The End of the Line

New city new blog, Irukutsk is my home for 2 nights before I head down to Lake Baikal for the last 5 days. Irukutsk is just like the other cities I’ve visited so far in Russia. Busy, crowded and yes more Lenin statues everywhere.

The hostel was nice, very cramped and the bed was very hard so sleeping was a great problem. I met loads of great people who gave me the low down on where to go by the lake. The places where most backpackers end up are either Olkhon Island or Listvyanka. I chose the island as I had more time and is further away from civilization.

Olkhon Island is about 1/2 way up the lake and takes 8 hours to reach by bus, which seems far but after a 50 hour train journey it really seems like nothing.

Let me give you some statistics about the lake just in case you have never heard of it before.
1. Baikal is 636km from north to south.
2. The shape of Baikal looks like a banana. (Very comedy cock)
3. Baikal is the worlds deepest lake, 1637 meters. (Fresh drinking water)
4. The water temperature never gets above 14 degrees.

after 7 hours of a bumpy dirty road we made it to the ferry terminal that would take us to the island. The island is home to the Buryat people who still have a large village on the island. They are believed to be descendents of Mongolians and their culture is very similar.

The first sighting of the lake reminded me of the Lake District, Mountains hug the shoreline stretching as far you can see. But the different was I had never seen water like it before, it was almost a turquoise colour and it was so clear you could easy see 5 meters down in some places.

Once on the island it was another hour to the village of Khuzhir where I would be staying at the hostel run by the ex Russian Olympic table tennis champ ‘Nikita’. oh trust me, it gets far more random.
The hostel is wonderful, and I met up with a few people that I had met in the hostel of Irukutsk. Breakfast lunch and dinner are included in the price and its pretty good food, though 5 days of eating fish in various forms. Fish soup, fried, baked and smoked has taken its toll. I’m not sure after these 5 days I’ll be able to eat another fish again.

The first evening I went for a stroll around village. Its a very strange place and nothing like anywhere in Russia I have been before so it made a great change. About 600 people live here, the houses are all made of wood and none have running water. The Toilets are holes in ground and they only been connected to electric grid since 2005. Cows and dogs wonder freely around the streets (muddy tracks). Next to the village are the two Shaman Rocks which have pray flags tied all over them, these rocks are a very spiritual place for the Buryat people.

Just north of the rocks is a long sandy beach which I walked down to only to be confront by some locals youths who wanted me to take there photo and in return have a couple of drinks with them. I haven’t been in the village more than 5 minutes and im already drinking cheap larger that had a sandy/oilily taste to it. mmm lovely. I love meeting the local people, but im sure one of you lot are tipping them off to get me wasted at every stop a long my route.

Each day there are many different tours around the island that the hostel put on for its guests. The first tour I did was to the south of the island. As there were to many of us on the tour we couldn’t all fit in the 4×4 mini van (looks like a VW camper but with bigger wheels) so 3 of us had to wait for our ride. Would it be another mini van?
No.
Would it be 4×4?
No.
What on earth was it then?
A clapped out Lada with bold tires no seatbelts, My door wouldn’t shut properly, one of the back door wouldn’t open and whenever we went up a step hill we had to get out and let the car cool down. Talk about an adrenalin rush as we are bombing down muddy 4×4 tracks in the middle of a forest to find a lake which the Buryat people practice their Shamanism. The lake its self isn’t anything special but who really cares when you had a ride like that! I think the hostel should make the Lada ride a separate tour, they could make millions out of the daft adrenalin junkies!

The next day was spent onboard boat cruising around the tiny islands off Olkhom, In the afternoon a couple of us decided to brave the cold water and go for a swim. Being the hardest (most stupid) I went first. I lasted about 40 seconds before my body started to shut down and I had to get out! One of the girls I was hanging around with over heard a conversation from a Russian family about me. It went something along the lines of.
Mum ‘look there is someone in the lake, he must be a tourist’
Son ‘I think he is English’
Mum ‘No he’s not, he is speaking Hungarian’
Son ‘No that English’
Mum ‘No that’s Hungarian, I should know, your Grandma was stationed in the war there’
Son ‘oh ok’
So there you have it, mum knows best. Apparently im not from Essex but from Hungary instead. I’m not sure which is worse.

Day 3 was spent taking a tour north to the very tip of the island, more pray flags and apparently hanging dogs from trees though I didn’t see them. I’m not sure if that was anything to do with a Buryat tradition or if the villages got fed up with the dogs. either way its a bit dark.

Night time we had a bit of a party as a few of travelers that I became good friends with were leaving. so out came my good old friend Vodka and his friend Mr beer.
Last day was spent taking photos and chewing the fat with some new travelers which included a posh couple from London who complain about everything and disagreed with everything I would say. I’m not sure who is worse. Chavs on holiday or posh 20 year old gap student who have daddy’s credit card to take around the world. Sod it, I don’t like both those type of people. Moan over!

Waking up early the next day to catch the mini bus back to Irukutsk I could hear……rain! when it rains in Siberia, my god does it rain! Being Russia they had over booked the mini bus so 13 of us squeezed in to a 9 seater bus. Taking the mini bus back Irukutsk was meant to knock off 2 hours of the journey but as it was raining and the road became a thick muddy track the mini bus was struggling to get up the hills and we managed to get stuck a few times. Where was Lada boy when you need him? So taking the mini bus back turned out to be a complete disaster. Not only was it the most unpleasant journeys I have ever been on it took an extra hour longer than the bus….. 9 hours sitting on mans lap, we were very close friends by the end of it! Even though I had such a bad ride back, I had such a great time on the island, Its been the best thing i’ve done in Russia so far. Lake Baikal is truly a wonder of our planet, I wish i had more time, i could have easily spent a couple of weeks around the lake.

Only 3 days left in Russia and only 4 days left on my visa. I hope the trains are on time otherwise im a bit screwed. Next stop Ulan-Uda, the Russian gateway to Mongolia!

Ulan-Uda, what a rather odd city. The people here are a mix of Russian, Buryat, Mongolian and Chinese. Quite a contrast to all the other cities I’ve been too in Russia. The other thing I’ve noticed about this city is I must stand out like a sore thumb as at least 5 people have come up to me asking me questions about where I’m from. people here seem more chilled out than the rest of Russia and the most shocking thing is the all the people seem to speak some English. One of the many crazy thing about this city is that in the summer the city authorities switch off the hot water and all they get is the cold water that gets pumped from Lake Baikal. My hotel gave me a discount of five pounds as it had no hot water. At the time I thought that was great news until I tried getting under the shower and then having flash backs from diving in to the lake. My room was great, it hadn’t been updated since the soviet time. Brown flowery wallpaper

and a hotel radio with only one knob ‘off’ which sounded like it was spurting some kind of communist propaganda at me…..well what do you expect for a hotel that cost seven pounds….. after discount.

After a quick nap it was off for a look round the city. First stop is the statue of Lenin, after seeing what seems like 1000s of statues of him in all the Russia cities and getting rather bored of him at least this one is a bit different. Its the worlds largest Lenin head (even bigger than mine). As normal he dominates a public square, I noticed they were rigging up a stage so I thought something might be going on tonight, more on that later.

One sad fact I’ve noticed about Buryat people is I fear the culture may not last much longer as our western culture creeps in to the region. Out go the tradition clothes which the grandparents and parents wear to the shops to be replaced by fake Gucci tops and cheap tarty hotpants. Its a shame as the Buryat people are very beautiful but the way they dress make them almost look cheap and dare i say a bit chavy.
In the evening from my 6th floor hotel window i could see the crowds gather on the square in front of the stage. I couldn’t miss this, maybe it was a good bye party for me? On the way there i ducked in to a Russian fast food joint. I think i must have been the first foreigner they have ever had judging by the reaction i got from the excitable girl that served me, after i said i was from London. When she went in to the kitchen to get my hot dog (i know, i know, it’s all i could read on the menu) All i could see from the kitchen was the staff peering around the door to get a glimpse of the hairy English dude. A quick wave and a smile to them from me insured that i got a mountain of chips on my plate. Yum! I haven’t had chips since SA, so it was a bit of a treat.

Walking to the stage I really hadn’t got a clue what on earth was going on. What I could make out it was some kind of ‘BBC Sports personality of the year meets The Eurovision song contest’ Awards were given out to the local sports winners including two Buryat people who are off to Mongolia to enter in to the Naadam festival for wrestling and archery. A Russian Rapper backed with girls dressed up in cave girl outfits blasted out some ‘karaoke’ hip hop whilst the Russian version of Pams people dazzled the crowd with…… errr amazing dance moves that Michael Flattley would be proud off. The evening came to a climax when I can only describe as a cross between the Corrs and Guns n Roses came on to a thunder’s roar from the crowd, after 3 songs the concert came to the end with a massive fireworks display that seemed to go on forever. What a great way to end my Russian adventure.

What do I say about Russia then?
Highlights

Moscow, it such an interesting city. And my favorite city I visited in Russia.

Lada drivers, frightening but so much fun

Lake Baikal – i could spend a few weeks camping there, so beautiful

Trans-Siberian – Who thought you could have such an adventure in a moving cupboard.

Vodka – £1 a bottle, need i say more?

A nation that is more obsessed about bread than me, though is no way nicer than the bread in SA.

4 Responses to “The End of the Line”

1. Stuart William says:

   July 12, 2007 at 1:42 pm

   Sam im so jealous you stayed in a real life communist hotel – brown wallpaper and everything. I think theres a gap in the market for it back here – you should bring the communist ideas back and challenge the Hiltons for Hotel supremacy!! *:-D
2. Lee says:

   July 12, 2007 at 3:41 pm

   Bye Bye Russia. Top blogging Sam. It’s what the randomnet was built for.
3. hannah says:

   July 13, 2007 at 1:56 am

   for the millionth time.. i’m jealous.
4. Richard Kenney says:

   July 13, 2007 at 6:30 pm

   I wanna see proof of this Lenin head. I can’t really believe it’s bigger than yours.