Stunning Siberia
- seeing the Great Wall of China - impressive
- staying in a Ger camp in Mongolia - awesome
- watching the sun set over Lake Baikal - PRICELESS
LOVED Lake Baikal - absolutely gorgeous place - Listvyanka was such a nice little peaceful village - had delicious thick hot chocolate as well! Little village markets at the end of the street selling oodles of smoked fish and other little knick knacks - thought I should support the local community altho I ws warned that souvineers would be a bit more expensive there - but I got a Lake baikal tshirt - need it for the train as it does get hot and I only packed long-sleeved tops... and a ring - was fun - just had to umm and ahh a while and she reduced the price for me! (you can't usually haggle in Russia - only if it is expensive...)...
Went to the museum - which was great thatnks to this funny little Rusian lady with coke-bottle glasses telling us all about the uniqueness of the Lake... over 50% of the species are endemic, 1637m deep (the deepest freshwater lake in the world), length 636km and hlds 23000km3 - 20% of the world's freshwater, and supplies 90% of Russia's water... and it has the world's only freshwater seal... the museum had a mum seal that had got shot and is now this huge round ball of blubber, I am surprised she can still swim! - and her daughter - who is about 3yo now - they were very cute...Had a nice lunch at a little 'pub' overlooking the Lake, then went for a wander around the town... - couldn't actually walk on the lake as it had only just started freezing - will only completely freeze by Feb. , and then only defrost by June/July - takes so long as it is so deep... - the temperature at the bottoom always stays about 3.5C tho.
We stayed at a homestay - it was brilliant - she cooked us delicious russian meals - including Omul for dinner - fresh from the Lake! And it was in a Russian apartment- tiny - 3 bedrooms, teeny kitchen - there were 3 apartment buildings that all looked the same - so of course I had troubles finding my way home! And night over the Lake - gorgeous - was soooo quiet... and then got up early (7:30 - still dark tho) to go to the lookout - which was about a 45min walk - to Chersky Peak - was a bit tough going, early in the morning, very steep - was glad Justin came with me cos the path at the beginning was a bit hidden, you had to follow the chairlift track... - but was abolutely stunning views at the top...- and of course coming down was a lot easier - did a bit of butt-taboganning :)
Now in Irktsk - have been having fun... - have now tried 4 different vodkas - all taste pretty different - russian standard i can recommend :) I have learnt the siberian walk - sliding your feet everywhere so you don't fall on the ice...
Unfortunately Celia has come down with a bug and is getting flown to Moscow and then back to London - not good... and Pauine hasn't been too good either - in bed for the past 2 days but she is trying super hard to fight it to be able to come on the 4-day train leg this afternoon...
The 11hr border crossing from Mongolia to Russia wasn't too bad - went pretty quickly - wandered in the border village for a bit, met some Russian border guards at this little eatery and they shouted us a vodka shot each and took photos of us etc - was pretty fun... - I shared a compartment with Celia and Anjela... the otehrs had a bit of a pillow-swap smuggling thing happen was pretty funny.... and was very interesting watch the locals hide bits and pieces in the train's hidey-holes to get past paying taxes etc... -some meat got found out and the train attendant got fined for it...
- I should've said about my horse-ride in mongolia - I didn't get cold thanks to 2 layers of thermals, 3 polar fleece jumpers, 3 pairs of socks and then of course my goose down jacket! :)
They say this trip is a once in a lifetime thing - and it certainly has been fantastic so far... - the group you are travelling with definitely make a big contribution to it tho - as most of the time you are in your compartment (I had envisioned a communal part of the train - not sure if they next leg will be more like that)... - but yes - do have the 4 day train ride coming up so will see how i go after that - should be good tho!... - am about to go to the markets and stock up on food (fruit especially to get a bit healthy)...
From Russia,
smooch smooch (with love) :)
Em