Bound for Baikal

We have arrived in Irkutsk and have just woken from a nap, having been kept awake all night by 2 crazy Russians trying to make lengthy conversation with us through our Russian phrasebook. I have just been informed that outside there is a blizzard. Yes, it's true. Irkutsk is only 1 hour behind Brisbane/Canberra, but right now it couldn't seem further away.

We really enjoyed Tomsk, because it gave us a bit more of an idea about what real life in Siberia would actually be like. The first day we walked off the main street and down to the river, where there were dilapidated houses, boats sitting on the banks, and rubbish everywhere. I fell down a muddy embankment. We walked nervously past a few people sitting round outside houses as they stared at us and noted our every move. I smiled at them to try and break the ice and give off the feeling that we weren't just hostile tourists poking round in their lives. Found out a bit later that Russian people think that if you smile at them, then you are laughing at them and are amused by what you see! Phew, narrow escape.

The day after we took a bus half an hour outside of Tomsk to a village starting with K. It was snowing as we walked around. There was one shop in the village and a van that sold a few little things. In the village shop where we were sheltering from the cold having taken a wander, we came across someone we can only assume was the village drunk. 11:00 in the morning and he had two bottles of vodka in his pocket, and probably one in his belly.

In Irkutsk tonight and tomorrow we head to Olkhon Island, where we will have a restful four nights before catching the train on to Mongolia. Olkhon Island is in Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world, and is apparently a sacred Shamanist centre. We will be staying with an ex-Russian table tennis champion who now runs a guesthouse. Exciting.

Crossing Siberia

We have arrived in Tomsk, a town with many Tom-related things - Tom River, Tom Stadium etc.

It has been an incredible journey across Russia so far. Our first stop after Moscow was Nizhny Novgorod, where we stayed with a host family - the Fedosenkos. They were very hospitable, cooking us massive Russian breakfasts; bringing a tea tray into our room with food and tea before bed time; and on the second night we all sat up very late chatting (using Alena's boyfriend as interpreter). Yuri, the dad, was very excited to show us a dictionary of wine and point out that there were Australian regions in it. He then proceeded to bring out his best cognac and sherry for us to try.

Outside of our host family, Nizhny was a scenic town, with a lovely Kremlin and the mighty Volga river running through. We went on a 1 1/2 hour cruise on the Volga, but didn't see too much, due to the boat going at about 2 kms and hour.

After a final delicious Russian meal in Nizhny, we hopped on the train for our first big leg to Omsk. Here we are at the very start of the trip:

The train was about 36 hours, and included two nights on board. I freaked out a little to start with, because they had allocated Tom and I berths in cabins next door to each other, but really, it helped us meet lots of different people, all of whom offered us food. We shared Russian salami with Boris, pancakes with Natasha and Larissa, and biscuits with a chap who knew our Nizhny host-dad Yuri. It was great fun being on the train, and I slept pretty well, but my heart dropped everytime I went to the bathroom. Have to take the good with the bad I guess.

So we arrived into Omsk, and checked in at the Omsk hotel, which had not changed since Soviet times, and utilised a complex plumbing system in the bathroom. We had been tossing up on one or three nights in Omsk, but had settled on only one, which turned out to be a good thing. The highlights were a brass 'slacker' sculpture in the main street:

And the Omsk beach, where young and old had congregated in bikinis to catch some rays. It was a hot day in Siberia! We are such Australian snobs, but the beach didn't particularly appeal.

From Omsk we took an overnight train (this time in third class) to Tomsk. It rained a lot yesterday afternoon, but hopefully today we will be able to check out the traditional Siberian wooden architecture that we keep hearing so much about!