Blogs from Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russia, Europe - page 8

Dimanche 10 mai, 8h00, dans un petit hôtel d'Irkutsk. J'émerge difficilement, les yeux bon plissés, un arrière goût de vin moldave au fond de la gorge. Ouh pas simple! Hier, c'était le jour de la victoire en Russie, une grande fête patriotique commémorant la fin de la 2e guerre mondiale et la victoire sur les Nazis. Voyageurs danois, anglais, écossais, hollandais, suisses et personnel russe de l'hôtel, nous sommes tous sortis pour voir le feu d'artifice et nocer jusqu'a 4h du matin à grand renfort de bière, de champagne russe et de vin rouge local (pas si mal). La perspective de devoir affronter six heures de bus pour gagner Olkhon Island ne m'enchante guère ce matin. Mais bon, on assume! Deux heures plus tard, à la gare routière d'Irkutsk, mes deux compagnons écossais, deux Suissesses et ... read more

Hi again, it's convenient that it gets dark and cold so early here- gives me plenty of time to write blog entries. Thanks for all your comments and messages. We've just got back to Irkutsk after having a few days at Lake Baikal. Baikal is the biggest (volume) lake in the world and holds something like 20% of the planet's freshwater. Apparently it's on a fault line which is continually growing so the lake will eventually become an ocean. We took a bus there from Irkutsk that takes about 90mins on one snowy road that goes up and down hills all the way. We were headed for Listvyanka a little village on the lake-shore. The approach to the village was amazing- we could just see the massive expanse of the lake with huge snowy mountains on ... read more

So having spent the past 4 nights on the train....we weren't exactly smelling of roses! We were really really looking forward to a hot shower.....so when we were told there would be no shower where we were staying....our jaws droppped & we all looked at each other thinking 'what the ....' Little did we realise that we were getting SOO much more than an electric shower......... We had signed up to stay with a Russian family in a traditional log cabin in the beautiful village of Listvyanka! Being traditional meant there was no running water. So our toilet was in a little hut at the end of the garden....lovely when you have to pee at 4am......up outta bed.....jacket & shoes on...slipping like an idiot over the icy pathy way leading to the hut!!! Ha....it was comical! ... read more

We are in Irkust now, more than half way through our Trans-Siberian journey. Train life is great. We are catching another train tonight to Ulan Bator. Over the past 4 nights we have played lots of cards, lost and won loads of small money and drank some vodka - of course. The cabins are 4-berth and quite spacious, although we all needed a shower! Stopping at stations is a lot of fun. We can get off for 15 minutes or so and buy some goodies from the old ladies who come down to meet the train. We are getting more and more adventurous with the food we are trying, which will undoubtedly lead to food poisoning! We visited lake Baikal for two days. It was beautiful there, the largest fresh water lake in the world. I ... read more

Saa er vi paa vej til Ohlkon, en oe i Baikalsoeen. Ved bussen kan vi pludseligt ikke faa andet end haandbagage med, med mindre vi betaler ekstra? Maerkeligt for vi har jo betalt for arrangementet hjemmefra?! Vi er ikke overraskede - saadan har der vaeret en del hendelser mht. transport og overnatning der pludseligt ikke var inkluderet - MEN nu har vi laert noget af vores vaert i gaar: „This is not our problem“! Ta den Dimitri, der er vores lokale rejsearrangoer, og det goer han saa ogsaa og lover at „there is no problem“ selvom han faar stryg af vores buschauffoer. Det er en 6 timers koeretur med bussen over oede landskaber med masser af koer paa vejene og en rasteplads der ligner noget fra et slumkvarter i Calcutta. Her har jeg mit livs toiletoplevelse. ... read more