Irkutsk and Lake Baikal

Part three
Reading time: 7 minutes

Lake Baikal

According to the handbook I have if you make only one stop on the Trans-Siberian it should be Irkutsk,so I did that! Irkutsk was established in 1652 on the banks of Angara river. It was once known as the 'Paris of Siberia'.Today the population is about half a million and the city offers some interesting places to visit.

Irkutsk

I checked in the hostel Dobrii Kot-The good cat. It was very close to the train station, but a bit far from the center. The hostel was very nice though and they even washed my laundry free of charge. As it was off season the price was low and the hostel almost empty. I dropped my bag and went out to explore the city.
The three Russians I traveled with warned me about the city and its inhabitants and even in the book I had were saying that it used to be a rather criminal city but when I walked around it felt fine. Maybe if you walk drunk in the middle of the night you might get in trouble. I think that there is a bigger chance you might get run over on crossing as people were driving like idiots and had no respect for pedestrians whatsoever.

Cool wooden houses on the streets in Irkutsk

Angara river

It was a nice sunny day and I went to some of the places suggested in my travel book. I found a tourist information center on Ulitsa Dekabr'skikh Sobytiy 77A . A really nice girl who spoke good English gave me a lot of information about the city and Lake Baikal. She suggested I should do the Circumbaikal Railway tour they have  the next day. It was 5000 rubles which was very expensive price but I just decided to go for it.It included all the tickets:bus from Irkutsk to Lake Baikal near Listvyanka, then a boat across the lake to Port Baikal and a train. I was very impressed as we were moved along the Lake with a Steam Locomotive which
was stopping like a taxi in the middle of the rail tracks so we could jump off walk and  take some pictures .
Me and two Australians waded in the lake and filled some water bottles which I, later on, sent back home.

The tourist information center in Irkutsk

The boat to Port Baikal

Lake Baikal

The train is coming

We could jump off the train along the track and take some photos

Sludianka

It was a great tour after all. Unfortunately our guide could not speak English fluently so all the talking was in Russian. I bought some hot smoked Omul (Омуль Горячего Копчения) which is a local delicacy.

Lake Baikal is so beautiful and I think is a must visit. The water is super clear.

I really wanted to go  and spend some time in Listvyanka  and camp on the shore of the lake and go for a swim, but since it was my first
ever trip in Russia,  I wanted to have all the registrations from hostels Also a lot of people suggested that Olkhon island is even more beautiful but that would have taken a few more days.
Of course a lot of places I could not see, but it is such a big country so 17 days in Russia was nothing . I hope one day I'll go there again and visit what I've missed.
On the next day, I felt it was time to move on so I went to the train station and bought my ticket to Vladivostok.

Moscow to Irkutsk

Part two-Moscow to Irkutsk
Reading time 5 minutes

The train  to Irkutsk with our 'provodnitsa

                                 

The train left Moscow Yaroslav  station at 23.45 on the 6.10.2018 I bought a 2nd class ticket in a Kupe with 3 other people.
As I mentioned before there are 3 categories you can choose from: platskartny -the cheapest or 3rd class. It is open plan carriage where you share with about 50 other people. There are bunk beds on one side and beds along the alley which means you'll have people passing by all the time. The 3 Russians I was with in the 2nd class said the 3rd class is very uncomfortable but I reckon it would be ok for a short trip. The train to Pekin had only 2nd and 1st class(2beds only in a cabin). I picked up an upper bed and it happened to be a good choice. The people in my compartment were Jurii with his wife- from Ulan Ude, they were in their 30s and an elderly lady. All of them were really nice people so I was quite lucky to travel with them.


Before I boarded the train I had a quick chat with the Provodnik -that's the carriage attendant who checked my ticket and my passport and showed me my bed. Keep in mind that they take your ticket right after you board and return it back to you just before you leave the train at your final destination. You also need your passport to buy the ticket. As it was very late when I boarded we all went to bed that night and get to know each other on the next morning. The Russians, in general, are quite inquisitive. They'll ask you all kind of questions. They'll also share all the food they have with you. Bring board games and playing cards if you can.

I managed to take some photos at the end of the train

All I could see through the window on the next day were pine and birch trees. The distances in Russia are enormous and when you travel for 7-8 hours and look at your GPS and realize you've moved an inch on the map. It's crazy. On the first day, we couldn't even reach Ural mountains. The train doesn't go extremely fast but is always on time and there's a timetable in each carriage. The average speed is maybe 60-70km/h
We passed a lot of small villages and towns. The train stops every few hours, so you've got some time to jump out and stretch your legs. You can check on the timetable in your wagon how many minutes you have or ask the Provodnitsa.On each station, there are stalls which sell all kind of refreshments. I advise you to buy a lot of instant coffee, tea bags, soup, noodles and generally food that you can prepare with hot water as there's a 'samovar;' in each carriage where you can prepare your own drinks and food. Ask the provodnik to borrow you one the cool RZD glasses they've got! I was in the last train car or N10 and the N9 was the restaurant. I tried it only once and the food was quite nice although a bit pricey. Just as an example a portion of beef stroganoff will cost you about 750 roubles /8,50 pounds and beer is about 150roubles/2 pounds.
It was after the second night when I woke up and I looked through the window and I knew we were in Siberia. All I could see were endless trees. Soon we reached Tumen.

'Babushki' selling food on the platform

We got to know better with the other 3 people in my Kupe. We shared food, told stories and they taught me a game of cards I've never played before.I must say that for me even being able to read Cyrillic the communication was very difficult and could understand only 10-15 % of what they say. Very few people speak English so many time I had to guess what they say. When I read, however, I find it much easier.

After  four days of non-stop traveling on the 10.10.2018 we finally arrived in Irkutsk

To Irkuts we travelled 5185km and arrived early in the morning. I saw a few other foreign backpackers who were waiting to board the international train to Mongolia .

The train to Mongolia

I was really tired and  needed a shower so I headed to the hostel suggested by Dmitry.
I spent  2 days in Irkutsk exploring the city and visiting Lake Baikal.