Blag
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Lake Baikal
Today at the lake. Beautiful. 637KM long, making it the largest and deepest freshwater lake on zee planet.
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Nikita’s homestead
Por fin encuentro un ratito para escribir en el blag!
Tres días seguidos en el tren, hacen que una ducha y un wc de porcelana sean valorados como el puro oro, pero las risas y la gente nueva que conocemos a lo largo del viaje, hace que todo merezca la pena.
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Siberian tiger
Rare sighting of the Siberian tiger (endangered species)
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Day 3 – 7
Well, a few days of Internet block out due partly to travel and partly to ‘Sputnik’. As Ivan told us with his extremely broken English each time mobile dropped out, pointed up and said ” Sputnik, bing, bing bing”
Yekaterinburg at the war memorial
An SA2 surface to air missile
Me riding said missile, Dr Strangelove style. Please note, no beer was consumed before the ride began.
As Ollie said in post…. You don’t mess with the Telman. This guy spoke almost no English, insisted we change numbers and said ” When you call me? I can’t wait talk you”. This will be an amazing phone call, I’ll be sure to update as soon as it happens….. or. Not.
Super sized litre beers, available at every train stop for the bargain price of a dollar. Russia, I love you.
Partying in our cabin with Misha and Pavel, call me Pacha. We didn’t have a night that finished before 3am. Very difficult to sleep on trains with exceptional company.
Your papers…… Are NOT in order.
Nakitas Homestead, home for next 3 days….
And inside our apartment.
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Day 7: Khuzhir / Olkhon / Baikal Lake
Three days on a train in a small compartment, crossing three more timezones, can be a long time, but not with Telman from Azerbaijan, who is a professional wrestler. Not the fake American kind or the Mexican variant with funny masks. Classic wrestling where anything goes as long as it stays below the waist. Telman or short Timur or Mr. T as we called him is a huge fella.
Then there was Pavel “call me Pasha” who coined the line “I don’t need beer, it’s the beer that needs me”. A Russian engineer. Go figure…
The ride from Irkutsk to the Island was one of the scariest things I have ever witnessed. A minibus “marshrutka” with loose axles, just hammering down on dirt roads with the needle in the red zone… But we’re here. In one piece.
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Hotel lobby elevator
Ollie wins the caption contest with the comment from the cockpit….
”Train, train, whoop whoop, pull up”
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Night out…..
Met Ivan for a few beers. He’s an officer in the Russian Army, so nyat photos…….
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Day 1 on the train
And it begins….
Moscow Kremlin
Horse anyone?
And on to the train…..
For the 1st Leg – Moscow to Yekaterinburg
Our cabin buddy, Ivan
And then comes the Vodka…..
