Beijing

Beijing was another city of great contrast.......but very different to Ulaanbaatar! It is huge, we only saw a small fraction of it ...........and it is very well organised with an excellent road system. We found it easy to find our way about as most of the street and road signs and the maps are written in our alphabet as well as the Chinese characters.  The weather was warm and humid a full 10C higher than Mongolia. 

On the first evening we familiarise ourselves with the hutong area we were staying in. The hutongs are the old narrow streets which originally formed the whole of Beijing. Over the years most of them have been demolished to make way for the high rise modern buildings and the highways. Our street was full of lovely small shops and restaurants and the side streets were still occupied by old one story courtyard dwellings hidden away behind high walls and gates. There were a lot of public toilet buildings and we assumed that many of the houses did not have their own sanitation. Amanda took Orlo into one, she said it was a real experience, no privacy at all!  We stayed at the Beijing Downtown Backpackers hostel, which was great! The staff were very friendly and helpful and there was a great mix of guests, from 'oldies' like us to young backpackers at the start of their gap year experience. They had a very good selection of rooms from double and twin with en suite to dormitory accommodation. It was extremely good value and very well located.

The following day (Saturday) we set off to explore further afield, the Forbidden Palace being the main object for the day. We walked to the Drum Tower and through parks with beautiful lakes where many residents were enjoying the weekend.  Some had set up a dance session, others having a swim, yet others just wandering along enjoying the views and the warm weather. It was very picturesque and relaxing.  We eventually made it to Tianamen Square and then to the Forbidden City, having had lunch at the streetside cafe on the way. Please note: Michael is using chopsticks!!!!! 

We bought our tickets and audio guides and entered the Forbidden City along with hundreds of others! It was very hot by now. Amanda & Orlo went their own way so that Orlo could have a run round but we followed the main route. It was so hot and busy that we could not do justice to it all, there are so many temples. We spent two hours there and one day i would like to return as we did not have time to see museum collection. After walking back to the hostel we found somewhere to eat and then went out to an acrobatic show. The show was very good with an excellent juggler, amazing acrobats and a great clown!

UB to Beijing

UB to Beijing

Well! This photo proves we made it! I am writing this on the plane from Beijing to Dubai after three and a half very busy days in Beijing. There was no time to write a blog!

We boarded the twain in Ulaanbaatar at 6.30am on Thursday 22 September for the 30hr journey to Beijing. It was just coming light and very chilly at that time in the morning. The train was on a return trip from Beijing, so it had Chinese coaches which were a great improvement on the Mongolian ones we experienced on the last leg of the train trip. We were travelling with even more luggage having collected last years' Christmas present (a very traditional felt rug) plus Amanda and Orlo with pushchair etc! Soon all was safely stowed away and we settled down. We got out the bacon sandwiches and muffins and waited for the samovar to heat up so we could make coffee. The first few hours of the journey covered ground which we had driven over a few days before, so the landmarks were familiar. The train was very slow, the track is single with passing places so there were quite a few stops to wait for other passenger or freight trains coming north from china.

Orlo was great, he loved watching out for other trains and looking out of the window at the passing scenery. He ran his engines along the top the heaters in the corridor and made quite a few new adult friends. Of course he also realised that it was great fun to run up and down the corridor too, which was fine as long as he didn't shout along the way!!!! He also explored the top bunks which Granny and Grandad were using. The restaurant car made a good expedition for lunch, it was about 6 coaches back up the train which involved crossing lots of 'bridges' between the coaches.

Crossing the Gobi was fascinating, first there is the desert grassland, then it changes to an even more arid landscape with sand and some dunes, then back to the grassland again. We passed a few oases with tress. For much of the time we could see vehicles on the road. It would appear that part of the route is tarmac, but the rest is gravel and sand as we had experienced a few days earlier.

There were two main stops before the border, with just enough time to get out for a stroll along the platform. I didn't get chance to count the coaches, but it was a very long train, maybe about 12 in all. The border crossing was tedious, once again they took the passports away, but then the train moved off to the sheds where the bogies were changed. This takes several hours and involves lots of shunting. Eventually we pulled not the station in China with the staff standing to attention, lots of lights and music to welcome us.......and the passports were returned. By this time Orlo and Michael were asleep but Amanda and I stayed up as we were still expecting a customs inspection........that did not happen. The train pulled away at 0.35am and we each dashed to the loo. The toilets had beenlocked for several hour as they were the type that flushed direct onto the line.

To be continued......

Leaving Mongolia

Beijing

We got here, no time to blog about the train trip yet!
Off to hike on the Great Wall tomorrow.

Sent from my iPad

Birthday girl!!

Amanda's birthday

On the 16th we celebrated Amanda's birthday, I managed to smuggle some decorations in to the restaurant Ger and a cake, which I had baked in UB.

Ger interior, Red Rock Ger Camp

Red Rock Ger Camp, Ikh Nart

This is another low impact Ger camp run by Nomadic Journeys, they stayed open for an extra three days for us... The gers were comfortable and it was interesting to note the different painting inside them....see next photo. Gers were being dismantled whilst we were there, s that by the last evening there were just the two we were using and the restaurant Ger left!

Ikh Nart rock formations

Ikh Nart Nature Reserve, Mongolia

This nature reserve was established in 1996, it is an uninhabited area on a plateau at 4,500', and therefore the pristine ecology of the area has been retained. The reserve contains Argali sheep, Siberian ibex, and many Mongolian gazelles. We were very fortunate to see them during our 4 days, along with a number of raptors including Golden Eagles, Cinerous Vultures, Little Owls and other smaller birds. The vultures made huge nests. We also saw some small mammals, the Mongolian pika being the most common, several tolai hares and jerboas.

The terrain is desert grassland with the rocky outcrops and canyons, and then occasional sand dune. We got our bearings eventually but there are few landmarks. One useful one was a large ovoo, with lots of scarves and flags. The tracks all look alike so it was very useful to have the images which Andrew had downloaded into his iPad from Google Earth to his GPS app.

One of the striking features for me was the number of grasshoppers, they were very well camouflaged until they jumped, when they displayed very red parts. The valley bottoms support stands of Siberian elm and willows, whilst the predominant grass is onion grass. Where the land is heavily grazed the artemesia takes over. Most of the wild flowers were over, but there were still a few asters and the odd potentilla and something which looked like a miniature mimosa. There were some very colourful lichens on the rocks too. The rock formations were pancake like granite, very grippy to walk on!

Main road south to China!

This is what happens when the tarmac runs out.......the land becomes more and more eroded as vehicles try to avoid each other and other hazards.

The road south towards China

It is almost a week since we took this road to go to stay at the Ikh Nart Nature Reserve in the NE part of the Gobi Desert. As you can see the road is quite good at this point, in fact we drove for almost 3 hrs on tarmac, which is a first for us! Most of the road journeys we have done in previous years have been on the dirt tracks, very bumpy ones too! We drove to a town called Choir, the rarmca came to an end very soon afterwards. A new road is under construction meanwhile the road is dirt and sand. On the way back we saw one very large truck deep in a 'wash' of deep sand. We got through it with 4WD. It is amazing to think that goods transported by road from China have to negotiate hundreds of miles of this terrain. Many goods come in by train though.
See next photo......

Monastery approach

Amanda with Orlo in backpack. He walked across the bridge on the way back, and he walked up all the steps......123 in all!

Terelj river crossing

Jalman Meadows to Ulaanbaatar

We woke to a beautiful sunny warm day on Sunday, the hottest day for us so far here in Mongolia. After another great breakfast and packing we set off about 11.30am. As you can see from the photo, there are no proper roads and absolutely no sign posting! We drove to the confluence of the Tuul and Terelj rivers, this was marked by a stupa and an ovoo. An ovoo is a kind of shamanist cairn built of rocks or wood and usually found at important locations such as passes and mountain tops. Offerings are left in the form of food, drink, skulls of dead horses, money, and blue or yellow silk scarves etc.

We drove on along the Terelj river through woodland and over bumpy ground. After about 15 minutes we arrived at the place to cross the river, having already crossed a couple of side channels. This river has a stony bottom and the flow was fairly low however the wheels on the Land Cruiser has slipped a bit on the way out, so Amanda put the diff locks on. We crossed without any problems causing a bit of a wave which disturbed some children who were playing at the waters edge. The new 5 star Terelj hotel is located very close to the crossing, it looked fantastic; it was created from an old sanatorium building a couple of years ago. We drove to the Ulaanbaatar 2 hotel which was next door, for lunch. Goulash with rice and French fries for Amanda and Orlo, pork schnitzel for me and 'roast pork' for Michael.

So now the tricky part of the drive was over and we were on tarmac......but not of quite the standard we are used to in the UK! It was still a very bumpy and dusty drive ! We drove through the Terelj valley which is a national park, however the valley bottom is mainly given over to tourism with many Ger camps along the way. I saw a huge change from my last visit 10 years ago.....and not for the better!

When we arrived at the famous Turtle Rock we turned off the road to park up and walk to a small monastery situated high up on the hillside. It was built a few years ago as a retreat but has become quite a tourist attraction as well as a special place for Buddhists to visit. It was a hot walk but we made it and were rewarded with great views of the valley below.

The rest of the drive back to Ulaanbaatar was uneventful, rocking and rolling along until we met up with the main road and Sunday afternoon traffic returning to the city. The traffic built up and was quite heavy once we approached the centre and we arrived back to be met by Andrew, at about 6.30pm. Showers, unpacking, pizzas and bed completed the day!

Jalman Meadows cont..

On Saturday we drove a short distance up river, and then took a short walk to the river bank. It was warm and sunny and Orlo was in his element throwing stones into the river. Grandad found a fallen tree trunk to sit on and settled into his book, which he just happened to have in one of his many pockets! Eventually we dragged Orlo away from the river and moved a very short distance to some gravel/river sand where he wanted to make holes. We were very happy to let him play, he doesn't get much opportunity to play in the dirt in the city.

After lunch Amanda went off for a ride on her mountain bike and we were left in charge! Orlo wasn't too happy to begin with but we made fora small steam we had seen the day before and he was soon very busy building a dam with his Grandad. We spent a couple hours there and then walked back up to the camp. On the way we watched the local herders bringing their stock back home for the night, lassoing some cattle, rounding up the goats, the calves being let out to find their mothers. Grandad towed Orlo up the hill with his stick and Amanda followed soon after.

A good day was had by all. The journey back will follow in the next blog...

The dam!

Jalman Meadows - our Ger

Jalman Meadow, Khentii, Mongolia

We arrived here last Wednesday, after a 3hr drive from Ulaanbaatar. The camp is located above the Tuul river with great views up and down the main valley and up a side valley. There was a cold wind when we arrived and I soon got the thermals on but the stove was lit in our Ger, so we were soon nice and cosy. This camp is one of a few run by Nomadic Journeys, it has solar power and wind power with a generator for such things as the washing machine. The gers were very comfortable with traditional ger furniture, all beautifully painted as the next photo will show. I think there were 13 gers with double occupancy, a restaurant ger, a library ger with a very good selection of reference and reading books, two shower gers and two 'wooden toilet houses'.

There were three ladies from Scotland on a birding holiday along with their guide from the Uk, a Mongolian interpreter and a German man name of Axel who had tagged along but who happened to be the expert on birdlife in Mongolia. They were good company until they left on Friday. On Thursday they very kindly offered us a lift up the side valley where we were planning to walk. We woke to snow on the hills that morning, but clear blue skies. The lift gave us a great advantage and we followed the track up to a pass, walking through light snow in the process. We then turned left (south) and worked our way up and down a ridge to the highest point which was marked by a wooden ovoo. It was a great walking day, not to hot and not too cold and clear, so there was no danger of getting lost! We had fantastic views over mountains, hills and steppe. Eventually we made our way down to the track and walked back to the camp, 5 hrs walking in total.

The following day Michael went off riding for the day, a full 7 hours! He hadn't ridden for two years, but arrived back having had a great day and not too sore! I happily sat outside in the sunshine, with a fleece on I might add, knitting another Aran jumper, this time for one of Fiona's children in Switzerland. We were very pleased to see Amanda and Orlo arrive around 5.0pm. Amanda had driven from Ulaanbaatar which is no small undertaking on the so-called roads here! She had been on tarmac for 2/3 of the way, but the last 35 km was on tracks across the steppe. In theory she just had to follow the river, but there are tracks all over the place. She also had to cross the Tuul river. Thank goodness for GPS!

It was great to see Orlo immediately running around, he was completely safe and had as much space as he wanted! He soon got his ball out and we enjoyed a good kick-about.

I must mention the meals as I am sure everyone will be wondering what we get to eat here! Breakfast was buffet style, with bread, toast, pancakes or bortzog......which are the staple biscuits made from fried dough, urum.....which the local butter/clotted cream, local berry jam, cereal, yoghurt, fried egg, salami, cheese, juice, coffee, tea etc. Really great, especially the urum with jam on a pancake or bread! Lunch was 3 courses: a salad, possibly potato and egg, or carrot with apple or raisins, or beetroot, followed by soup, usually a clear one, then a plate of meat with rice and/or potatoes or noodles. The meat was usually beef or maybe yak, but we did have chicken for one meal. The beef would be in a casserole of some type, and we also had hawshaw, which are the traditional meat pasties which are fried in deep fat. It's no good trying to keep to a Weightwatchers diet here! ......and you need the fat to keep warm. Dinner was also 3 courses, a salad as before and a meat course as before, but with the addition of a dessert of some kind......slices of fruit, apple, orange, watermelon. However on Saturday we had some cinnamon flavoured lightly stewed apple with ice cream! In general the food was tasty and filling. Wine, beer and soft drinks were available at very reasonable prices considering the location.
To be continued.......

Ulaanbaatar Childrens Park

There is a great children's park. We went there today, and I had the scariest experience of the holiday so far!

Ulaanbaatar -city of contrasts 7

.....here we are!
I am not including the photo taken of me with my mouth full!! ;)

Ulaanbaatar -city of contrasts 6

......and then tucked away, you can find a little park with some fountains, a good spot to stop for with a take-away sandwich

Ulaanbaatar - city of contrasts 5

Ulaanbaatar - city of contrasts 4

Most of the pavements are quite a hazard too! Some are in the process of being paved, but on others there are open manholes and open trenches to negotiate.

Ulaanbaatar - city of contrasts 3

This is typical weekday traffic and crossing the roads is a nightmare! Even when the green man is lit, cars appear from around the corner. The best technique is to cross with a crowd and to make sure that there is someone else between you and the vehicles! Taking a child across in a pushchair is even worse!

Ulaanbaatar - city of contrasts 2

There are now 600 monks at Ghandan Khiid Monastery.

Ulaanbaatar. - city of contrasts

This dusty city is full of traffic and people, but there are areas where you can get away....this view was taken as we returned from a hike up one of the mountains which surround it.

Arrival photo

Amanda has just sent me this so thought I would put it on the blog for all to see! I think we look quite pleased to be here!

Arrival!

Orlo having just opened one of his presents......Dash, from the Thomas series. He loves his trains and now has quite a selection from this series which he runs on his wooden track, making up stories about them all.

We are here in Mongolia until Sept 22nd when we will join train 24 to continue the journey to Beijing. We will be taking a couple of trips, probably to Khentii which is east of UB and to the Gobi, and celebrating two rather significant birthdays.

I will blog with less frequency from now on.......until the next train trip.

Thanks for the comment so far....

Selenge river

Ulan Ude outskirts

Trans - Mongolian cont...

The suburbs of Ulan Ude stretched for quite a long way and there were some interesting views....wooden houses like this to rather old concrete blocks of flats, none of it looking at all prosperous........then we followed the reached the Selenge river which we know starts in the north of Mongolia at Hovsgol lake flowing south, then east then north through Mongolia into Siberia. It was a very wet day to start and the train windows were splattered so the photos are not very good, but give a flavour of the views.

Meanwhile the traders were organising their stuff and trying to hide as much away as they could! Boxes went into the store lockers under our seat, by now sausages and sweets had been added to the stock! They Sellotaped three boxes together and tried to hang them from the coat hooks, but they kept falling down, I think the idea was that then they wouldn't be very obvious when jackets were hung over them.....if the customs official just took a quick glance.....eventually a couple of boxes stayed up there.

The stewards continued to look on........although they did make them clear the corridor. On we travelled towards the border.........the countryside became more reminiscent of Mongolia, open rolling land, a few cows, some hay......and at the last minute our friend brought a very heavy ingot shaped brown paper package and slid it under my feet!

We arrived at Naushki , the Russian border post. One passport check, then the border police collected them in and disappeared with them for 2 hours! In the meantime the traders stacked bags onto substantial folding trolleys and disappeared,presumably to a market somewhere. The guidebook advised that it was risky to get off the train here without our passports but the steward told us we had two hours, and the train toilets were locked, so we took it in turns to explore the station facilities. Use of the toilet was 8 roubles, but we didn't have any left so they took pity and let us in anyway; contrary to the info in the guidebook they were very clean....but basic! After two hours the traders returned and it was now the turn of the customs official to check us out. Some bags were removed for checking, they climbed up to check the space above the ceilings, but it was fairly tame in comparison with the checks which were to come! After 3 hours 40 minutes we were on our way. The traders relaxed and began to sing some Mongolian songs, then about half an hour later we arrived at the Mongolian border post.

First came a young female soldier who saluted us and told us to go into the corridor. Up she climbed checking the ceiling space and under the seats. Then the border police, another salute, checked our mugshots on our passports and collected them in. Next the Customs who took our customs declaration forms. Our friend had been in and out of the compartment during the journey, but had to sit in his allotted seat for these border crossings. By now I had knitted the whole of the front of an Aran sweater for Orlo and was into my book and a can of gin and tonic!!! (the last of the 6 I set off with ;) ) and it was well into the evening.

The Customs officials returned and returned our forms with a pleasant comment......not so for our friend and his mates in the rest of the carriage! She made a thorough search of our compartment, noting all the boxes of cheese, sausage and sweets under the seats and on one of the top bunks....our friend had put 'nothing to declare' in every space on his form! He was given the form back and told to fill it in, so he borrowed our biro and sat there looking very glum. The same thorough searches were going on all the way down the carriage, but the customs were not very organised so as they moved along, boxes were being moved too ....into different compartments!....... suddenly our friend came in and emptied a rucksack full of children's slippers into the under seat locker, pushing them in amongst the cheese, sweets etc......then he was running between the compartments to collaborate on how much to declare we think!

We sat there taking it all in, very amused, the Dutch couples were amazed I think, but as there were the four of them in their compartment the Customs had left them alone apart from a cursory glance.

The searching went on and we were getting very tired. Our friend was no where to be seen, one of the stewards seemed to have taken up position outside our door, not sure if that was to protect us, or her share in the eventual proceeds! Anyway we decided it was time for bed, so we made up our beds and tried to settle down. The steward gave a look of approval and closed our door. Mayhem continued outside, but we settled down to rest and wait for the welcome lurch as we got going again. After a total stop of about two and a half hours we heard the engine hoot and we were off!! No sign of our friend! We both made quick dash to the loo, once they were unlocked again and tried to settle to sleep.....in our clothes.....with a light on!!! Meanwhile the train went like the clappers over some rough track in places and I kept my fingers crossed that we would reach our destination without incident! Michael set is clock for 6.0am Irkutsk time as we were due in to Ulaanbaatar at 6.30am.

All through the night we could hear the noise of sellotape being wrapped round boxes as the traders repacked their wares. The woman next to us must have worked all night fortified by some vodka judging by her breath in the morning! We got up at 6.0am only to discover about an hour later that Mongolia is one hour different to Irkutsk and we could have had another hour in bed and time for a cup of tea!!! The female trader came to collect her goods from our compartment and reseal them, our friend was no longer on the train and we think she tried to tell us that he had gone to hospital, but maybe he had got off at Darhan even though he had told us he was going to UB.......maybe he thought it best to change to another train ?!

It was just light and we were travelling through Mongolia steppe with gers (yurts) in the distance form time to time, eventually the lights of UB could be seen in the distance, we passed the airport and swung round to the city...... One of the stewards came to retrieve the 'ingot'.....and the train pulled into the platform. Andrew, Amanda and Orlo were there on the station, along with a lot of men with big trolleys! I pulled and pushed my bags along the corridor to be confronted by Mongolian men rushing at me! ...... I was very firm ;o), one or two shoved past climbing over the big bag but fortunately the others stood back and one actually helped to lift the bag down. Michael and the Dutch couples were a little bit behind but also made it through the crush.

We had made it!!!! Lots of smiles and hugs and photos!! All around us the train was being unloaded!!!! we trundled off to the Land Cruiser and set off through the early morning quiet .......

This is a brief account of the goings-on on this train, but I hope it has given you an idea of the journey.........

The knitting!

Boxes!

Ulan Ude trading

Trans - Mongolian 28-29 August

We left Irkutsk at 4.50 am Local time ( this sign shows Moscow time! ) on train 6. This train was very different from the Rossiya, as other photos will show in due course!!??

It was full of Mongolian traders on their way back from Moscow, and the stewards were Mongolian too. One female steward came demanding our tickets when she already had them in her hand, she was definitely the worse for wear !!! We had booked the two lower bunks in the compartment, a very good strategy as it turned out I think. There was a man asleep on one of the upper bunks and bags on the other one, so that was a bonus we thought. We were travelling hard class and the bench seats were hard even with the thin cushion/mattress which I eventually found to go on top. We were provided with a pack with two sheets and pillowcase and a small towel. I made my bed using a blanket found in a store locker under the seat and
settled down to catch up on the very disturbed night. The train was going as a nice pace so the clickety clack along the rails soon sent me off. I eventually woke about 10.0 am but Michael had been out in the corridor looking at the view passing Lake Baikal for some time I gather.

We made tea and had some breakfast. I had my granola but Michael used some of the meal the hotel had packed up for us, as we left too early for breakfast there. So there we were rattling along crossing more of Siberia when our companion woke too. We introduced ourselves and showed him some pics of Andrew & Amanda & Orlo to explain the reason for our journey.

There were two young couples from Holland in the next compartment, we had met them in the restaurant on the Rossiya, so we were soon chatting with them again. Initially they were concerned because they had found packs of shoes and other stuff in their cabin......and they had read about illegal trading.......!! As we walked down the corridor we could see that other compartments were stacked with boxes and soon the traders woke to start their work for the day. I got a real shock when I walked down to the loo as I went through the end door there was the lower half of a shop dummy in jeans wedged in the corner, I thought there was a man hanging there for an instant!! I had made the mistake of going to the men's loo, didn't make that mistake again, the ladies at the other end was adjacent to the stewards cubbyhole holes and was kept much cleaner.

The first main stop was at Ulan Ude, this is where the line splits to go south to Beijing through Mongolia. The traders were off the train in a flash, setting up their 'stalls' on the platform. One lady was even trading straight from the carriage. Clothes, shoes, handbags, slippers etc! We were there for about 45 mins, our friend was selling handbags and had to come back in to get more, so when we left he was well please and counted up a wad of roubles! After we left the real fun began. Our firms and his female mate from the next compartment went to the Dutch couples' compartment, climbed up and proceeded to remove the plates in the ceiling and above the over corridor storage space. Out came dozens of boxes of cheese! This is no exaggeration, they stacked them in the corridor, but as we went round a bend they all collapsed. The woman had notes on a piece of paper and was counting, she knew exactly how many they had stashed away up there. They then came into our compartment and did the same but they only had a few up there. In the meantime the stewards and we looked on......I was knitting away!!

Cont......

Taltsy

Irkutsk

Irkutsk - 27 August

Today has been a day for studying buildings.

After we left Lystvyanka this morning we stopped off at the Taltsy 'wooden houses' museum on the way to Irkutsk. We had arranged for the driver to wait one hour, so it turned out to be a whistle stop tour.

They have collected buildings from all over the place. The first set were reconstructions of the dwellings the Evensk nomads would have had, tepees made from bark, bark boats, wood store house, burial platforms, etc. Then we moved onto a set of estate buildings including three mills arranged down a hill so that they used the same water source, which was from a reservoir with a wooden leet. The peasants house was furnished with original artefacts and looked very cosy. We moved onto some houses which Cossacks would have lived in, apparently they were given a plot of land after so many years service; and then the governors house which even had wallpaper! That compound also had a prison! There was a small chapel with an amazing shingle roof, a stockade with guard tower was in the process of being reconstructed......and much more besides. It is all set near the river Ankara and would be a great full day out....

We then continued to Irkutsk where were able to check in early to the Victory Hotel. After a drink and a light lunch and yesterday's blog writing we set out to explore the city. We walked north to look at the old wooden buildings which are left from the days when Irkutsk was known as the Paris of the North. There was a gold rush here and many peasants made the equivalent of many millions of £s, so even though they were illiterate they built very fancy houses and lived it up! We reached a high point overlooking the city, passing through a Market on the way, all sorts of goods for sale, clothes, shoes, toys, light fittings etc. Some of the stalls were set up from freight containers.

Irkutsk is rather down at heel in comparison to western Russia, there does not seem to be the development going on here, however the main street, Karl Marx Street, has the full range of very expensive clothes shops and perfumeries. It was Saturday so everyone was out shopping, families, teenagers having good time, the young in high end fashion....and the babushkas with their shopping trolleys.

We were really pleased to find a nice Italian restaurant where we indulged in tea, coffee and a cake, I am still a bit tired after the hike yesterday.....we have booked a table there for this evening too.....and hope we have enough roubles left to pay for it ;)! Most places want cash here, so we have not exercised the plastic at all so far.

We leave here at 4.0am tomorrow, Sunday, and are due to arrive in Ullaanbaatar at 6.30 on Monday morning. So the next blog will be from Mongolia......

Baikal hike - view

Baikal hike - Siberian gentian ??

Baikal hike - the hydrofoil

Lake Baikal hike - 26 August

Could not resist taking this photo of Michael trying to add 25 yrs to his life by taking a dip in Lake Baikal! I added 5 years to mine by having a paddle!

Today we walked down to the village centre, about 1 mile, to get the hydrofoil up the lake to a village called Boshoie Koty. The village is only accessible by boat and our plan was to walk back to Lystvyanka .

The hydrofoil (raketa) eventually arrived 1 hour late, good job we stuck around, the girls at the info centre tried to phone for us, but the line was constantly busy. It was a rough 20 min ride to Koty, on the way we tried to survey the path, but it was difficult to see in some places due to the trees and the steep hills descending to the lake.

We had a quick walk around the village, horses roaming free, wooden houses, open spaces and rough muddy tracks, not unlike a Mongolian village.....then we set off. We had been told that the walk was 20km/6hrs.....and that is all we knew! Contrary to our usual ha it we did not have a map......

We walked for two hours along the lakeside, up and down ravines, through lovely woodland and more open areas. There were lots of flowers on the way, asters, dianthus,delphinium, a type of sedum I think, and ? gentians......I will post a photo so that maybe Bill B will identify it for me.....if he is looking at this blog .... We stopped for lunch on a pebbly beach which which happened to have a tree trunk just right for sitting on. After our picnic of oatcakes, sprats, Christmas cake and some trail mix ......and the dip and paddle.....we set off again.

The first hour was similar to the previous two, although we did negotiate an fairly exposed cliff, then the path turned inland away from the lake. Initially we thought that we were just detouring up a ravine, but the path went on, following up a valley through birch forest and then climbing .....and climbing ....and more climbing! Even Michael commented that we had climbed a few feet!!! We actually climbed for an hour and half, the path zigged and zagged, we kept thinking we were going to come out at a col, and then it would turn again! It was so difficult to judge as we were in trees the whole time. Eventually we came to the top which was marked by two empty yoghurt pots hanging on a tree branch! The only way marking was slashed marks on tree trunks. Going downhill was a great relief, I had found the climb very taxing, at one point wishing there would be a Sherpa round the corner ready to hand me a mug of hot lemon! ....I think that is the first time I have felt like that since were were in the Himalaya in 1999. So we continued downhill, still in the forest with occasional glimpses of the lake in the distance and eventually we came across cow pats then a track, both indicating that we were coming to some sort of settlement, but we had no idea where we were! As we descended further we heard dogs barking and we emerged into one of the Lystvyanka valleys, although we were not sure of that until we reached the lake.....we were right in the centre of the village! We had walked for 5 and 3/4 hours and I was kn......d!!!

It was time for a well earned beer! I then logged on to the wi-fi at the Mayak hotel to download emails and we walked the remaining mile back to our hotel. M reckons we walked 15 miles altogether. Another beer, a shower, a meal and bed was all I could manage after that!

In due course I will try to find out if there was another path which would have taken us nearer to the lake on the second half of the walk, but the path we took was well constructed and appeared to be the main route.

This walk goes down as 'epic' in my book!

Lystvyanka

A Siberian cottage...

Lystvyanka - the old and the new!

Lake Baikal!

We arrived at Irkutsk on the dot of 7.30am. Russian trains run to time, if there are delays on the line......which there are....then they go like the clappers to make up the time!

Last night was the first night that I didn't sleep very well, maybe I had had too much coffee and there were some more uneven parts of the track, so when the alarm went off at 6.30 it was not welcome! We finished packing, quite tricky for two of us in the restricted space, had a quick cuppa, stripped the bunks, wiped the table as instructed....oops!.....requested, by the steward and we were ready to disembark.

In general we were very impressed with this train, but we should be , it was the Rossiya, one of a very few firmeny trains. Our female senior steward was extremely obliging from the first day, after I introduced ourselves to her in Russian. Since then we have had a few pidgin conversations with some laughs! She was very pleased when I went to their cabin and gave them a Lancashire red rose pin and a Clitheroe fridge magnet and postcard. In return she gave me her Rossiya jacket pin.

Our taxi driver was waiting for us on the platform, a very nice young man called Ivan, he spoke excellent English land was a mine of information on the 60km drive to Lystvyanka. We are staying at the Baikalskaia terema hotel, a wood chalet style building set slightly up a valley from the lake. The room has a partial lake view and is quite basic, especially compared with the spacious comfort we had in Moscow for a very similar price. By the time we got here I was decidedly weary, but an excellent breakfast soon sorted that out, and after a shower and some clothes washing we set off to explore the village......iPad in bag!

It is hard to believe that we are actually here...walking along the shores of the worlds largest and deepest freshwater lake. The village has the feel of a rustic seaside place, yet it also feels like an alpine village too! The pine clad hills descend steeply to the lake. The village is linear and has an amazing mix of properties, pretty traditional wooden Siberian cottages, many with fretwork shutters and gables, some painted, some in very good condition and some very dilapidated. Alongside them are the most amazingly ugly structures!......I will post another photo on the blog later! The building standards would horrify our surveyor & architect friends ;). As we explored up one of the side streets we came across a well which appears to be in daily use!

We found the village's largest hotel with it's free wi-fi, ordered two coffees and I sat down to check emails, send the blog etc. Amanda popped up on Skype having seen that I was online so we had a lovely chat with her and heard about Orlo's experiences at his introduction to Kindergarten this week.

Later we wandered amongst the souvenir stalls, there is a large amount of jewellery for sale all made from local stones, wooden items, Russian dolls, hats, etc etc. In the market we came across stalls selling various types of smoked fish which is the local speciality. There are lots of cafes too mostly selling kebabs, we decided to take the safe option and went back to the large hotel for lunch. They have a grill bar on the 7th floor with great views over the lake and up and down the village street. Michael had the local fish...omul.....and I a Caesar salad. Both were good and beautifully presented.

After walking the full length of the village, looking for the museum up a side street we retreated back to our hotel. The weather has been great today, blue sky, it with a cool breeze coming off the lake, it was very warm out of the wind, but a fleece was required when we encountered the full blast!

Tomorrow we hope to take the hydrofoil up the lake to a small village called Bolshie Koty and walk back, about 20km we are told....

Tran-Siberian - Asia - Day 3 cont..

This has been the best day for scenery, we've climbed through the hills of the Taiga passing lots of small settlements. The houses are built of wood and many look in a poor state, they all have gardens and grow a lot of vegetables, potatoes, cabbage and lots more besides, but it is difficult to see from the train. Some have flowers too, including sunflowers and marigolds. They all have large wood piles outside and the houses in the villages and towns have wooden fences around their land. In Mongolia these compounds are known as hashas. We've also seen a lot more open land, mines, more large freight yards, rivers and a few small lakes/ponds (perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes!)

We've had two major stops of around 20 mins each, Krasnoyarsk and Ilanskaya. Just after Krasnoyarsk we crossed the river Yenisey, we were on the new bridge built in 1999 to our left was the old bridge which apparently took 94,000 workers 3 years to build and was considered such a feat of engineering that it won a gold medal at the World Fair in Paris in 1900, along with the Eiffel Tower! This river is the border between west and east Siberia. Certainly the views have improved the further east we travel.

At Ilanskaya there were a lot of 'babushkas' on the platform selling home made food, plus fruit, pine nuts, ice cream ( not refrigerated !!) etc. and a man with gladioli for sale too! There was a large steam engine on display so I took a photo of it for our steam train fan friends.

We have now settled in for the evening and our next daytime stop will be Irkutsk at 7.30 tomorrow morning, where we leave this train for three days exploring Lake Baikal and Irkutsk.

Michael has gradually improved during the day and I might let him try some soup later ( yes, got some of that in my food bag too ;)! )

I hope to send these blogs when we get to the hotel at Lystvyanka . Not sure in what order they will appear. It may be that the last is first.......

Trans-Siberian - Asia

After a very grey day yesterday we woke, after our third night, to some blue sky today! Unfortunately Michael had a bad night due to a gastro bug, I have been taking the precaution of cleaning my teeth using bottled water, but he hasn't, so I think he has probably got a bug from the tap water in the bathroom. There is a a sign showing that it is not suitable for drinking....So now it is his turn for the gripes and frequent trips to the loo. I've dosed him with cipro this morning and he is hiding away on his bunk.

We are now 4 hours ahead of Moscow time and soon we will go through another time zone which will mean we are on the same time as Mongolia, we are getting nearer all the time!

We are travelling through some hills for the first time, the track has some big bends and I can almost see the end of the train when I look back. Unfortunately I can't open a window to take a photo. The tips of the silver birch leaves are just beginning to turn gold and there is an occasional glimpse of the red fireweed under the trees. The outside temperature is 16C.

Yesterday we met a young couple from Wales in the restaurant, they are the first Brits we have met since we set off from London a week ago. They are travelling around the world and aiming to get to Thailand by train initially. We will probably bump into them again as they are stopping off at Irkutsk and travelling on to Ulaanbaatar on Train No 6 on Sunday.

In the evening we stopped at Barabinsk, the traders were selling fur hats and smoked fish, carrying them on racks. I bought a loaf of bread as we had run out. The platform was under reconstruction so we clambered over lumps of broken up Tarmac and I had to cross the track to buy the bread......a health and safety nightmare..... ;) we also experienced Siberian mozzies for the first time, when they realised we were there, they came in swarms, fortunately we were able to beat a fast retreat to our cabin.

Last night I discovered that we also have a power socket under the table in our cabin, so no more worries about the iPad battery running out on me. We might even be able to compete with the neighbours tonight and have some music.......they usually put on a video just as we want to settle down!

I have finished the slipover I was knitting for Orlo, it looks very big, but he can grow into it. Now I have started on another knitting project......not saying what to keep Amanda in suspense!

Time to get on with my Russsian course now....