Springtime in Siberia

We left Ulan Bator on the 26th on an overnight train to Irkutsk, Russia. We where able to share a compartment with our Dutch travel companions from Mongolia, Stephan and Reinier, which made for a fun trip. A few bottles of Mongolian and Chinese beer and a deck of cards helped the first night pass quickly and painlessly. We did stop for about five hours at the Russian border, but since we didn't have to leave our compartment (excpet for it to be searched), it wasn't much of a hassle.

The next morning turned out to be a beautiful. The train was quiet (as most of the other passengers hit the vodka a little harder than we hit the beer and where sleeping in). It was a sunny spring day with bright blue skies, and we
had an incredible view of still frozen Lake Baikal. Add in some birtch forests, picturesque wooden houses with colorful windows, and snow covered mountains, and it was everything romantic I imangined about the Trans-Siberian. You could almost hear some sweeping score from Dr. Zvago in the background.

The obese vodka smelling Russian men who stood continuosly in the passageway (one of whom tried to pick my pocket- either that or he was copping a cheap feel, I'm not sure which is worse) took away from the romance a little bit, but I guess they added character in thier own way. It was a great ride.

We arrived in Irkutsk the following afternoon. Our first European/western style city in five months. I was ready to leave Asia, but I found myself missing it almost immediately once we got here. Wierd. I guess you don't know what you've got until it's gone.

Of our three days in Irkutsk, we spent a solid day and a half just trying to buy onward train tickets and get our visa registered. The train tickets where complicated by International Worker's Day on May 1. It is a pretty big deal here- a 4 day weekend and lots of people traveling. So we didn't get the train that we wanted and we had to pay more for it.

The holiday also made it harder for us to get our visa registered. Actually, the whole process is pretty bizzare. For some reason in Russia not only do you have to get a visa, but you have to get it registered within three working days and then every place you stay for more than 3 days. Since we are staying at a flat that doesn't register visas, here is the process: Go to a main hotel and wait for a blond lady named Olga to be at the desk. When she is there (and only if she is there), you can tell here that Jack sent you and give her the card, and she will register your visa (for a fee, of course). No other hotels (that we've found anyway) will register your visa unless you're staying there. Unfortunately Olga is not working over the holiday and all the travel agencies in town (which is 2)are closed for the holiday. So, after two days wasted dealing with all the B.S. we gave up. We'll do it in Moscow and hopefully they'll understand about the holiday. Otherwise you'll get to read and intersting blog on what it's like to be detained at the Russian border.

We also made a trip to Lake Baikal- which had actually melted in the two days since we had seen it on the train due to a spring rain. We had a delicious lunch of smoked fish and walked around. Lake Baikal is a fascinating place. It is the largest body of fresh water in the world (more than all the great lakes combined), and it will supposedly become the next ocean as the techtonic plates divide. It has a host of flora and fauna which are found nowhere else in the world, although we didn't see much of it due to the time of year.

Irkutsk itself is not famous for much. It was a trading post due to its fortuitous position on the southern tip of the lake, and a lot of exiles from the Decembrist Movement where sent there in the 1800s. It also has a lot more of those old wooden houses which are still used. They mostly have wood burning stoves and a well outside due to no internal plumbing. Yikes! Going outside to get water in the middle of winter here does not sound that sweet. And of couse, Irkustk is it's own country on the Risk board.

After an intersting and frustrating few days we are about to go check out of our hotel and get the 87 hour train to Moscow (also likely to be both intersting and frustrating). Due to the holiday it would actually have been cheaper to fly to Moscow. But my husband, who I love more than anything in the world, thinks that it would be giving up. Hmmmm. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I think I'll know better when we arrive in Moscow at 4AM four days from now.