Leaving Lake Baikal and Irkutsk

It took ages to get to sleep last night. I was praying it wasn’t the jet lag (or time-difference lag) but neither me or Tom could get to sleep. I also found out in the morning the other two couldn’t fall asleep either. Maybe it was because we all tried to go to bed at about half eight? Anyway, eventually I fell asleep and was grogily aware of my Tom getting up and about, going out for smokes – he’s not putting his rune to use until we get home apparently – until he too feel asleep just after midnight. This morning it was snowing really heavily when we went down for breakfast, this made me very happy. I just love the snow! Every year I hope for a white Christmas but this obviously never happens in England. The last time it snowed properly was about three years ago.

Tom and I had decided we were going to spend our last morning at Lake Baikal doing the dog sledding – yay! I was sad that we didn’t do it yesterday and felt we should really be making the most of the activities and stuff, I mean, how often do you come to Siberia?! We went off with Ksenia to the dog sledding place and they set the sleighs up for us. The dogs are so cute! They aren’t huskys as most people think, these dogs are bred with wolves so they are more slender and not quite as fluffy. Their fur was so soft to the touch though, they had lovely temperaments and enjoyed getting some fuss. 

They only allow one person to sit on the sleigh at a time and they have a member of their team steering the sleigh by standing on the back. I went first, of course. Ladies first and all that. I sat down and whoosh the dogs were off! There were eight of them pulling me along, they weren’t super fast but the snow was blowing into my face, so I had to pull my scarf up to my eyes. I kept signalling to he man to make them go faster which made him laugh – not sure why – but we were going uphill so maybe I was a bit heavy? Anyway, the dogs then took a sharp right around a bend and went tearing down a slope super fast! I was loving it, it was so much fun! They chilled the pace a bit as we reached the end of the route, one tried to have a poop as he was running but he was at the front so I didn’t get any back spray, thank god. It was Tom’s go after me and he loved it too, although he said they didn’t go that fast but I said it was probably because he’s a lot heavier than me. Poor doggys. 

I do genuinely think the dogs are well looked after, I know a lot of people are sceptical about this. They each have their own little house outside and although they’re chained up on about a three metre chain, I guess they’d run away or fight if they were all set loose. They feed them on Royal Canin too! A really expensive dog food. 

After a quick stop at the pastry shop on the way back for Tom to stock up for our train journey, we headed back to the hotel to pay our debts and get our minibus to Irkutsk city. We ended up paying a small fortune to the hotel! Each of us (all four of us) had to pay 3150 rubles; 600 each night for dinner (1200 – the dinners were nice but I really don’t think they were worth 600 rubles), 300 each morning for breakfast (900), 300 for laundry (which was totally worth it), 650 for the banya (which was okay, it was a good experience but a little pricey) and 100 for the internet (which we could barely get in our rooms). This definitely makes Lake Baikal the most expensive place we’ve stayed. I’m a little disappointed with some things (the rooms running out of hot water, the evening meals weren’t amazing, we could have eaten for a lot cheaper elsewhere) and feel as though we have paid over the odds. Again, maybe it is because we’re out of season that the hotels put their prices up? I’m not sure. The hotel and the staff were lovely though, I cannot fault that.

Moving on! Our taxi dropped us in Irkutsk city where Ksenia took us to a great little shashlick cafe for lunch, the food was fresh, tasty and cheap. We then did a little souvenir shopping, (after trekking across Irkutsk at 50mph, Ksenia walks so fast, I was actually sweating in -6). I bought a Russian doll, she is beautiful but I am still dreaming about the one from Moscow. WHY DIDN’T I JUST BUY IT THERE?! I also bought my grandma a Russian doll magnet and myself a little Russian doll key ring. Now I’m all Russian dolled out.

Ksenia then took us on a little walking (or power walking) tour of Irkutsk which was lovely, the sun was setting across the river and she had so much knowledge about the history of the city, it was really interesting to hear about it. She then took us to ‘The London Pub’ for dinner which made me LOL. To be fair, they’d got the decor pretty accurate for a British pub but it was far too clean and posh. There wasn’t any beer-soaked-carpet smell. I had pizza, I have been craving pizza for a week! It was delicious and I have left overs with me for our train journey. We then went to the supermarket to buy food for the train, we love doing this. Ksenia then waved us off on our two night train journey to Ulaanbaatar.

Our train carriage is so posh. It’s bigger and so much more hi-tech than the last one. We have cupboards above our beds and a window that opens. It actually opens! No more forty degree stifling heat at night! We can open a window and breathe the fresh air! All of us were so happy about this. So happy. We have enjoyed a bottle of prosecco and some salted pretzels and now await the border crossing into Mongolia tomorrow. I’m hoping we don’t go around the edge of Lake Baikal tonight as we won’t get to see the stunning scenery but I have a sneaky suspicion this will be the case. We’ll see. My Tom is happy because the beds are longer on this train, the cabin in general is bigger. We’re travelling in style.

Day two at Lake Baikal

It was glorious having such a lovely sleep last night. After sleeping on the train for four nights, the beds were an absolute dream at our guest house; soft sheets, soft pillows and above all, big enough for your arms and legs to remain on the mattress. The view I woke up to his morning was so beautiful, the sun creeping over the hillsides, glinting off all the snow, I could never get bored of that view. 

After breakfast Ksenia took us into a nearby village to see a traditional Russian blacksmith at work. In the same village there was also the option to do dog sledding and horse riding. Myself, my Tom and Florina opted for the horse riding. The horses were so cute, they had really fluffy coats to protect them from the cold – it was -17 today. My horse was named Rocky and would not stop eating. We had a ‘training session’ first to make sure we all new how to operate the horse (is operate the right word? You know what I mean, how to use the different commands etc), this did seem a tad unnecessary though as all the horses followed one another and ignored any commands as we trekked through the forest. Again the scenery was beautiful, snowy wooden landscapes, the sunshine bouncing off the mountains across the lake, just gorgeous. 

I kind of wish we’d done the dog sledding but it was quite expensive – 1700 rumbles per person for approx 10 minutes. The dogs here are not huskys, they’re working dogs that are bred with wolves so they have a very wolf-like appearance and are very slender. We couldn’t go and stroke them either as they’d also charge us for that too. I’m not entirely sure but maybe because we have come out of season, things are more expensive? There aren’t many tourists around that we’ve seen, at the moment. Maybe the cold puts people off. The scenery alone is totally worth it though.

Whilst we went horse riding Aussie Tom was busy making his rune charm with the blacksmith. Runes are like medieval symbols, kind of like an alphabet, where each symbol means something different. For example Aussie Tom made one which means ‘wealth‘ which is supposed to encourage wealth and prosperity in your life. My Tom also made one, he chose the rune which means ‘warrior‘ – it is supposed to give you strength – as he wants to quit smoking. We will see! 

By this point it was about 3pm – the day had gone so fast! We went to get some lunch at Ksenia’s favourite pastry shop, they were delicious! I had a meat one and a cherry one (obviously I didn’t eat them together), my Tom was his usual gannet self and had, three pastries (two savoury, one sweet) and Russian dumplings in a broth. He even contemplated another pastry! He eats so much. 

We’re having another chilled evening tonight, taking full advantage of the comfy beds at the guest house. Tomorrow we have a day out in the city of Irkutsk – I shall be back on my hunt for the perfect Russian doll – before boarding the train for another two nights to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia. We have a border crossing to tackle the day after tomorrow, I’ll keep you posted as soon as I have wifi. Apparently it’s around -28 in Ulaanbaatar, I’m already wearing five layers when we go out so I’m sure a couple more won’t hurt, I just might end up waddling rather than walking.

Day one at Lake Baikal

We arrived in Irkutsk this morning at around 9am, our carriage attendant woke us all up a good hour and a half before the stop so we had plenty of time to pack, which we needed! We’d had a lovely last night, Oksana (Florine’s Russian friend who ran the estuarine car) entertained us all with free food and wine in the restaurant car, it was a struggle to leave. Not because we didn’t want to but because she wouldn’t let us! My belly has paid the price today…

Once in Irkutsk we got in a car and had an hours drive to our guest house at Lake Baikal. After a shower – some us got a hot one and some of us got a cold one unfortunately! – we had a delicious breakfast and headed off, refreshed, for some snow-mobiling. The scenery around Lake Baikal is stunning, it really is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. The Lake doesn’t freeze until the middle of winter, usually around January. This meant our snow-mobiling took place on some of the surrounding hillsides. We only had a forty minute session, apparently there ‘isn’t enough snow’ to do their normal route, but wow it was so much fun! Unfortunately we didn’t have time to swap drivers so I was a passenger with my Tom and Florine a passenger to Aussie Tom. It was a pure winter wonderland surrounding us as we teared through the forest, I absolutely loved it.

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Afterwards, our honcho Ksenia, took us up another hill to look at the stunning view across Lake Baikal. We took the ski lift up, girls on one seat (me, Florine and Ksenia) and the lads behind us on another. It was such a lovely relaxing way to get up the hillside – we were all very tired from the train journey. The views at the top were stunning, just beautiful. By no means could we see all of the lake, it is the deepest fresh water lake in the world and is actually the worlds fifth ocean! – see the hyperlink above to the Lonely Planet guide. Me and Tom (my Tom) have had some lovely photos together today, I’m really looking forward to getting some printed when we get home. My goal for this holiday is also to get some amazing landscape photos on my DSLR and have them blown up big for the dining room, or maybe the snug when we get home.

We walked down from the viewpoint, naturally I was the first to fall on my arse walking down the snowy hillside but it’s fine, I totally styled it out. We visited the local market and had some lunch, I played it safe and had soup as my tummy has been playing up. We also tried some of the local fish, Omul, which is only found in Lake Baikal and was delicious. I looked at the market for another Russian doll but none of them were as beautiful as the one I saw in Moscow – why didn’t I buy it?! We then took a gentle stroll back up to the guest house – which is lovely by the way, such a luxury a after four days on a train. 

Before dinner we experienced a Russian banya! Ksenia showed us what we had to do; sit in the sauna for ten minutes wearing these woollen hats so that our heads didn’t overheat – I know, doesn’t sound right does it? – then whack each other with bunches of branches soaked in warm water, run outside and throw snow over yourself. All of this whilst sipping a special Russian herbal tea. It was so liberating! It was extremely hot in the sauna but we’ve all become accustomed to extreme heat after the four days on the train. Throwing the snow on ourselves afterwards literally burnt. It was painful! After another refreshing shower, we all felt very relaxed. Relaxed, refreshed and ready for bed.

We’ve just enjoyed a delicious dinner in the guest house, this evening will be very chilled and we’re all well and truly ready for bed. We have a full day of sight seeing planned for tomorrow! I can’t wait to take more photographs.