4/26/2009

Journey to Lake Baikal

Sunset over Lake Baikal

Train 222 from Yekaterinburg to Irkutsk turned out to be very local and full. A couple, Ruslan and his wife-to-be Nadine, shared the compartment with me. Ruslan, with his splattering English, was doing his best to strike up a reasonable conversation with me, whilst gulping down the first of his 5 pints of Russian beer for the night. They insisted on viewing the photos I took on the trip after I traced my journey so far on a paper map, which I gladly obliged, under a constant stream of Russian rap and dance music from their mobile phones. Ruslan showed me the catalog of giant copper cables that his company produce, which he sells to customers, even though the only think I understood was the diagrams and pictures that looked incredibly familiar from my uni days of studying electrical engineering. When he tried to guess my age, it was a ridiculous 20 - maybe he was just been extremely polite.

They got off the next morning at the city of Omsk and the compartment did not welcome a another visitor until the train called into Novosibirsk, where a big woman, dressed in red from top to bottom, including her bags and shoes, came onboard and immediately pulled out a bottle of Russian beer and asked if I wanted some. She tried to say a few words of mandarin from the notebook that she pulled out from her handbag. Her interests in our conversation came and went almost as quickly after I kindly turned down on the drinks. In no time, she was fast asleep soundly without even finishing her 2nd bottle.

The train crossed another 3 time zones (I am now the same time zone as Mongolia, China and Singapore, the good news is that I will be sticking to this time zone all the way from now) by the 2nd day of the journey, 4400km from Moscow, but not even halfway to Vladivostok, and I was starting to get restless and sleeping at night was a challenge. The struggle to understand the locals to strike up any useful conversation was also building into frustrations, and there was not a single like-minded traveller on the train as well - It seemed that my ticket was uncommon for Trans-Siberian travellers like me. Having the train aligned to Moscow time whilst we were actually 5 hours ahead doesn't help with the meals. Breakfast, lunch and dinner seem to completely mixed into a convoluted mess, but I tend to just stick to my biological clock. On the hygiene aspect, the toilet seems to have a "natural" ventilator in the source of the same hole on the floor that drains away any water spilled from the tiny basin, very cooling at times - nice!

My third visitor was Roman, one who spoke with great pride of his same name as the owner of Chelsea football club, who was also eager to show me the photo in his wallet of his wife and 4 year old son. He seems to be very proud of his home town in Irkutsk and tells me of his Japanese car (part of the influx of used cars from Japan and other booming Asian economies) and own apartment, especially when I told him I had a bicycle which I use to cycle to work and most other places, is jobless and will be living with my parents when I get back home. He was also into his third bottle of Russian beer well before the sky started to turn dark and snow heavily. Seems like most locals simply drink to pass the incredible long time spent on trains although I have not met anyone on the train who drinks the legendary vodka yet.

Finally arrived in Irkutsk at 02:35 and was only glad to have a young guy speaking fluent English (Finally!) holding my name on the platform to pick me up to the village of Listvyanka, by Lake Baikal for the next 3 days. The journey took another hour and half before we finally stop at a house overseeing the frozen lake. Jarin, collected me and showed me my room which I settled in but struggled to get to bed after the multiple transits.

This UNESCO listed lake is more than 1.6km in depth, deepest and oldest lake in the world, containing roughly 1/5 of the world's fresh water supplies. Water is so clear (up to 40m visibility) and deemed drinkable as it is, literally. Locals often bring a big container a metre in height and he will have 2 small fillers down to the lake to scoop the water. The ice of the surface forms a mirage that often misled people to think that the mountains peaks bordering Siberia with Mongolia seems nearer than they should. Darwin would be so amazed if he were to know a species of fresh water seals have evolved and acclimatize to this environment so far inland. Their numbers have been recovering slowly after a hunting ban for their precious fur on these amazing mammals. I wonder if the polar bears will wander this far south if global warming is to continue melting the ice up in the North. Another native fish found only in this lake, Omul is a delicacy here too and its meat taste delicious and sweet, which I tried at the excellent Cafe ProshliyVek, where I had my dinner for the 2 nights I stayed by the lake (homestay only included breakfast). The visit to Baikal museum was fascinating, although tiny to describe the size. Paying 350R to see the pair of enclaved seals and other fish and sponges found in the lake seems a bit too much especially when the guidebook indicated only 100R. I do have mixed feelings about such exhibits but I think it is important to educate the public where necessary, and in this case, I have definitely learned more about the wildlife in and around the lake. The climb up the hill behind the museum is also well worth the effort for an excellent view of the lake and Angara, the only river that the lake flows into, where a dam has been built near the city of Irkutsk for the cheapest electricity for the residents in the whole of Russia - as per the locals.

lake baikal panorama

The couple of the homestay I am living with goes on with an extremely simple lifestyle. They spend majority of the day at home watching television as their 3 children are all working in other cities, especially during this period of time when it is neither winter nor spring. Living beside a lake huge enough for the entire world's population for the next 40 years if all other freshwater were to run out today, I am pleasantly surprised by how water efficient they are as there are drums palced in almost everywhere possible in the gardens to collect runoff water from the hills behind as well as the melting snow for agriculture usage I suppose.


Winter never seem to end in this part of the world, only the temperature goes up slightly higher above freezing. After another night of heavy snow, the sun is at least showing up the following day. Unable to find more activities to do and again struggling to have any reasonable conversation, even with the local tourist office, where I was trying to find out on the availability of things to do. Ended doing more trekking up north by the lake, only to be turned back after 4km in as sections of the path has been submerged. It was a pity to see endless empty or broken beer bottles and other rubbish left behind by humans along this beautiful lake.

Spent more time watching BBC Iplayer downloads for the remaining day than I would have liked but also took the opportunity of the brilliant sunshine to sit by the lake, in front of broken iceberg, trying to come to terms with Mr Darwin's evolutionary book. The amazing sunset over a frozen lake was enough to ease all prior frustrations.

Got out of Listvyanka to Irkutsk the next morning on a local bus costing 101.50 R. Spent the afternoon wondering around the Regional museums. Again felt the entrance fee has been jacked up to 200R from the quoted 100R in the guidebook. The ticket office literally gave me 2 tickets of 100R each to explain why I was paying that amount! Stocked up more food at the supermarket before trekking another 5km to the train station, for my 32 hour journey, finally leaving Russia and heading into Mongolia.

Photos of Trans Siberia set.

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