We caught a night train from Ulaan Bataar to Irkutsk. It was not dark till about 10.30 so we were able to see a bit of the countryside until then.
The train was full of traders with bags of merchandise that they had bought in Mongolia or China and were taking to Ulan Ude in Russia to sell. We had two Russian girls, Anya (22) and Oyuna (21), from the Buryatia area in our compartment. They had been to visit friends in Mongolia. The traders paid them to put some of their merchandise in our compartment. There were bags of clothes and shoes, and bottles of vodka. Every few minutes traders would come by with plastic bags of goods and put them on the girls' bunk or stuff them in their bags. As we got closer to the Russian border the traders became more frantic looking for people to take their stock.
It took ages to cross the border and over this time the toilets are locked and no one was able to leave the train. The immigration officers looked at our bags but didn't open them. They didn't check the girls' bags either. Several of the traders had their bags weighed and had to pay excess baggage but seemed to be allowed to keep all their goods. As soon as the inspections were over they came to collect all their goods and return them to their own compartments. It was so funny.
The train had no dining car so we had a huge box of food to keep us fed. The coal-fired samovar at the end of the carriage was great to make hot drinks and to warm our boil-in-the bag meals and make hot instant mashed potato. We had bought the food in China and had had enough of instant noodles so enjoyed the stews and curries although they were more expensive.
The landscape changed a lot and the dry grassy hills were covered with birch and pine forest and we travelled along beside Goose Lake.
We arrived at Irkutsk at 8am and were met by our guide Ilena and 3 other travellers, Spring and Keith from Minnesota and Alex from London. We headed off in a van to our homestay by Lake Baikal. Most of the road was gravel and it began to snow a little on the drive and we could see snow on the riverbanks and in the forest. After a couple of hours we had gone the 110kms to the lake.
We found out we were all at the same house and spend the whole time together. The homestay was more like a boarding house really as the family never did anything with us. The mother, Tamara , cooked the meals and then disappeared and we saw family members come and go but they ignored us. It wasn't what we thought a homestay would be like.
Our guide took us for a walk along the lake edge. It was a beautiful day and other than a few birds we only saw 'prairie dogs' popping their heads out of the holes.
Across the lake in the distance were snow covered mountains. The lake freezes in winter and they can drive across to the other side. Lake Baikal is the deepest, oldest and largest freshwater lake in the world. It is 700km long and 74 km wide and holds 25% of the world's fresh water.
There are seals in the lake that have adapted from living in seawater to living in fresh water, but they were on the opposite side of the lake from us so we never saw them.
The homestay was an old wooden house with no running water and a 'long drop' (outside waterless toilet).
In the yard was a newly built banya- traditional Russian sauna house. The firebox was lit to heat the water and heat the sweat room. You sat naked in the sweat room and then bucketed hot and cold water over yourself to wash as they do not have showers. It was very nice after a long walk and there was a bunch of birch leaves if you wanted to beat yourself to release the toxins in your body, but it was nice just to have a warm wash.
The banya
We visited the local primary school but the children were on holiday so we looked through the windows. It was furnished with basic homemade desks and very little else. There were no modern teaching aids at all.
The main employment for the villagers was fishing and forestry. We saw several young people drinking vodka and bonnet surfing during the day. There were lots of drunk men in the street as well.
The local Russian Orthodox church was open so we visited it. The women had to wear hats and the men had to take theirs off. The priest invited us in and he went off to his house nearby with his wife. The churches are built like a star or cross. All religions were stopped in the 1930s but are openly practised now.
Across the lake in the distance were snow covered mountains. The lake freezes in winter and they can drive across to the other side. Lake Baikal is the deepest, oldest and largest freshwater lake in the world. It is 700km long and 74 km wide and holds 25% of the world's fresh water.
There are seals in the lake that have adapted from living in seawater to living in fresh water, but they were on the opposite side of the lake from us so we never saw them.
The homestay was an old wooden house with no running water and a 'long drop' (outside waterless toilet).
In the yard was a newly built banya- traditional Russian sauna house. The firebox was lit to heat the water and heat the sweat room. You sat naked in the sweat room and then bucketed hot and cold water over yourself to wash as they do not have showers. It was very nice after a long walk and there was a bunch of birch leaves if you wanted to beat yourself to release the toxins in your body, but it was nice just to have a warm wash.
The banyaWe visited the local primary school but the children were on holiday so we looked through the windows. It was furnished with basic homemade desks and very little else. There were no modern teaching aids at all.
The main employment for the villagers was fishing and forestry. We saw several young people drinking vodka and bonnet surfing during the day. There were lots of drunk men in the street as well.
The local Russian Orthodox church was open so we visited it. The women had to wear hats and the men had to take theirs off. The priest invited us in and he went off to his house nearby with his wife. The churches are built like a star or cross. All religions were stopped in the 1930s but are openly practised now.
