September 29th: Irkutsk to Ulaanbaatar

Eleven days traveling and Mark still seems to be ok with me! I think that's a good way to start a blog post... and a day. :-)

The train from Irkutsk left at 8:08 am, precisely. These Russians could rival the Swiss with time keeping.

Our train (#4) was much different from the one that carried us from Moscow. Today's First Class compartment featured bunk beds along one side, a table in the middle, another seat the other side of the table (another window view), a coat closet and... wait for it... a shower! Sure, sure, the shower is shared with our neighboring compartment (think of it like a Jack and Jill bathroom) but I'm not sure we have a neighbor yet. And while I don't plan on needing a shower, I'm quite amused at the idea of taking one just to say that I did. LOL

This train is more Chinese looking than Russian. Its green and gold on the outside, there is a Chinese looking chap as a gate-keeper to our carriage (#9) and his job apparently includes stoking the coal fire that heats the water too (and my good reason for not having a shower). Seriously, every carriage has a coal fire burning non-stop.

All signage is in Chinese and Russian, the general state of things is much less clean than our Russian train was and we are missing those fluffy white pillows and comforters that I so appreciated.  On the bright side, we have our very own power outlet and the English speaking comrades in our carriage have been super generous with letting us borrow their adapters to charge our gadgets.

Oh yeah... ALL of our gadgets are charging just fine and the problem appears to have been the dodgy Russian adapters we purchased in Moscow and Irkutsk! Now, why they affected our electronics one at a time, on and off etc is a mystery, but even my computer is working  now that it has had 2 hours connected to regular power again! After 3 days completely dead, I'm going to have to start calling this one, Jesus. Sweeeeet Jesus!

Our first real view of the day was Lake Baikal. The tracks circumvented half of the lake over the course of a few hours, rounding the southern tip before heading east toward Ulan Ude. Even though the windows of this train are decidedly grimey and each picture is cloudy as a result, I will treasure each one as it reminds me of this amazing journey. (My Samsung phone keeps reminding me that my pictures will be better if I clean the lens. LOL)

Mark and I broke into our food bag @ 10:30 am. Breakfast had been light but more than that, we just knew we had the most superb picnic planned. Caviar, salami and Ritz-like crackers. Dried apricots, Lake Baikal water, instant coffee and UHT milk (which was scarily far from white). We were feeling proud of our Irkutsk marketplace shopping skills and posh menu.

Your eyes do not deceive you, that is a Spork and a Swiss Army Knife. We never travel without them.

I was able to fully relax on the train. Was it the relief that we were once more fully charged, enroute to Mongolia, settled into a compartment that is, in all honesty, smaller than my closet at home or just the clickety-clack of the wheels on rails and changing scenery? I suspect all of the above - with exception of the clickety-clacketyness, since this train was actually grinding, squeaking, squealing, rattling and howling all the way to Mongolia! Hahaha! (But not joking.)

By 12 pm we were still winding around the lake.  Mountains and rivers, lake views abound. There had been no stops yet, which is a pity. Those windows were just begging me to clean a spot, although I'm not sure, once out on the platform, I'm able to reach that high anyway.

Mark started his second book - my book. Having read not more than 2 pages in the last 10 days of travel, he will surely get more value out of it than I will/have.

We stopped in Ulan Ude in the afternoon and had 40 mins or so to stretch legs, snap up a meaty pastry snack and buy another USB charger. This time I made the seller plug it in and demonstrate it works before I forked over the $2.50!

The afternoon sun was delightful. Yes, we had left the overcast back in Irkutsk, where we found it 3 days earlier.  Our super nice and softly spoken carriage man opened a window in the hallway for us with his magical key that appears to open all manner of compartments on board. The narrow carriage hallway was a place of congregation, conversation, kindness and a shared love of the view.

 

I took a few minutes to stick my arm out the window of the moving train and wipe a patch of the window on the outside using my Clorox wipes and then "rinse" it with my very handy feminine-friendly cleansing wipes.  :-) The window would eventually be closed and locked again but this should convince my phone that I've cleaned the lens. The afternoon sun was fading and with it, the temperature began to drop.

We heard a rumor that the dining carriage was pretty wonderful on this train, so the early evening excursion was of course dessert out with my love. We had 'til about 8 pm, at which time, the dining car closes on approach to the border and it is removed before the train rolls onto Mongolian soil. Not sure why. All I know is that pancakes with condensed milk seemed like a wonderful idea.

The border crossing. Super interesting, super slow.
At around 8 pm we rolled to a stop on the Russian side. There was time to mix and mingle with 8 stray dogs on the platform. The smoke from our coal fires caught the light in a magical way and despite the detrimental affect on my breathing and the dropping temperature, I enjoyed "puppies on the platform" time.

Then we loaded up and waited for Russian officials to come and check us out of their country. In the next 90 minutes or so, our passports and papers were scanned and stamped (I asked the official if I could take his picture, but he smiled and firmly told me that was a giant NO go), a military branch of the border patrol boarded and inspected all the spaces (attic, trash compartments, bathrooms, hidden luggage storage spaces etc) and a very happy yellow lab went carriage to carriage too. Outside, people with flashlights were inspecting the underside of the train. Our guess was they were looking for illegal exports/prohibited items that could be stashed... Taxes related? Immigration related? It's anyone's guess.

The train traveled through no-mans-land for about 15 minutes. Outside the window in the darkness we saw military troops, tall barbed wire fences and blinding spotlights.

Then it was time to enter Mongolia. Three different officials came a knocking on the compartment door, asking to see customs forms, entry forms, passports. Prohibited items in Mongolia include but are not limited to restricted flora and fauna, donated blood and organs, weapons, explosives and bullets, lots of cash, more than a litre of vodka, animal and animal originated raw materials, experimental samples and probes, embryos, artifacts and cultural items and very poisonous chemicals. One lady checked my bag for a "medical box" and did a good job of searching it thoroughly. She didn't open Marks bag at all. Reminded me a bit of TSA random searches.

At one point a uniformed officer took all the passports, secured them in a briefcase and left the train. Another dog entered and sniffed around. Also a very happy yellow lab.

Around that time we heard and felt the dining car being removed. Apparently the train is a "click-together" model. Once that middle carriage is removed, they rejoin the remaining carriages by driving them into each other repeatedly, loudly, violently - until it clicks back together. Or at least that is what it felt like. OMG what an unnerving experience!

All this was followed by a fireworks display - sounding of course like gun fire in the beginning. Dear God!!!

The passports eventually came back, stamped. I was mostly asleep by then though and Mark handled all that as I took a mild interest from my top bunk.

September 26-28th : Irkutsk (Siberia)

Arriving at dawn to cold drizzle, I didn't hold much hope this sprawling working class city had much in the way of tourist highlights in store for us.

We hoofed it across the river and through town at peak commuter rush hour, the walk feeling great after so long lounging about the train. Since I'm obviously not made of sugar, the rain was no factor.

Our hotel (Soviet Hotel) was a pleasant surprise and check-in was accommodated at 8:30 am instead of the published 1 pm. They even made us breakfast!
Cleanliness: 9.5/10
Friendliness: 9/10
Location: 9/10
Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!!

Day 1 was low key.  A chance to meander, visit the local natural history museum and for me to take photos of the wooden buildings that this city is famous for.  IMHO the dilapidated, rotting, faded and burned out ones were the most interesting.

Day 2 was more adventurous. We decided to A) find the bus station and B) attempt to buy tickets on local public transit in order to get to Lake Baikal, 70km away.

As with all plans, there was ample room to deviate, so we did. One never wakes up in the morning and imagines that one's mouth will be full of caviar or smoked fish by 9:30 am but mine was! Mark and I came upon the "Central Market". A place teeming with fresh flowers, produce, meat, fish,  chatchki's, souvenirs, camel socks, yak sweaters, ladies under-things and so many other 'unidentifiables' for sale.

We perused 3 fish counters, each time the sales person said "no English" and made no further attempt to part us from our money. Little did they know that caviar was on my bucket list and I wanted to part with money! Eventually we met a delightful lady who couldn't have been happier to talk fish with us and give us, apparently mandatory, taste tests. I popped red caviar in my mouth... literally popped/exploded it. We busted out Google Translator and proceeded to get an education, before buying the black variety of caviar. 30 minutes later and that smoked white fish I tried hard (and failed) to chew, was still swimming around in my belly making itself known!

The bus station presented its own set of language related challenges but by lunch time we were in Listvyanka... where the Angara River spills forth into the Lake Baikal. It was a harrowing ride actually.  Scheduled to take 1:15, our mad man of a driver maintained a solid 120 km/hr in an older model minivan and we arrived in 50 minutes. To freakin' fast to take good pictures out the window!

Listvyanka is way more spread along the coastline than I thought possible. It is mostly quiet for the off-season now but I could imagine what summer might look like here; the guidebook mentions tourist cruises, fishing, hiking, and buying local souvenirs. It perhaps skips over hoards of smoked fish markets and semi-precious stones sold individually or wrapped into jewelry. It definitely fails to mention the seal show! While you'd never come here just for this show, I have to say I'm happy we checked it out. Two rotund (understatement) fresh water seals spent 30 minutes entertaining us in a way that made me feel like a 5 year old again. For tiny snips of salmon, they danced, painted a canvas, blew horns, jumped in and out of the water, fetched, kissed and clapped! Seriously, I don't know many humans who work so hard for a living and know none who do it with the exuberance of a performing seal. Bravo!

The lake. What we really came to see. Grey and choppy with a chilling wind. Vast in its appearance,  deep right to the shore, filled with life, picturesque and magnificent. Lake Baikal holds 20% of the world fresh water and is 1600m deep in places, yet is well oxygenated. Looking across, it appears that mountains line the distant shores.

Day 3.
A relaxed day spent shopping like locals! We bought little bits and pieces from the markets: salami,  crackers,  fruit,  noodles and such for tomorrow's train ride to Mongolia.

We also bought a new Samsung USB charger, since flaky doesn't even begin to describe the charging issues we've been having in Irkutsk. That deserves a post all of its own... and will get one when I'm not guarding/ hoarding every percentage of charge in my phone like it's an ounce of gold.

We ate stroganoff and layered honey cake,  sipped coffee and strolled around the city and along the river bank. There was a freezing little wind biting noses and fingertips, but I wouldn't have changed a thing... Until we got back to hotel to find worsening charging issues and that darn new USB charger didn't work one little bit!

Our front desk clerk was kind enough to lend us his charger for our phones but we sure as heck will need to figure this out in Ulan Bataar.  <sigh>

I rounded out day 3 in Irkutsk and our last night in Russia with a generous shot of vodka. What?! Call it therapy... tradition... a bucket list item, if it makes you feel better.

I don't feel compelled to excuse myself and so far, I have no regrets.

It was smooth and warm with notes of lighter fuel on the palette. Having spent the day in Smartwool, fleece, down AND Goretex layers simultaneously -  and still fighting the chill - I believe I just discovered the secret to surviving Siberian winters.

Anti-freeze. I mean, vodka.