Gross Weather

Day 478
It was raining quite badly when I woke up. It was also later than I had expected. After showering eating and packing I reminded Jack that he had to check out by noon for the 3rd time as he had requested. I was on my own for the day and asked the hostel staff if I going to the monastery was worth it in the rain. It turns out that it wasn't.

I thought that I would visit the Decemberists houses a visit, but when I was half way there I decided that that wasn't worth it either. I got off the tram and found a place to have some lunch and write in my journal.


After writing for some time I headed to the supermarket. Most of the markets here are really annoying. Everything is behind a counter and you have to point and play charades to get what you want. Luckily this was a western style market and I was able to pick everything on my own.

Back at the hostel I said goodbye to Jack and spent a few hours working on the blog. I got quite a bit done, I was shocked. I still had light years to go, but eventually I'll get there, like when the trip is over!

The weird thing about trains in Russia is that they all run on Moscow time. Irkutsk is 5 hours ahead of Moscow. This meant that even thou my ticket said 12:50 the train actually left at 17:50. Very confusing. It was even more confusing that my train was late. Luckily a person next to me was on the same train and I was able to follow him there. He didn't speak much English, but he did tell me that he liked the New York Rangers.

My guidebook and some people I've met coming the opposite direction have said that the plascart (3rd class sleeper) wagons were hell on earth. Clearly none of those people have been in a non-ac sleeper in India. The train was down right posh compared to that. I had a top bunk and climbed right up.

The people in my annex were very friendly and tried to chat, but their English was limited so that didn't last long. Soon I was asleep.

Very Very Cold

Day 477
Bridget, Jack and I were up early. Unlike the day before I only had to tell Jack once to get out of bed. Soon we were all on our way to the bus station.

Now, if your clearly a tourist in Asia and come within a ten yard range of a bus station you have 15 different people trying to get you on their bus. I think that we had expected that to happen here and it didn't. After some asking around we found the bus for Listvyanka, a small town on Lake Baikal.

Lake Baikal is huge and is the worlds deepest lake and will eventually become the 5th ocean. The water is drinkably pure and crystal clear. The flora and fauna round the lake is found nowhere else in the world and the surrounding mountains are stunning. The last bit is that the water is near freezing year round.

Upon arriving to Listvyanka we tried to find a boat tour, but you needed ten people and there wasn't enough interest. Instead we went for lunch. We ordered 3 random things off of the menu and ended up with a really yummy pasta soup, some random pork thing and a fish, yuck. The pasta soup was the best and we ended up each ordering our own bowl of it.

When we left the restaurant we ran into the guys from Liechtenstein that I had met on the train. The five of us decided to head to a nearby observatory. When we got about half way up we asked for directions and were told that the observatory was actually the viewpoint we were currently at. After some pictures we headed back down to the lake. We then bought some beers to enjoy the view with. Crazy Jack changed into his swim trunks and jumped in the water three times. He said that it was so cold that he couldn't breathe. The Lichtensteiners had to leave and the three of us sat on the beach a while longer. A friendly man who was picnicking with his family nearby brought us over a couple skewers of really yummy meat to split. After thanking him we moved to a different viewpoint. Here Jack and Bridget split the smoked fish that the lake is known for while we all checked out a nearby wedding party.

At this point we were at a bit of a loss of what to do and decided to just head back to the hostel. Once there Bridget got her remaining things together for her night train to Moscow before we headed out for dinner. Jack and I had planned on going with Bridget to the station because she didn't feel comfortable going so late at night on her own. The thing is that it stays light here until about 11 pm. We ended up running into some other people from the hostel who were on the same train and she went with them. Jack and I wandered around looking for a bar but never found anything worth going to. We ended up with beers at the hostel again.

Fat Asses

Day 476
When I woke up I was happy to see that Bridget from Mongolia was now at the hostel. After breakfast, Jack Bridget, two other Americans and I headed out.

The first step was the train station so that I could get my ticket. It proved to not be a problem at all. I had three extra days from thebegriming built into my itinerary and getting this train meant that I would have one more.

We then went to see the Nerpa Seal Show. Baikal Lake (more on that soon) has its own type of freshwater seals. There is a half hour show that runs all day long. I don't know why we thought that this would be a good idea. The seals were in a small tank and were clearly overfed. When I could forget thosethings I was sorta able to enjoy the show. The seals put their flippers to their eyes and looked worried. They danced and made bizarre nasal sounds and for unknown reasons fetched Barbie dolls tied onto rings. They both used toy instruments to play a tune with their noses. Towards the end they triggered a small ring on a string that dropped flowers into the water. One seal then gave the flowers to the other and they kissed. The grand finale had one of the massive seals jumping out of the water to touch alarge ball. I haven't seen anything like this on my trip and sorta wished that I had skipped it. Pictures weren't allowed, but I managed a few blurry ones before getting dirty looks from the Russian speaking only commentator.

To add to the sad animal stories of the day on the walk back to town we found a cat stuck up in a tree.

Hungry we decided to hit one of the main pedestrian streets to see what was there. We all ended up with some pretty descent kababs. We then wandered thru the very Soviet looking fruit and veg market.

We then all headed to the art museum. I don't know if pictures were allowed or not, but I didn't take any. None of the titles were in English so I couldn't even write down the names of the paintings that I liked the most. The museum was small and I headed back to the hostel afterwards to find someone tocouchsurf with at my next destination.

That evening the 5 of us went out for dinner but the Americans had to leave early to catch their train. Jack, Bridget and I finished our beers at the Beatlesthemed but empty pub before heading to a beer garden. It was pretty much empty so we ended up just buying beer to drink back at the hostel. We bought one liter cans because they just seemed cool. I didn't make it to the end of the movie and went to sleep before everyone else.

Credit Crunch

Day 475
I got to Irkutsk around 7 and went to find an internet cafe. I think that it was just lucky that I managed to get on the right tram. I didn't think that anything would be open yet and I needed the toilet so I popped into a cafe and bought the cheapest thing on the menu, a coffee. I then promptly poured salt instead of sugar into it. Gross.

Once I had oriented myself with the Lenin statue I found an internet cafe and tried to get in touch with the person I thought I might be staying with. This didn't work out so I booked a hostel and soon walked there.

I only had limited rubles so my first stop was an ATM, I was rejected. I then went to another and then another. About 7 in total rejected me. I was in a bit of a panic when I headed back to theinternet cafe. I didn't have a Skype option and it was late in the States, no one was answering my emails. My mom is kind enough to handle my finances while I travel, and I didn't even know the passwords to my bank account along with not having an ability to call anyone anyway. I ended up getting aFacebook friend named Jared who I had met in Milan to call my house and wake up my mom. In a few minutes she had looked at my account and sent me my last several transactions, there just wasn't much she could do as the information that allows her to handle things is kept at our local branch and not at headquarters.

When we said goodbye I was nervous. I didn't even have a whole lot of cash to exchange and I needed to book my train ticket as soon as possible to keep on track. I went back to the hostel just to find that they hadskype there. I was able to call the bank, my account was frozen and it would take about 2 hours for it to unfreeze. I put on a movie to pass the time.

After the movie I checked my account, nothing. I called again and they said that they would put a rush on it. I spent more time at the hostel and met London Jack and another guy from Korea. They invited me out to check out some churches. I figured that I could try every ATM in town on the way.

The first place we went to was Kirova Plaza, a huge square. There used to be churches on either side, but they were damaged in an uprising and Stalin had them pulled down and replaced by some really ugly administrative buildings. After passing a simple brick Catholic church we found the18th century Saviours's Church. The outside was the best part because there were some faded mosaics. Next up was the colorful Bogoyavlensky Cathedral. We then made our way to the eternal flam, which Jack referred to as the tomb of the undying warrior.

The real test was coming up, could I get out money? We made one more stop and I was finally successful. I could have dinner that didn't consist of dried noodles!

By the time we got to a cafe I was more than ready to eat. I ordered the beef stroganoff. It was really good, but the portion was minuscule, I could have eaten three of them. On the way back to the hostel we picked up some beers and then drank them while watching movies.