Across Russia

We boarded the train in Mongolia around 9 at night. The train was a small step up from the chinese train to mongolia - but still fairly basic. We arrived at the Mongolia/Russia border around 8 the next morning and spent the next 5 hours having our passports/visas checked then re checked and every piece of paper they could find stamped and then re stamped. After we got on the way again. The train was now full of half the russian army and walking the 6 carriages to the dining car was quite an experience.

After 40 hours on the train we arrived at Irkutsk and hoped on the bus out to Listvyanka, which is a little town on the shores of Lake Baikal. We all stayed in a beautiful B&B with a very lively host, Nickolai who cooked all our meals and made sure everybody felt right at home.

On the first day we had a walk around town and checked out the seal show - featuring 2 of Lake Baikals own fresh water seals. They were without doubt the 2 fattest seals I have ever seen. Not sure if this is a natural characteristic or just a by product of the fact they do a show every 45 minutes every day with a lot of fish based rewards.

Ben was most excited to find that beer was sold in 2.5 litre containers for around $4 and that freshly smoked omool (Lake Baikal fish similar to trout) was sold at roadside stalls for $2.

The second day was gorgeous and we went for a cruise on Lake Baikal. I managed to get sunburnt which was quiet a suprise for siberia. We then found a nice roof top bar and spent the afternoon drinking in the sun. It felt more like Greece than Siberia.

That night we had a traditional Russian Banya (cleansing sauna) - complete with birch branchs. Not sure it was an experience I would rush to try again.

After 2 relaxing days in Listvyanka we were back to Irkutsk for a day tour. Despite the guides assurance it was the "Paris of Siberia" it was pretty dull and uneventful.

Then it was back on the train for the longest stint on the train. Over 70 hours with only a couple of 20 minute stops in which to get off and get some air. The train was quite fancy compared to the other 2. We had air conditioning and even a tv. It only showed Russian sit coms so it was fairly useless - but it still felt like a luxury to have it.

Despite one fairly unsuccessful trip to the dining car it was a fairly uneventful trip. Lots of vodka and card games made it go fairly fast.

The next stop was Vladimir. We got off the train to find that our bus to Suzdal had broken down. We got taxi's instead and it was quite an exciting trip. I don't think our driver went under 130 the whole drive and seemed to prefer overtaking on the shoulder as opposed to the road.

Suzdal was beautiful. Over 67 churches scattered through a cute village. We had a walking tour and then went to a local ladies house for dinner. Vodka drinking and Russian dancing were strongly encouraged.

The next day it was time to board the hottest bus ever and head to Moscow.