Listvyanka on the lake part 1
Trip Start
Jan 24, 2004
1
10
31
Trip End
Apr 01, 2004
Listvyanka,
Siberia,
Russian Federation
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
18th February 2004
The Baikalcomplex company mini-van turns up about 09.45am . I hop aboard and meet once again with Heather and Angela , two student girls from the UK. I last saw them in Saint Petersburg . We're all off to Listvyanka and another homestay. Listvyanka sits on the shore of lake Baikal. The deepest lake in the world which contains over one fifth of the worlds fresh surface water. It is over 6 km long and 1.6 km deep. It's visible from outer space. An entire habitat for animals and underwater creatures found nowhere else. 1000 types of plant species and 1,500 types of animal. In the summer months there are water sports and cycling tours. The old Circumbaikal railway and colourful markets . But its February and we reach what first seems the bleakest place on earth. The lake is a frozen expanse of ice so think that it rucks up at the edges in waves.
So thick that originally, railway tracks were laid across it. But whilst the ice will happily support the weight of moving cars and trucks, it will not carry locomotives
1. The world's bleakest bus stop
. The first such attempt resulted in the train plunging to the bottom on the lake where it remains( so the story goes ) The result was the construction of the Circumbaikal railway, a route made by linking a series of tunnels blasted out from the rock around the edge. It's desolate here at this time of year and the harsh wind chill makes even lighting a cigarette painfully difficult. My little temperature gauge records something like minus 16. Getting here in the grey utility style vehicle which stank of a petrol leak, was a 60 kilometre blast along single highways through dense forest. But how do we get out ? I have been accommodated by Luda, my host who speaks German as well as her native Russian. I go out to see the town , but there isn't one. Just one very long, very cold lakeshore road with an occasional wooden building. Some signposts to places that only function in the high season, bars and such like. I find a small market that sits at the roadside . It's taken me one hour to walk here and I am frozen stiff. I eat a fried Omul fish, the local delicacy. A bit like a thick kipper. And spot a place that offers the convenience of shelter. It's a bar and restaurant. I eat again and down a couple of beers to kill the time. Then hitch a ride on the afternoon school bus back to the 'institute' - the collective name given to the little ecology museum and rows of terraced housing rising up the hill behind it. With commanding views out over the lake. There is a big tourist hotel still further up the hill with a bar and a sauna. I bear it in mind and have an early night. My single bedroom is clean and homely. Luda is good host and leaves me be. There are thank you postcards on the wall sent to her from all over the world. Indeed, thank you for this experience.
Next ; Listvyanka on the lake part 2
