Siberia

Well we are in Irkutsk in our hostel. We got to the hostel about eight in the morning local time. When we fell asleep on the third and final night of our 3 days and 3 nights train journey it looked pretty good out. When we woke, there was snow. Moscow was great, the Red Square and The Kremlin are fantastic. It was very surreal standing there looking at it when you see it on TV and  in films. The ice sculpture park we wanted to visit was closed though. It's a beautiful city and very impressive to look at for the most part. Very expensive though. There is lots of money in Moscow! The train journey was good, Russia is soooo big. Although the landscape doesn't really change considering we traveled over 5000 miles. The people were in our cabin were great. They gave us gifts. The fella Sergei gave me a badge from his soldier's hat the very first morning and we had only said hello basically. He walked us off the train this morning and carried my bag while I had Niamh's. He bought us ice cream yesterday too. Really nice guy, even if he had very little English. Very hard explaining card game rules! Top bloke, except that he could snore for Russia, something else! Tanya was the name of the lady with us. A stern looking Russian woman but with a nice smile, added to with her gold tooth. Bling Bling. Once again, very little English, but we had a few beers all the same. The men next door to us bought us a potato cake and a fish. Really nice of them. The fish was fully intact, so I had to gut it but it was smoked, so you could eat the meat as is. Tasted like smoked salmon. Yum! It wasn't great to look at but we better get used to strange food. We still have to go to China yet. That fish could look like a fine steak by then. Cat anyone? Russians are really nice generous people. But they are so stern. They do not smile and can seem cold and scary initially but once you chat to them they are lovely. It is a very different culture. Even the fellas next door that bought us the gifts wouldn't say hello when we would pass them in the aisles. But shook our hands and said big goodbyes when we were leaving. They seem to greet and acknowledge people in a different way to us.

Lake Baikal
We have just gotten back from Listvyanka on the side of lake Baikal. It is so beautiful here. We walked up a look out point which had amazing views over the lake. We walked half the way up and then got a ski lift the rest of the way. There was a man at the top sweeping the mountain, which was little baffling. We still can't figure out the point of it! Then on the way back to the hostel a car drove really fast through a puddle and drowned Emmet. It was very funny for me. I had spotted the car coming and ran out of the way. I tried to warn him but instead of words I just made a dinosaur noise. Strangely Emmet didn't understand and didn't move.  We spent a lot of time just chilling. It is so calm and serene here, a far cry from Moscow! We got a banya which is a Russian sauna which was really nice. We have spent the rest of the time walking and sitting around the kitchen table chatting to the other guests. But time to move on...we have one more night in Irkutsk where we plan to visit a house that one of the Decemberists (a group of wealthy people from St. Petersburg who were exiled to Siberia for trying to stage a coup) lived in. Then off to Mongolia.

Link to Pictures