The four of us 'woke up' to the alarm at 6:30am. I use the term 'woke-up' loosely as we were about as awake as a computer can be 'asleep'. It is a convincing approximation. We stared, unmoving, through the window to the passing Siberian country-side approaching Irkutsk with an, albeit muted, sense weariness, excitement and trepidation.

None of us really knew what to expect. Having been reading reports of the towns murderousness, desolation and desperate sorrow from excerpts of a guide written in 1902 we wondered how much had changed. Is the Cold War still going on here? Do they stab you for not accepting sausage or not speaking politely? Or is it one great vodka-fuelled party town with cheap limos for all? We stepped out into the relatively mild cold (still no polar frigidity yet) and looked for driver who was to pick us up. Our driver wasn't there to pick us up. We shouldn't have been surprised really. Neither had they in Beijing or Ulaanbaatar, at least initially. However this time we had a long distance into the countryside to cover and we still hadn't worked out if Irkutsk was a 1902 gulag or the site for the next 'Hangover' film. After a calm little panic we managed to secure a taxi and our onward tickets into the bargain as well. Once in the taxi Kathryn fell instantly asleep leaving Gavin to assess the contrasts of Russia to Mongolia. Most immediately evident was the traffic. While there was still a sense of 'freedom' with the road rules it wasn't quite the manic free-for-all of UB. Similarly the presentation and approach of taxi touts and street sellers was less insistent. Despite being closer to UB than Moscow the European 'politeness' seems to have filtered across the miles. Indeed, nobody even tried to kill us and dump our bodies in the woods.

Our destination was a hotel on the mouth of the Angara River as it meets Lake Baikal. Lake Baikal, the Pearl of Siberia, is the largest fresh water lake in the world.


600kms long, 30kms wide and 1.6 kms deep. It contains 1/5 of the world's fresh water, more than all the U.S. Great Lakes combined (another Soviet Cold War victory). It is a UNESCO World Heritage list site with several unique species including the Omul fish which is ubiquitous in its smoked form to eat. Not being fish eaters we can't tell you how it tastes but it is fun to say: "Omuuuuuuuuuuullll". What do you call an endangered species with a cigarette in its mouth? Smoked Omuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuull.


Our hotel was as advertised with a lovely view, a terrace overlooking the lake and river and staff that spoke more English than we did Russian. It also oversaw the Anman Rock. This stoney outcropping is subject of a local legend - Lake Baikal had a daughter and 336 sons (the lakes tributary rivers). The father had wanted the daughter to marry a particular man who, to the daughters dislike, was a bit of a spiv. So she ran away to marry some other guy. In anger the lake father threw a rock after her. She got away but the rock remains. Unfortunately the rock itself is no more impressive than this shitty retelling of the story.


Our ridiculously large room was a welcome change to the cramp train compartment. There was race to the bathroom then simultaneous collapse to sleep.


A brief exploration of local TV found RT.com. An interesting channel that spruiked itself as an alternative to mainstream western media. Interestingly it previewed Julian Assange’s (of Wikileaks) new show in which he interviews people by Skype from his home detention - his first guest was the leader of Hezbollah. More interest was seeing how RT TV would try to implicate 'the West' as being responsible for every calamity and Russia as the saviour. The weather was threatening to be bad due to Washington and Britain's mistakes but fortunately Vladimir Putin himself rescued the sun from Afghanistan.


Our day ended in a traditional way with a constitutional walk to the lake-side allowing us a view of the ice sheet over it and then a hearty Russian dinner. The food, despite warnings, was really very good. Our attempts at Russian in ordering it were not.