Marian and the banya

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  Irkutsk, Russia
Tuesday, September 23, 2008

That has to be the funniest border crossing in the world! We got on the train in Ulaanbaatar on Friday afternoon and were due to cross the border around 7 hours later. We were sharing our cabin with one Mongolian lady, but when we got on the train there were several men (who turned out to be her sons) putting a lot of stuff underneath her bed. And I mean a lot of stuff - rolls and rolls of sellotape and dozens of ladies tops. We soon realized that she was one of hundreds of Mongolian traders on board the train, 90% of whom were in our carriage. The problem with being a trader is that every person is only allowed to take a certain number of different items through customs. But these guys have thought of everything! For the first seven hours of our journey we had Mongolians running up and down our carriage, swopping items and keeping lists of who had what so that they all ended up with a few of each item - jeans, tops, coats, bags, slippers, boots, sellotape, you name it and they had it! We were even storing stuff for them, hidden underneath our bags and Ed even had to wear some slippers and take a coat as "his" if asked by the guards. By the time we got to the border all products had been distributed and hidden so that the guards would have their work cut out searching for stuff! The guards got on the train around 9pm, asked what was in our bags and then moved on. But the poor Mongolians had to empty all their bags to prove they were not hiding stuff. This took some time and so we were not on our way into Russia until the early hours of the morning, by which time everyone was so tired we all just went to sleep. But first thing the next morning, the traders were all rushing through the train to retrieve their goods and swop back all the items they had hidden. They then got off at every station and tried to sell their products on the platform. This whole process was absolutely hilarious to watch and made the train journey so much fun! The journey was also very beautiful as we passed by Lake Baikal and the track followed the beach for quite some time. Again, the changing colours were spectacular as well. That is the best part of the train journeys we have taken so far as it was so amazingly beautiful. We were both glad we got to do that part of the trip during the day so we could actually see the Lake.
We got to Irkutsk late in the afternoon and so decided to stay the night there before trying to get to Olkhon Island. Ed went out for dinner and a few drinks with a couple of guys we met at the hostel but I stayed in with a Russian girl from the hostel as I was feeling a bit under the weather. First thing on Sunday morning, Ed, Mike and I headed off in a taxi to the bus station so we could get the bus to Olkhon Island. You would not believe that it took almost an hour to find the bus as the language barrier meant that no-one knew what we were looking for and we couldn't explain. Very stressful but quite amusing too! The journey to the island was pretty uneventful and we arrived around 3.30pm. We then had the job of trying to find the home of the lady who we were doing a home stay with. That in itself was a challenge as the streets are not named and no-one speaks English! We went to the wrong house as the numbers matched up but the guy was very helpful, pointing in the general direction and trying his best to explain, in Russian mind you, where we were to go. It must have been a shock to wake up and find 3 random people in your kitchen! His directions worked out well though as we finally found Marina's house and we were able to put our stuff inside and take the weight off our feet. Marina turned out to be lovely too. She lives in a 2 room house, one of the rooms being a banya room, and the other being a kitchen/living room/bedroom, and she rents out her bigger house to home stays. We had one of the rooms between the three of us and there was a German couple, Jessica and Carsten in one of the other rooms. We were able to go across to Marina's house to cook and use the kettle, but otherwise we were self sufficient in our own little house. Marina found our cooking very interesting, which we thought was amusing, and she took down all the ingredients for our vegetable pasta, saying she was going to try it herself. Well, when I say she was saying, what I really mean is she was running around with her Russian-English dictionary, pointing at words and talking in Russian. This she did the entire length of our stay but it was fun trying to communicate using a dictionary! She even made some jokes about the boys pasta being good as they ate it all (theirs had meat in it) and mine being not so good as I didn't eat it all (mine was purely veg)! She then pointed to the words "tomorrow", "bath-house" and "it is necessary". We figured she was trying to imply that we were smelly but it turns out she was offering us the use of her banya for the next day! This was amazing! It is like a sauna but while you are sitting in the heat and steam you have a keg of cold water which you fill bowls from and tip them all over yourself. There are also oils and lotions you can use as well as exfoliating gloves and some herb sticks to whip each other with. That banya was wicked, although I was quite happy in the heat until Ed decided to tip a whole bowl of cold water all over my head! Needless to say a water fight ensued and the banya room ended up pretty wet! I'm not sure what Marian made of that!
Our time on the island was spent walking along the beach by Lake Baikal and exploring the area. Ed and Mike also tried some fishing but were unsuccessful and so ended up cheating and buying Umul instead - this is a fish that is unique to the Lake Baikal area, and is apparently very salty. At least they got to try some though which is the main thing.
We met some people today who are staying at the only hostel on the island but are finding it very expensive, and so we took them to Marian's and they are moving into her house after we leave tomorrow - we should earn commission! A home stay is definitely so much better than a hostel though as you get to see the true Russian way of living. Marian is awesome and she is totally self sufficient. She grows her own vegetables, milks her cows, collects water and has an outhouse for a toilet - not a western flush toilet. It is really basic living but a fantastic experience. Thanks Marian!
We are now back in Irkutsk, although only just as the ferry was allegedly broken today and so it was touch and go whether we would actually make it back at all! Miraculously though, the problem was fixed when we all refused to pay for a private boat to take us across the lake, preferring instead to wait until tomorrow. After this minor setback, our journey was fine and we arrived back in Irkutsk late afternoon. We had a quick look at the outdoor market and then headed back to the hostel to sort out our accommodation in Perm, which proved quite difficult as there are no hostels there, just more expensive hotels. Let's hope it's worth it!

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