Tuesday 22 September 2009

Irkutsk and Lake Baikal 2009:)

Hi guys here are a few photos of the next stage of the trip. After leaving Mongolia we had a 5 and half wait at the Russian Border… it was kinda of scary, as I had a beard and did not really look like my passport photo… this caused some confusion in getting into Russia. We finally made it and 24hours later we arrived at Irkutsk.

 

We already had booked the hostel and managed to catch the tram to the hostel… only problem was that there was no one who knew where to get off… luckily there was a young guy who helped us out. Our hostel was great and we organized the trip to the Island on the lake. The Island was a 7hour trip away by car or mini van which was SO FULL that we could barely breath, never the less it was fun to talk to new people. At this stage we had lots of friends travelling with us which was pretty cool. Before we left for the island we did some basic shopping and site seing in Irkutsk… it was cool but a bit run down compared to what we were going to see in Moscow but it was paradise compared to Mongolia! The women in Russia are really beautiful, as we found out for every man there are 4 women!! As a result they really care about how and what the look like.

 

At the island we had no hot water or real toilets but it still was great fun, even meet some guys from Eindhoven believe it or not. This hostel was setup up by an ex ping pong champion… Nikita so we ended up playing ping pong at nigh while during the day we got close to nature, really close:) Had meals over a fire and got real fish and cooked them on the spot:) What an adventure.

 

We only stayed for 2 days and had to head back to the station to catch our next train to Moscow… eheheh

 

To be continued:) Gareth

Irkutsk and Lake Baikal 2009

Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.

Aldous Huxley

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