Irkutsk and Olkhon Island

Irkutsk only gets one sentence here; it is boring and expensive and not worth hanging around in.

It is good however as a stopping point to get to Olkhon island on lake Baikal. After our second night in the hostel we caught a minibus at quarter to 8 for the 6 hour drive to the island. It turns out the paved road on the route didn't last too long so it was gravel tracks for about 100km. After a short and freezing cold trip on a tiny open car ferry we arrived on the island where the road was even worse for the last 40km. At the hostel on the island we were given an individual room in an all wooden buildings, ours even had a log burning stove to heat it.

The island was a rediculously picturesque place with perfectly clear, clean water and surrounded by mountains. On the day we arrived we took a walk up the coast and back through the town/village. A very strange experience as there were more cows and stray dogs roaming around the streets than people. The hostel provided full board accomodation and was certainly the best food we have had in Russia. Omul, a fish unique to the Baikal featured heavily on the menu's in soup, fried and plain forms.

Where I took my "swim"

On the second day we took a tour in an old Russian 4x4 minibus to the North of the island stopping at several of the more interesting parts for photo opportunities. During one of these stops I managed to fall through the ice of a little pond behind a beach; thank God for waterproof boots! When we reached the very North you could really apreciate the scale of the lake with it stretching out much further than the eye could see. On the way back from the North we stopped at another beach that had a much larger expanse of ice just behind it. Everybody on the tour was soon sliding around on it, even after my earlier failure! 

On the way back the minibus broke down in the middle of a forest, though this was obviously not a rare occurence as it turned out the driver had a host of spare parts ready in the bus.

When we got back to the hostel we went for a Banya, a traditional Russian bath. This was quite a strange experience involving the hottest sauna I have ever been in followed by mixing a tub of water and pouring it over your head with a big ladle. After that evenings meal a musician with a Balalaika played a selection of Russian folk songs and some great covers of music from around the world (including, Gillis will be glad to know; Europe – The Final Countdown!). After this the evening was spent hammering straight vodka in our room with the other people who had been on the tour with us in the day.

The journey home took the same amound of time as the journey there despite a 1 and a half hour wait for the ferry. This was made possible due to our crazy minibus driver keeping a constant speed of nearly 150kmph (when he found tarmac) and making some "interesting" overtaking manouverers! 

The next day we were hoping to improve our record on getting to the train station and so we set off an hour early to get the tram. After a wait of 15 minutes with 4 trams going the other way and not one heading the way we wanted Pete suddenly remembered he had left his glasses back at the hostel (I count that as another loss for the list). During his 10 minute run back the hostel there were still no trams heading our way so we admitted defeat and tried to hail a cab. After 10 minutes of shaking heads we finally go one to take us, even if the price was pretty crazy! We made it for the train with just under 10 minutes to spare... another stressful journey.