Irkutsk: Cow Lung anyone?

We had arranged for pick up at Irkutsk station, simply because it was available and we had no idea where we were going. It didn't start well when we walked up into the stations concourse and there was nobody there to be seen waiting for us. The fact the train was late hadn't probably helped. Fortunately we had the phone number for the hostel to hand and gave them a call. The lady told us she had been there at the time we specified but there had been no train arrival but she came back and very kindly pick us up. As with the stops on the trans-Siberian, Irkutsk looked bleak and dull in the morning rain that was washing all the snow away to mush. On a sunny day, I was sure it would look much better. We arrived at our hostel in no time and began dragging our bags up the four flights of stairs. We managed to check in to our room straight away, despite only being 9 o'clock in the morning. We caught up on 5 days worth of news and emails, then treated ourselves to a hard earned nap. We were now 7 hours ahead of home, so any messages wouldn't be picked up for a while. We awoke early afternoon and decided to head out to the local supermarket to stock up for the week. When we got back and we were packing all our food away we were greeted by a very loud "GUYS?". It was only the 2 Dutch girls from our cabin on the train. Apparently, they had no water at their original hostel and had to move to ours. We went all out for dinner, after being confined to Cous Cous on the train, and had fish fingers, broccoli, pasta and sweet corn. An interesting combination but we were hungry.

We had included breakfast with this stay, so we got up and were greeted by a rather raw omelette, which we politely ate. On our first morning we decided to head for the central market which was fairly close to our hostel. It was large with plenty of stalls, selling fruit and veg, with the inside part selling meat, cheese and fish. Due to some earlier research we decided to steer clear of the meat due to hygiene problems. After the market we stumbles across some local sights, which to our surprise there were more than we had expected. First up was a rather large statue of Lenin, which, surprise surprise was situated on the thoughtfully named Lenin Street. Further down the street we stumbled across some sort of Olympic rally, which had lots of flag waving and singing, all very patriotic. Still further was a statue depicting the image on the Irkutsk coat of arms, which is a tiger carrying a sable in its mouth. Next to this we could just about glimpse the Holy Cross Church but we didn't stop to have a peek inside. Finally, we moved on to the area known as the 130th quarter, which was full of historical wooden buildings, they were mostly shops but there was a hotel too. We had a quick look in the 2 souvenir shops there but got no luck with our pinbadge.

We turned back on ourselves and wandered back down Lenin Street, stopping to take a photo or 2, then carried on our way. The next block down we stumbled across a small courtyard, which contained a few statues of things that seemed rather out of place. One was a cow, there was what looked like a small replica of Big Ben (Dad will moan that it's not called that so Elizabeth Tower, to give it its proper name (apparently it chimed too but we weren't there to witness that)) and the 3 wise monkeys in the "see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil" pose. Some photos were taken and we moved on, further down Lenin Street to the central square of Irkutsk. This was not like any square you see in Europe, it was large, wide, had loads of lanes of traffic flying around it and was surrounded by apartment buildings. There were a couple of large buildings either end, one was the seat of their government (I thing) the other I never learnt. Having been out the cold for a quite a while we decided for head for the warmth of the hostel, via the supermarket to obtain some Russian beer.

 Breakfast the next morning was a porridgey rice concoction, with a very interesting cold, brown soup. We happily ate the porridge but couldn't stomach the soup. We decided to catch up with blogging and photos in the morning but headed out and about in the afternoon to try and find a pin badge. We tried the close by tourist information centre first but with no luck there asked the very kind lady behind the counter where we would be able to find some more souvenir shops. Her first suggestion was the department store, which had plenty of clothes shops and the occasional gun shop but not a pin badge to be found. Our last option (souvenir shops are thin on the ground in Irkutsk) was a large souvenir shop up by the statue of Lenin. So we headed down Karl Marx Street ( they love their eponymous road names) and went in. There were 2 shops actually, the first one was more of a stationers than a souvenir shop. The second, was much more like it, the biggest in town apparently. After what was almost a fruitless search, Charlotte's eye caught one inside a glass cabinet. Always a nice feeling to get that job boxed off. That night, when we were cooking dinner we were greeted by yet another "GUYS!!" From behind us. This time it was the Indian looking man from Krasnoyarsk station who had started a conversation with us, it turned out he was Dutch. We caught up a little bit while we tried our Russian beer from the day before.

The reason most tourists go to Irkutsk is because of its close proximity to Lake Baikal. Lake Baikal is the worlds largest lake by volume and contains 1/5 of the worlds unfrozen fresh water. To get to the Lake it is only an hours bus ride to the small village of Listvyanka but this is where the majority of those tourists go. We had originally planned to go to Listvyanka today but considering we had booked a tour for Tuesday/Wednesday we decided not to go and save our first impressions for then. Instead we did a trial run to the train station, which was a 40 minute walk from our hostel, knowing we'd have to do it in the fading light the day we leave. After an hour and a half of walking, in chilly and changeable weather we refuelled with some pastries and fruit had a look at some last remaining sights.

This morning we had our tour to the Lake booked, which was an overnight one, where we would be staying at an isolated farm, completing some hill climbing on the Tuesday and doing a 12km round trip hike to a place called the white wall, where there are some ancient stone drawings. We got picked up at 11 and had a 4 hour drive ahead of us before we arrived. The scenery was pretty bland, rolling hills in the distance with flat plains either side of us. Eventually, we turned of that main road and the scenery changed slightly to the hills we could see in the distance before and swathes of orange leaved forests. We stopped off at a road side cafe to have some lunch, where Charlotte and I plumped for the Uzbek soup, which contained beef, noodles and vegetables. Upon finishing we made a u-turn and headed off road for 40 minutes while we made our way to the farm. It really was remote, little electricity, which is supplied by solar panels, no running water and a hole in the ground in an outhouse as the toilet. We dropped our bags and went to have a cup of tea in the kitchen shed. We considered heathens for asking for black tea and not herbal. Nicely warmed up we headed out to do some rambling. It was slightly tougher than we had anticipated, walking up the side of a particularly steep hill which had no footpaths but in an area so remote what did we expect. Our guide, Jack, was up it like a rat up a drainpipe but me and Charlotte struggled up, stopping regularly to catch our breath. This travelling malarkey isn't great for your fitness! Eventually, we made it and were treated to sweeping views of the valley and farm below and of Lake Baikal. It was quite a windy and grey day but the waters seemed calm and serene. The bay we were in was named the bay of the cross, which we weren't really sure why and forgot to ask Jack. It may have been because planted on top of that first hill was a wooden Russian Orthodox cross but who knows! We took a similar pathway down, over jagged rocks and loose mud and after a couple of stops to discuss Russian currant affairs we made it down to the waters edge. Along the way I picked up a free souvenir of one Baikal pebble. There was another, considerably steeper hill opposite us on the other side of the valley, which we were now going to climb. To be fair to our guide, he did ask us if we fancied it before we started up. We had concerns over the rapidly fading light but went for it anyway. About halfway up, I pulled out, as my vision in the dark is appalling but Charlotte carried on up to meet Jack who was already pretty much at the top. When she reached him, Charlotte admitted she didn't really fancy it in the dark either, so they both trundled down the side, while I made my way gingerly down.

When we made it back to the farm it was pretty much dinner time, just enough for Jack to show us some photos of the lake completely frozen over during the winter. It was an impressive sight and he also told us that one of his hobbies is to do long cycles over the ice. I'll stick to Worthing seafront thank you very much! Constantly de ring we were staying at a cow farm, we were sort of hoping for big juicy beef steaks for dinner. We weren't quite that lucky, it was all pretty good though. A vegetable stew for starter, which was fine. The main course was the interesting part. Roast potatoes, fresh salad and a flat vegetable patty sort of thing. The 'treats' were salted Baikal fish, like sushimi and battered cow lung. Which even our guide had to double take at. Not wanting to be rude I tucked in and throughly enjoyed it all, even if the texture of the lung was a bit interesting. Charlotte didn't particularly enjoy the local delicacies but she still put on a brave face and tried them. After a brief meeting with "Mr.Farmer" we retired to out cabin for a well earned rest. The main area was warm and toasty but our "wing" was slightly chilly but after getting tucked up we did warm up.

After a rather long sleep we awoke to breakfast, which as ever in Russia, was a heaping bowl of rice pudding. We ate it all not wanting to be rude, Charlotte even said she quite liked it, which was an improvement on Moscow. We finished off with a pancake or 2. After that, we set out on our hike, which followed tyre tracks up a hill and over the tops to where they meet the lake. Some photographs were taken and we moved on, skirting around a small forest and moving on to a rocky outcrops. We were then told we were heading down them. Charlotte and I glanced at each other, wondering if our insurance included rock climbing with a safety harness. After what was quite a slow and painful trek down we reached the bottom and were in a secluded bay, which thankfully blocked us from the chilly wind. We had reached the white wall and were shown the pictographs one by one, which are said to be drawn by the ancient tribes of the area. There was a sacrifice, birthing, swans and people. Unfortunately there was also a lot of graffiti on the wall, that had been rubbed into the rock like the carvings. Again we took some photos and were soon heading back to he farm, straight up the side of a steep hill, as if we hadn't done enough. When we reached the top, it was mainly downhill which provided some much needed respite. With Jack marching off on his own (probably fed up with our slow pace), we were left to find our own way back, fortunately it was pretty simple.

We gobbled some lunch which included a delicious beetroot soup and sliced cow tongue then we were back in the minivan for our 4 hour drive to Irkutsk.

Our final day, all we did was sit in the hostel after checking out and wait for our train to Ulaanbaatar. Irkutsk was a nice city and the lake was just as beautiful as we had imagined it. Well worth the stop on the train.