We left Ulaanbaatar at 9.10pm on Wednesday night and arrived in Irkutsk (Russia) at 7.40am on Friday morning. The train ride to Irkutsk in Russia was largely unspectacular. Unfortunately, due to the timing of our train, most of the train’s movement was done during the evening. The one full day we had (Thursday) was largely spent at border crossings and general hanging around (we aren’t too sure why - but this hanging around is planned as the train arrived on schedule).
What was distinctly noticeable was the greenery of Russia compared to the harsh desert-like landscape of Mongolia. Russia felt positively green, and rather than the odd smattering of trees, there were entire forests.
Arriving in Irkutsk we hopped straight into a car and headed out to Lake Baikal, the largest fresh water lake in the world (by volume, second largest by surface area, Baikal contains 20% of the world’s fresh water!). Once again the weather has been absolutely fantastic. Lake Baikal in the winter is stunning. The lake is narrow and long. At its narrowest the lake is about 20km wide, but it stretches about 600km from North to South.
Generally about late January the weather gets sufficiently cold enough for the surface of the lake to freeze. What we didn’t appreciate was that the entire surface of the lake froze. The ice is so thick, that the lake becomes a highway. Don’t want to detour around the lake for hundreds if not thousands of kilometres? Simply drive across the lake! Despite watching a number of cars pass (some of which use the cold weather to ship supplies to their remote houses quickly and cheaply), walking on the lake was a little unnerving. Coming across a couple of scuba divers who had cut themselves a hole in the ice (madness I know!) indicated that the ice we were walking over was about 40cm thick. Nevertheless, the sheer depth of the water we were walking over, even just 60 or 70 metres from shore, had us on full alert.
On our second day in Baikal we went dog-sledding. A once in a lifetime thrill. We were greeted by 47 dogs howling and yapping, begging to be untied from their tethers and go for a run. With very little preparation we stood on the sled - I barely had time to get my grip before we belted off. The dogs were full of energy and within seconds we were travelling at speeds of 30-40kmph, going around corners, over bumps and jumps and inbetween trees of the national forest. After 10km (which took about 30 mins on the sled) we stopped and had a very russian picnic lunch, involving a meaty potato soup cooked over an open fire, bread, cheese and salami. The 10km back to base was exhilarating. Notwithstanding the 10km run carrying two fully grown men (me and the instruction who sat on the sleigh) we were once again accelerated to full pelt, screaming down hills around trees and through puddles.
About to board our train for Moscow now so we will post again in about 4 days from now.
Matthew and Jen
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| Jen and our guide Costa walking on Frozen Lake Baikal - this is no trick photography! |
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| Driving on the lake... |
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| Any mode of transport will do across the ice... |
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| Looking back towards shore. As the lake drops off so quickly it was potentially over 100m deep from where we were standing |
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| Our guide Costa on ice |
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| Hovercraft - were very popular on Saturday with tourists and locals alike |
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| Okay - this did not look like fun |
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| Lake Baikal to the left, the river coming off the lake never freezes given its current |
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| The town we were staying in called Lystvyanka |
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| All the dogs wanted to run |
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| Cooling off at the half-way point |
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| Me and the lead dog - very friendly dogs |
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