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Baikal Lake - 5th of the World's freshwater

Listvyanka is the nearest point on the lake to Irkutsk and after our hour long, white knuckle ride we were glad we didn't decide to go further, all Russian drivers have a death wish! We got off our mini bus by the Tourist Information (well they tried) and bumped straight into our cabin friends from the train Dan and Luisa! We then found a hostel to dump our bags, the Green House Hostel. We then went exploring, the temperature was chilly, but there were blue skies. We walked as far north along the beach as we could with great views across the lake, before heading inland up the hills to find a vantage point to look over the village and lakes, just on the other side of the 63km wide lake we can see snowy mountains, presenting a great panoramic backdrop. We ate fried Omul (Endemic fish of the lake) for dinner with Dan and Lu before returning to our hostel for an uncomfortable and noisy night.

Semi-refreshed we met with some other western tourists we had met the previous day (all the foreign visitors here are doing the Trans Siberian) and for 200 Roubles, 4 pounds, went out on a hour boat trip along the shore, seal spotting and sight seeing,we saw a lot of sights but no seals. We had a lunch of smoked omul from the fish market, eaten as they come with head, tail and bones, very tasty washed down with some Russian bread and fresh pinenuts. We found a new hostel for our second night we disliked the first so much and found a nice homestay nestled up one of the valleys with a balcony view over the Siberian village and lake, toilet was outside which made a very chilly visit in the night!

 We then spent a lazy afternoon on the beach with the wide expanse of Lake Baikal before us, such a change from the busy cities of Moscow and St Petetursburg. Sophie went swimming, first for seconds and the second time for a minute (I timed her) she came out shivering but warmed up in the sun. Her icy dip gathered a group of 10 Russian children laughing and showing her how to skim stones in the waters. We made friends with our non-existent Russian and their tiny English, swapping names and maps of where we lived compared to them. It was rounded off with a group photo and presents including a small stuffed dog, apt for an area full of stray ones! Dinner consisted of beer and more smoked Omul!

 On the way back the next day we stopped off at the pricey Baikal Museum, best part were the two endemic Nerpa seals. Really cute but unfortunately were not kept in very good conditions. Tried to catch a bus back, but were happy when a man and wife stopped and offered us a free lift. Alas another high speed, adrenaline fueled trip, even more so when we were waved down by the friendly neighbourhood traffic cop for going too fast!

 We catch our 2nd leg train to Ulaan Baator, Mongolia tomorrow at 5:43am. Early night for us!

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