Irkutsk to Litsvinyanka
Trip Start
Jul 21, 2008
1
3
23
Trip End
Ongoing
Irkutsk,
Siberia,
Russian Federation
Sunday, July 27, 2008
We decided to do it on our own rather than book a tour with a different company, so we all caught a bus to a little village called Litsvianka, right on the front of Lake Baikal. Once there we found a challet style homestay (the locals rent out the rooms that they have to make a bit of money). W e had a little trouble finding this place but eventually came across house number 64, so Julie and Kate went on through the gate and aboyut 10 seconds later there was a dog frantically barking and the 2 girls came flying out of the gate... it was sooo funny at the time! good job the dog was on a lead!
Once we found the CORRECT 64, we all payed 5 pounds for the night to share this one big roomed challet. Merlin was very happy to sleep in the same room as 4 other girls! their toilet was outside in a little shack thing, and the water that came out of the tap was brown.... so we bought bottled water for the duration of the stay! the litle place that we stayed in is up in the valley a short walk away from the main touristy section of Litsvianka, and it was sooo pretty and quiet way of life, with cows and goats roaming along the little make shift road.
Hiking on olkholn island
it was very cute.The next morning we caught a bus back to Irkutsk, then another bus that went to Olkoln Island which was a 6 hour journey. My god, we have never been so frightened in our lives, they all drive like loonatics! overtaking on corners, brows of hills!! unbelivable. Once at the island we had to catch the ferry from the mainland to the island, which was a nice little cruise (not quite a sail boat though, Dad!) The roads were so bad they had anything up to 3 foot dips and holes or trenches the whole way for 2 hours!! it was horrid! We were eventually dropped of in this kind of shanty town looking place, which was the main town of the island. It wasn't what we were expecting at all, I think we thought there would be tarmced road shops etc, as its quite touristy, but it's not like that at all.
we were given another homestay which had 2 single beds squashed in and thats it! so very cosy! we had 3 meals a day included. for breakfast it was porridges, 2 fried eggs, and pancakes with jam!! so nice. Lunch involved soup, then fish with salad, and dinner was fish again with potatoes and rice or cabbage. Helen's stomach hasn't settled down at all since being in Russia, so it was nice to get some vegetables inside!
We found the 'beach' (so strange as the Russians come here for a beach holiday, with sand and everything, but its a Lake... very strange) There are absolutley stunning views here, but it seems the Russians do not know what they have, as the litter and smashed bottles are EVERY WHERE (This is the same throughout the whole of Russian... such a shame).
We met so many people at this hostel on the island in particular 2 girls one rom canada and the other from Switzerland. a bloke caleed Mark from Scotland but now lives in Japan, and another Uk couple. At 12 midnight we all walked to a top of a hill and drank lots and looked at the stars, and at the same time there was an amazing lightning storm going off. It was really nice.
We bought a bottle of beer for 45 roubles which is about 1 pound, and realized that earlier in the day we had bought a bottle of 7up for 80 roubles. It is so much cheaper to buy alcohol than soft drinks in Russia, so it's no wonder there is only a life expectancy of 50 for Russian men!
