Blogs from Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russia, Europe - page 7

Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal November 12th 2009

From Irkutsk, we took an excursion to Olkhon Island, on Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world. It is not only deep, but also enormous! The island itself is beautiful with not a lot there, just a fairly small town where we stayed at Nikitas guesthouse which was warm and cosy, and we were treated to home cooked Russian meals, fish being the staple. Nikitas guesthouse also had a banya (sauna) which was a real treat, especially after brisk walking in the snow. We took a jeep trip up to the northern most point of the Island where we could see both east and west of the lake, it was massive! It stretched to the horizon and looked like a very calm ocean. We could climb up to the edges of paths and cliffs and ... read more

Baikal Lake backfill - pictures

Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal October 9th 2009

P1000917

Sorry but we are not at home

Hey All, we still owe you with some pictures from the Baikal Lake as that posting went without photos... sorry. So here you go, enjoy! Greets, C&A ... read more

Onto Lake Baikal

Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal October 4th 2009

P1000774

Layla and Ste

So we boarded our train Friday evening which was two nights long, another long one! For this train we were unable to get the cheaper plaskart (3rd) tickets so we had our first experience of Kupe (2nd class), which was a lot better all the price was over double, but still only 60 pounds each which isn't bad for a train that takes around 34 hours! Kupe has the same four bunks beds, but thats it and its in a little closed compartment with no extra beds along the sides, so that means less people are crammed into the carriage which means the toilets are little more bearable. Ste and I had beds on top of one another which made things a lot easier for us, on the opposite top bunk was a youngish Russian lad ... read more

♫ SIBERIA ...... the place to be! ♫

Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal September 30th 2009

Pretty Listvyanka

rachelisawesome

Thank goodness for Russia and the amount of Russian themed songs on my ipod! Scooter, Boney M, Dschinghis Khan, The Beatles and the Anastacia soundtrack were all played excessively during our Siberian jaunt! I arrived in Listvyanka more hungover than I have ever been in my whole life. I caught a glimpse of myself in a window reflection, and scared that I would terrify small children and puppies as much as I terrified myself, I wrapped my scarf around my head burqa style so noone could see what I looked like. We stayed at Nikolays place in Listvyanka, and I didn’t see much more than the stairs leading to my room and the mattress as I passed out until 3 in the afternoon. When I finally awoke, showered and felt slightly less mingy, I walked down ... read more

Olkhon Island, Crossing the border into China

Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal September 18th 2009

SamandLaura

Hi All We're in Guilin now, but before we reveal all on that particular subject, we will update you with what went on at Lake Baikal on Olkhon Island... We spent three days on the island, in the most beautiful surroundings, in a little wooden guest house. Olga, our host, cooked us great food (normally Omul fish - unique to Lake Baikal), and with no showers, we used the banya (extremely hot sauna) to keep 'clean'. Even the long-drop toilet didn't smell too bad. We did an excursion to the far side of the island on our first full day, which effectively meant a ride in a Soviet-era '4x4', driven by a grizzly old Russian chap who took a fancying to making jokes at Sam's expense, whilst Laura laughed and encouraged such behaviour. The views around ... read more

12. 14. Sept; Листвянка (Listwjanka) und о́зеро Байка́л (Lake Baikal) - Sibirische Wälder und sadistische Saunagänge

Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal September 14th 2009

Über dem Baikalsee

kue

Irkutst ist eine Sibirische Grosstadt, zu wenig Zeit verbringe ich dort um spannendes zu berichten. Wir verbringen den Tag vorallem damit uns im Park zu sonnen und den etwa 100 Hochzeitspärchen zuzuschauen welche alle exakt das gleiche Programm ablaufen. Hupend in der Autokolonne vorfahren, im Park aussteigen, Fotos machen und Hupend wider in der Kolonne davonrauschen. Honcho Kosta macht einen deprimierten Eindruck als er uns vom Bahnhof Irkutsk abholt, auch die mehrstündige Busfahrt vn Irkutsk nach Listwjanka ist kein wirkliches Highlight. Ausser dass unser Busfahrer definitiv Formel 1 Ambitionen hat. Er holt das letzte aus der Kiste raus, überholt links und rechts und wird erst von dem Begrenzungspfahl am Strassenrand ermahnt. Bus n bisschen defekt, sonst alles OK. Die grandiose Aussicht vom Hostel über den Bailaksee entschädigt genugtuend für vergangene Strapazen. Nur schon die ... read more

Real Russia

Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal September 10th 2009

The facitlities

Stamp Collecting

We've finally made it to proper Russia. Siberia was at it's bleakest when we arrived in Irkutsk...just two degrees, though as a treat, not raining. Irkutsk is the sort of town that you could quite happily chill out in if it wasn't for the fact that it's too chilly. A walk along the riverfront with a brisk north wind was enough to give the proverbials on the brass monkey a lot of movement. And this was a drop in temperature from twenty-five degrees the day before. With a half day sightseeing under our belt, we moved on to Olkhon Island - a kind of Brits abroad holiday (Vibeke was an honorary Brit for three days) involving vodka, beers, macho activities and some skinny dipping. Having convinced Vibeke, Steve, Dave, Khavita, Lucy & Kev that a homestay ... read more

Cold and Drizzly Listvyanka

Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal July 18th 2009

Up the hill where we stayed

Tony and George

Today we headed to the shores of Lake Baikal to a small village called Listvyanka. It’s been slightly spoilt by some new garish big hotels being built next to the very cute wooden houses but our home for the night was amazing, it was 1km up a valley and in a big wooden chalet, our room was on the top with a private balcony overlooking the valley and the lake beyond. This was Baikal Chalet for 40 Euros a night but well worth it. We had a nice relaxing day here, we bumped into the Irish girls from our hostel so we spent the day pottering around with them. There isn't much to do in Listvyanka and as it was cold and wet sunbathing and swimming was out of the question. We sampled some meat cooked ... read more

Train Part II

Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal June 15th 2009

Sarah on the Train

chrisandsarah09

Unlike the previous mornings, on our new locomotive home, we awoke after a pretty terrible nights sleep. There may have been a number of contributing factors. It was possible that the inevitable train-lag that we had been anticipating was upon us or perhaps it was our serious lack of physical exertion. It also could have been due to the air conditioning, over which we had no control over, pumping out what felt like sub zero temperatures all night. I stepped out of our cabin to check the kilometer sign posts at the other side of the train and bumped into Claus, one of our German neighbours. Claus doesn't speak English and my GCSE German has been in retirement now for over a decade(I should point out that I wasn't that great to begin with). However, we ... read more

LAKE BAIKAL , SIBERIA

Europe » Russia » Siberia » Lake Baikal May 25th 2009

HERE WE GO!

mfh1399

FIRST OF ALL YOU WILL NEED MY ITENERIAY FOR MY TRAVELS... read more

Brief history of Russia

Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th-15th centuries) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities. In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynas...more history

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