanks Mum and Dad! Got to Berlin very efficiently as only the Germans know how. Settled into a very comfortable hostel in the middle of town for 3 days stay. Did all the usual stuff, saw the sights, cycled around the city and ate lots. Wonderful start to the trip and would recommend to any age (v. shoreditch). To continue the train theme, we arrived on the platform at Berlin HBF to find a rather dodgy looking train. Since we had booked a first class cabin, S was expecting James Bond style with full wood veneer and a walk ... read more

Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal July 11th 2011

Hi, I’m still playing catch-up from my travel journal. I wrote this on the 25th May. (Note that Siberia is NOT in Europe.) -------------------- I am now on Olkhon Island in Lake Baikal, Siberia and it’s great! We’ve had clear blue skies and sunshine since I got here yesterday. Now if we can only get rid of that biting north wind. Because I am trying to travel light I didn’t bring a coat and I could do with a windbreaker. But I heard it is +40C in Urumqi, Xinjiang Province, where I’ll be in two weeks, so it’s hard to carry all I need for such extreme temperatures. Back in Irkutsk on Monday morning 23rd May Galina, the landlady, had arranged for a mini-bus to collect me at her house at 8:45am to take me to ... read more
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Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal May 31st 2011

Nice sliver of humanity before I got on train. Mom, dad and adult daughter – helped me at the train station – she made me feel like her daughter – wanted to take care of me. Super sweet – funny family – good start to a trans-Siberian trip! I think I have come to the conclusion that Russia is exhausting. That is if you don’t speak Russian and don’t pay some money to have tours set up – which is definitely not my style. If I come back to Russia again, would prefer to not do it alone – and will come armed with a better dictionary. Otherwise it feels like I am often met with stone cold looks – no matter how friendly I try to be. This mostly seems to be prevalent in the ... read more

Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal May 23rd 2011

The final part of our Russian adventure took us from Tomsk to Krasnoyarsk and then to Irkutsk - where we were able to pop down to the shores of Lake Baikal. During our day in Tomsk we took the opportunity to just relax and get a bit of rest (and take a much needed shower) after two days on the train. In the evening we met up again with Stephanie and Greg for a drink and a bite to eat and agreed to meet up once more when we both get to Ulaanbaatar. Rich managed to drink an entire daily budget's worth of beer, which probably explains why he slept so well that night... It was also the first day that we encountered Henry, who has now joined our party. He's quite the little poser, so ... read more

Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal April 10th 2011

Well after Moscow we all hopped onto the train for our journey to Irkutsk and Lake Baikal. At this point no body really knew each other that well as we'd only just met the day before but that was soon to change. We soon discovered some people are better able to cope with 4 straight days on the train then others, by the end of the journey some people were ready to blow, it didn't help that one of the train addendants was a mini hitler who liked to shout at everybody, for some reason he really didn't like Ed serenading him with Queen half way through the journey. Luckily for everybodys sanity there was a lovely Russian kid who quickly acquired the nickname 'Short Round', who would run around shooting everyone with his toy gun ... read more
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Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal October 16th 2010

Om zes uur 's ochtends aangekomen in Irkutsk (alweer 's ochtends vroeg, weten die mensen dan niet dat ik daar helemaal niet geschikt voor ben?). Noorse chick tegengekomen, wij (Fin, Noorse chick en ik) in de taxi naar hostel. Echt op een rare plaats, taxichauffeur reed op een soort van binnenplaats steeg in en uit, een beetje zoeken naar de juiste deur en aan iedereen vragen waar het was. Hij had volgens ons ook gedronken of in ieder geval de avond ervoor. Wij uiteindelijk uitgestapt, zelf op zoek gegaan en toch vrij snel juiste adres gevonden (hostels in Rusland hebben over het algemeen niet een bordje ofzo, maar gewoon iets geschreven op een geverfde baksteen). In hostel aangekomen allerlei dingen gevraagd, was met deze reden ook meegegaan en besloten een nachtje te blijven slapen. Bleek niet ... read more
Lake Baikal@dawn
Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal

Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal September 15th 2010

Customs officials are never the most cheerful people but the one who welcomed us to Russia takes the 'Ice Queen' award. We stood in the foreigners queue watching as each person in front of us was glared down by a woman who looked suspiciously like Anne Robinson from 'The weakest link'. She scrutinised each and every passport in silence, sighing every now and again, trying desperately to find any discrepancy with the visas. After what seemed like an eternity, she snarled, admitted defeat and sullenly indicated that we could pass through the metal gates. Welcome to Russia. Thankfully this woman was in the minority - actually the vast majority of Russians we have spoken to here have been quite nice, even the drunk ones have been interested in practising their English and engaging in a bit ... read more
Olkhon Island dusk
Olkhon Island view towards the mainland
A perfect morning on Olkhon Island




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