I SLEPT right through until 9am! I don’t think I have done that in years – I must be so chilled-out here.
Sergei has a theory that the word for Siberia also comes from the Latin word that spawned the English term ‘severe’, which could be right. It doesn’t seem particularly severe in Siberia this morning. There is a frost, but it is another day of blue sky and golden sun.
We enjoyed a breakfast of eggs and sausage, plus pastries with apple jam and then at 11am-ish we set off along the lakeside path with Sergei with the aim of having a good walk across to the forestry camp for lunch.
Sergei thought it was about 6km each way, while Galena thought it was 8km each way, but it was a beautiful morning and we were soon striding out along the track. Lake Baikal shone the most brilliant blue and the forest was extraordinary shades of green, gold and deep red. We were soon joined by the Siberian husky who sat with me on the lakeside yesterday, though he disappeared after a while.
Once we left the village, the path branched off of the road and became narrower and started to wind through the trees. It plunged up and down quite a lot and then came out on the cliff face, where it remained parallel for some time. I luckily don’t suffer from vertigo, though I think Nikki found it a bit awkward at times.
It was a long walk in the sunshine and we came across regular campsites where people had made fires. Sergei amused me by telling us that the Cossacks used to ride their horses along this narrow trail on patrols to catch people who tried to cross from the other side of the lake.
I thought the trail was far too narrow and close to the cliff edge for a horse, but I was proved wrong when I saw horse-poo on it – people obviously still ride along this trail today, which I find amazing.
We eventually arrived at the forestry camp at about 1.30pm and Sergei told us we could relax on the shoreline for a moment while he went up to the buildings and checked that our hosts had lunch ready.
The next thing I knew, Nikki was threatening a Baikal splash! So we stripped naked and both plunged in amidst lots of giggling. I thought it was only marginally warmer than yesterday and stayed under for about ten seconds while Nikki took my picture. I tried to return the gesture, but the camera kept flashing its battery light at me, so I snapped her coming out of the water.
Above: The Baikal splash – water temperature 9 deg C!
Sergei came halfway down the track during our Baikal splash, realised what was happening, averted his eyes and called to us that lunch was ready when we were. We went laughing back to the shore, dried ourselves on my fleece jacket, dressed and went up to the forestry camp, where we met Alexi and his wife Irina, who had very kindly cooked lunch for us.
What a lunch it was! To start, we had fish soup containing the local Baikal fish omul, which was a little bit like salmon and absolutely delicious. This was followed by chicken and pasta, then bliny-style pancakes with rhubarb jam and tea.
One of the sons came in and offered us vodka, so we each had two shots with some peppered sausage. The young man told us of how he hoped to go to China and how he had recently ‘killed’ his car – he’s only 22! Sergei said he was envious – he is in his 40s and has yet to own a car.
After lunch, we said goodbye to the foresters and they told us they had measured the water temperature today and it was only 9 deg C!
They also told us we could walk along the beach for some distance to avoid some of the steeper sections of track and it was quite good fun – though I slipped off a rock at one point and put my toes in the water!
Later we followed the trail back up into the woodland and there were loads of families cooking in the open air and generally enjoying themselves – Sergei explained that Russian people love to come to Baikal for day trips and short breaks.
We were soon rejoined by our husky friend who led us part of the way back into town before disappearing off again – I think he may live in the house with the large Lenin head in the garden, which was rescued from a nearby town.
As we approached the church, we saw a herd of Buryat horses coming and I took a few pictures. Buryat horses are bigger than Mongolian ones, but are still tough and wild – though one grey horse stopped to sniff my fingers.
Sergei remembered that we were in time for the church service, so we popped into the church on the lakeside to take a look at the evening mass. I was aware that I should cover my forearms, so I put my jacket on, but I suddenly realised I didn’t have a headscarf to cover my hair. Fortunately the lady who was singing spotted us and handed us some headscarves to wear – they must be used to visitors.
The church was Russian Orthodox and absolutely beautiful inside with lots of paintings of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. The evening mass involved lots of singing and the priest came in and out from behind the screen singing different short phrases, while the lady sang long sentences in the most beautiful voice.
There wasn’t a terribly big congregation and we didn’t stay for too long, but it gave us an insight into the Russian Orthodox church and for anyone who is visiting Russia, it is well worth going into a service to hear them sing.
Above: The Russian Orthodox Church on the shore at Bolshoe Goloustnoe.
Afterwards, we stopped off at the village shop to get more vodka for our colds and then went back to Galena’s, where we enjoyed another stint in the banya before dinner.
Galena had cooked us chicken with mashed potato, followed by a lovely cake and we toasted each other with vodka again and fired up the DVD to see the second video about Lake Baikal – this time it is all about the different unusual Baikal animals, including the nerpa, which is a type of freshwater seal; brown bears; omul; Siberian marmots; ground squirrels and much more.
As we were walking earlier today, I also noticed Siberia has lots of flowers – not only is there the Siberian edelweiss, but there are also dianthus growing wild, plus striking blue aquilegia-like flowers and numerous Michelmas daisy types.
After watching the video, we wished Sergei and Galena goodnight and we all went off to bed for another night of blissful sleep.
I woke at about 7.15am – back to a more normal time for me then! It was cold, but pleasant outside, another sunny day. I decided to walk down to the great lake and watch the sun rising.
I put my hand in the lake and it was fairly cold. I did some photos of the lake in the eerie morning light and watched people herding their animals out from their backyards into the grassland around the village. I spotted a few hay-stacks around, where local people had forked loose hay into big piles to feed their livestock later in the year.
I saw some more Buryat horses and did some more photos, but my batteries were soon out of juice again, so I wandered back to Galena’s house, changed my batteries and sat down to do some more writing.
Breakfast was at 10am and Galena had made us a very tasty omelette, together with a plateful of spicy sausage, tomato, bread and olives, plus a swiss roll.
Nikki is having a bit of trouble with her back this morning – she has had some problems during the trip and we are both hoping it doesn’t get any worse.
We were just finishing breakfast when our driver Valery arrived with Sergei and Galena’s next charge, Christie, so we all budged-up and they sat down to breakfast.
Christie was a larger-than-life character. This 32-year-old Australian admitted instantly that she was hung-over and had drunk far too much Chingghis Khan vodka on her way from Mongolia overnight.
She said she was a lawyer from Sydney and was spending a long time travelling to consider what to do next, because she wasn’t really happy with her job. She kept us entertained for half-an-hour with her tales of drinking koumiss and really not liking it.
Christie then decided she would like a rest, so she went off to bed for a couple of hours. We weren’t leaving until 1pm, so Sergei decided he would come for one last walk with us and I fancied one last dip in the lake (my third!), so I took my trek towel out and we all walked down to the lakeside and Nikki and Sergei continued walking while I stripped off and plunged in.
I was just swimming a couple of lengths because it was quite pleasant this morning, when I realised that I had attracted quite an audience! Not only were the two adorable Siberian husky pups which had followed me down onto the shore looking on, but a family of about five or six Russians were gathered there too.
I came out of the water slightly tentatively as I was completely naked, and the red-headed Russian lady spoke – I imagine she asked what the water was like, so I tried to indicate ‘middling.’ She promptly stripped off and went in, shrieked, splashed about a bit and came out laughing.
Two other young ladies joined us, together with a middle-aged lady, and they all rolled up their trousers and paddled in – that was it, I had started a Baikal splash party! What fun!
Having stretched out on the grassy bank for a few minutes, I dried off and got dressed, still fending off the excitable puppies – one of which had got hold of the mesh stuff-net that my trek towel goes in and was having a great game with it.
I left the party on the lakeside and walked back towards Nikki and we went along the shore for some distance before circling back through the village to Galena’s house.
One of the things that has been puzzling us during our stay in Bolshoe Goloustnoe is that all the houses have a little plaque on them – some have what looks like an ice-cream cone, some have rakes and some have shovels.
We asked Sergei and he explained that Galena had said they depicted each family’s role in the event of a fire, because the village is many miles from the nearest fire station. Those with rakes would pull off burning roof materials, those with shovels would bury fires with dirt and those with ice-cream cones (which are actually water buckets) would douse the flames with Baikal water.
Above: A colourful wooden izba, Bolshoe Goloustnoe.
When we got back, Galena made us a cup of tea and offered us more slices of cake before we left. Valery had brought our passports back and our rail tickets, and although he does not speak much English, he was able to explain the carriage and berth numbers. Sergei asked him if he would take us somewhere to change money and then on to the rail station.
We made our farewells to Sergei and Galena and got into the car with Valery, who started the long drive back to Irkutsk – much of which is along unmade roads. He had some kind of slow puncture on one of the rear tyres along the way and stopped to pump it up.
Then – bless him – when we got into town, Valery gave us a bit of a tour and showed us different churches and parks, before taking us to Hotel Irkutsk to change money, then on to the railway station in time to enjoy a cup of tea and a cake at the cafe. Then he escorted us to the Trans-Siberian, so we couldn’t possibly catch the wrong train by mistake. What a star!
Once on the train, we discovered we were sharing a compartment with two large Russian guys. They didn’t speak a word of English and I speak only three words of Russian, but it was clear they had lots of friends in nearby compartments.
Once we were on the move, one of their younger friends came into our compartment and picked up my phrasebook. He indicated ‘food’ and ‘follow’ to me and I thought he meant he was going to show me where the dining car was. So I followed him down the carriage and he led me into a nearby compartment where he and his friends had laid out a huge Siberian feast.
It turned out he was sharing a compartment with Tracey and Amanda and soon up to a dozen of us were packed in there – including Pat and Rachel – and lots of frantic translation and laughter transpired as it became clear the Russians wanted us to join in with their feast.
Over copious amounts of vodka; Siberian whisky; fresh fish from the Angara River which flows out of Baikal; chicken; pizza; potato bread; sausage and vegetables, we learned that this group of friends like to make people feel welcome in Siberia and they told us that Siberian people are very warm and friendly.
We learned that they all work together on a hydroelectric dam in Irkutsk, but they were going to Yeketerinburg (two days away on the train) for a holiday. As we all chatted, we also learned more about Rachel’s scary story.
Our paths should not have crossed with Rachel and Pat again after Mongolia because they left on a train a day ahead of us. But Rachel and a Polish girl, who appeared to speak fluent Russian, got off the train at Ulan-Ude thinking they had 50 minutes at the station, so they went to a cafe.
Unfortunately when they returned to the platform, they found the train had left without them! But three teenage girls approached them and said not to worry, because there was a bus and they would take them to it.
So Rachel and the Polish girl got into the teenagers’ car in good faith, but instead of being taken to a bus station, they were driven into a seedy area of town and beaten up by the three girls, who took their bags – including their passports and cameras – and ran off.
Rachel and her friend managed to find a guard, who took them to a police station, where they had to spend the night and fill in a million forms with the help of an interpreter. Luckily, Rachel’s luggage was still on the train with Pat, who had insisted on keeping hold of it, even when the train staff had wanted to throw it off at the next station – unattended luggage is a possible terrorist threat I suppose.
Eventually Rachel, Pat and the luggage were all reunited and put back on our train, though Rachel still has no passport or camera, just document copies and a covering letter from the police.
When our Russian friends saw the bruises on Rachel’s mouth and the scratches on her back, they were most unhappy that a visitor should be treated this way in their country.
They are a really nice bunch – there’s Sergei and Sasha, who are in our compartment; then the younger Sasha who reads English and German; Anatoly, who’s the group clown and is very funny; Alexander, who is quite quiet and Vladimir, who is a real gentleman.
During this highly social evening I must have had six or eight vodkas and whiskies before returning to my compartment and going to bed.