WORD OF THE DAY: - Spaseeba – thanks in Russian
Our second session of the Trans Mongolian came to an end this morning as we pulled into Irkusk, our first Russian city after crossing the Mongol boarder, at 7.20am. Irkusk is known as the Paris of Siberia and as we drive through the city, I can see why. The buildings are beautiful. We get some time in the city tomorrow on our way back to the train for session 3 of our massive train journey. But for now we are only driving through as we are heading to Listvyanka which is on the banks of Lake Baikal, which is the largest fresh water lake in the world. The drive from Irkusk to Lake Baikal was approximately 1 hour. We are staying in a local home for the night here at Lake Baikal. She is really nice and a doctor in the local town.
We are now in Siberia. What ever picture you have in your head about Siberia, if it includes snow, bear trees and temperatures in the minus, then you have it just about spot on. When we arrived into Irkusk it was -1C. Siberia is known to get winter for 9 months of the year with the mid winter temps getting to minus 14C. There is a lot of fur on the locals and they make no excuses about killing the animals for the fur to keep themselves and their families warm. This is not the place for an animal rights activist – as they would get shot down in flames here.
So needless to say, the weather here is C-O-L-D!!! Before heading down to meet the group, we got a chance to freshen up and wash away the last 48 hours of the train. As I have not really packed a good jacket ( as I will not have used it again till November ) layers again are my friend here. After putting on a pair of leggings, pants, 2 pairs of socks, a thermal top, a long sleeve top and a normal top, plus my all weather jacket, gloves ( I bought on the Great Wall of China ), beanie and a neck warmer – I felt like the Michelin man – but come on cold – I dare you to give me your best shot!!!! So getting outside, to my surprise I was actually feeling okay. There was a bit of a wind chill factor thrown in for good measure, but I think my 10 layers of clothes held me in good stead, which is good to know, as apparently it is snowing in Moscow – so I guess the temps aren’t going to improve in the next week or so.
Lake Baikal frozen, is amazing. We took a visit to the local museum and saw what life actually lives in the lake and how the eco system works. It was a very visual museum, with a lot of the lakes fish they have preserved in bottles and then a live aquarium that have the ‘alive’ fish swimming around, including 2 seals they had in a tank aswell ( they were super cute, over weight, but cute all the same ) There are quite a few stats on the lake itself and I think they are quite interesting, so will list a few for you:
At 1,642 metres (5,387 ft), Lake Baikal is the deepest, and among the clearest of all lakes in the world.
At more than 25 million years old, Baikal is also the world's oldest lake.
Lake Baikal was formed as an ancient rift valley, having the typical long crescent shape with a surface area of 31,722 km2.
Baikal is home to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals, two thirds of which can be found nowhere else in the world and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.
It is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the world, containing roughly 20% of the world's surface fresh water that is unfrozen.
If the rest of the world was to run out of water, Lake Baikal could keep the whole world water'ed for 40 years.
Needless to say the lake is a photographers paradise. We walked 5km of the lake to get to the small town and port, where we stopped for lunch at an outdoor fish market. A local feast of a shiskebab, pilaf and for those a little more adventurous, olmu, which is a local fish that can only be found in Lake Baikal. I passed on the fish, but the pilaf and shiskebab were just delicious. We were hoping to get onto a hovercraft today, but as luck would have it, the hovercraft man was back in Irkusk for the day, so we didn’t get the chance unfortunately. BUT we did do the next best thing and walked on the ice. We were told there had been a lot of sunny days and that it would not be advisable to go for a walk on the lake. But after lunch there were people out there, and during our walk we saw a few cars and a motor bike driving on the lake, so we figured we were going to be okay and just took a chance. I am not sure how many people can make a claim to fame that they have ‘walked’ on the largest fresh water lake in the world. Guess what? I did and it was awesome!
Is there a juke box in Siberia? Not that I saw in Lake Baikal, but I won’t burst the bubble as there may well be one in Irkusk – let the legend live on with the Skyhooks.
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