Siberia, Week 3

Nearing the end of September and we're in Irkutsk in the centre of Siberia. We spend one night here on the shore of Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world, and then tomorrow we get on the train to Mongolia, where we stay for four days.

Since last I posted we spent most of our time St Petersburg, which is positively beautiful. Walking around the centre of the city is like walking through a museum, filled with ornate 18th and 19th century buildings. The Hermitage, the city's art gallery, which has over three million pieces, most in storage, was an amazing experience. Myself and Laura spent four hours in there and still had oodles of stuff left to see. The entire city feels so different from most of the rest of Russia that we have seen. The remains of Communism were so prominent almost everywhere else, especially in Moscow, but were absent here, which was a very odd transition. Its also far easier to get around with English here, which was abonus, but also meant lots of tour groups.

After three days in St Petes, Connie and Laura left for home, leaving myself and Dim alone for a whole three months, so starting with three days in a compartment together was somewhat of a change. The Trand-Siberian, all four nights and three full days, was in honesty fairly dull. Though crossing five time zones on a train is definitely an experience worth having.

If things work out in Mongolia then we should spend the next four days sleeping in ger tents, hiking and riding horses. Yak tipping may also feature.