Trans Mongolian

The Russian train system has two strange things about it.

1. No matter railway station you're at, across the 8 time zones in Russia, all trains use Moscow time, even the station clocks display Moscow time, which can be rather disconcerting!

Bogey Changing

2. Russian tracks are a different distance apart from the rest of the world, so that when a train crosses the border the wheels on the carriage have to be changed.

I stayed on the train while the bogey's were being changed - it's a very weird experience being jacked into the air while people run around changing wheels underneath you!

Window cleaning

I was worried that I wouldn't be able to take photos from the train window, so I took a squeegee with me, but luckily enough I only have to use it once!

I arrived in Irkutsk in the early morning, and got driven out to the homestay - as the minibus turned the corner I got my first sight of Lake Baikal. It was flat calm, and the air was so clear that you could see across to the mountains on the other side of the lake (40Km away). It's quite rare, and even the minibus driver got out and took a photograph.

My time in Listvyanka by the lake was great, my host at the homestay kept generating huge quantities of food, and I had to keep trying to eat it!

Home stay at Lake Baikal

The homestay had no running water - so the only way to stay clean was to use the sauna at the bottom of the garden - and boy was it hot! I guess I shouldn't have thrown quite so much water on the stones!

All too soon I was on my way back into Irkutsk, and back onto another train!