All we had time for in the morning was a measly, mildly interesting $5 intourist tour around the sights of Irkutsk. All we got of Lake Baikal, the world's deepest lake which contains 1/5 of the world's fresh water and is home to lots of rare flora & fauna, was a few hours view from the train the previous day. It looked pretty spectacular though.
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| Street traders |
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| Russian Chopper |
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| You still look American |
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| Irkutsk Church |
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| Irkutsk |
Train No 9 is the Irkutsk - Moscow express known as the Baikal. Dave & Amy, two Americans returning home after living in Tokyo, were going with us. The 2 couples got to share a compartment while I was put in a small 2-berth compartment, on my own, in the next carriage. Dave & Amy had the LP USSR & the Trans-Siberian handbook and Ken & Debbie the LP Russian phrasebook. No shortage of research material. We
checked out the restaurant car and as expected (predicted by the guidebooks) the menu was enormous but only a handful of items were available. Coupled with the bread, cabbage patties, cheese pancakes, potato "things", drinks and whatever else we managed to lay our hands on from the wrinkled old ladies selling on the station platforms we can get enough to survive.
Time flew by as we walked around at every stop, blatantly took photos at the stations, read and talked. The samovar at the end of each carriage bubbled with hot water to keep us in tea, coffee & pot noodles so we all went to bed contentedly.
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| The samovar |
2012
We still keep in touch with Dave, Amy and family - though increasingly intermittently. They've visited us in Sydney and we've visited them in New Hampshire.
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