Siberian Dreams

I came to Russia for two reasons - to learn the language and experience a new culture, and travel to Siberia. I had always dreamed of making it to Russia someday, so the idea? - quit my profession, become an English teacher, and go! As most new teachers soon find out, it's not the dream world you expected - countless difficulties (well not for everyone I guess) arise on a daily basis, some of which we are not totally prepared for - less than wonderful flat mates, long working hours and at times a somewhat irritating teaching schedule. The result - my Russian is poor and I always have thoughts of leaving. However, I never do. In a way, life in Moscow is intoxicating - new surprises and decisions every day - Girls, boys, work, love - it never ends! It's not so bad living here, and the big prize? Holiday time! This summer I made a decade long dream come true - traveling on Baikal.

The journey started with a splendid effort by my girlfriend Sveta, who waited hours to get tickets for the Trans-Siberian, and a last minute purchase of plane tickets for the way back - forward thinking. After a long trip camping, a shower less train ride home is not a good idea. The night for departure came - such excitement!! Beer, food, and enough Russian material to last the journey. While the days on that train seemed so mixed together, it WAS an experience. At first we had boring cabin mates from Novosibirsk, but they were soon followed by a militsia officer and two high ranking soldiers, all of whom served in Chechnya - fascinating stories! We sampled the local beer at every stop, ate well, practiced Russian, and looked out the windows for hours.

Finally, we arrived in Irkutsk. A city of 1/2 million people, but with a small town feel - poor but rich, beautiful, yet run down. We stayed in a rental flat for a couple of days planning our trip on Baikal, and trying out the cafes and restaurants. After hooking up with Julia from recruitment (who is from Irkutsk), we began a short trip to Listvyanka and Port Baikal, two small villages at the head of the Angara River. We hiked for seven kilometers along the Old Baikal Railway, and stayed for two nights at a surprisingly beautiful lodge on the lake, for only 100 p each a night. We hiked, ate and enjoyed the stars, free from the big city lights.

We returned to Irkutsk for a couple of days, were introduced to Julia's boyfriend (also from Irkutsk) and a party of Muscovites. We decided to join them for a boat trip up Lake Baikal. Being the only foreigner meant a great deal of language practice - mostly listening of course. And we saw more of Baikal and the surrounding hills than we ever imagined. The upside of the trip - traveling with someone who knew the area. We hiked 13 kilometers in the taiga one day to an isolated hunters cabin, eating berries, cedar nuts and chocolate all the way. The downside - constantly cracking out skulls on the bulkheads, and day after day of buckwheat and Toushenka (disgusting canned meat that Russian's eat when camping).

After 7 days, we had had enough. Victor, our experienced captain, dropped Sveta and I off on Olkhon (ольхон), the largest and most spectacular island of the forty on Baikal. We managed to hitch a ride in the back of a pick-up to Khouzir (хужир), the largest village, and set ourselves up wonderfully at a rustic looking backpackers for only US$15 a day ($15 to sit in the foreign room for meals, and $12 to sit in the Russian room), which included three meals and a quaint room for two. The floor sloped a bit, but the excellent food made up for it (relative to the canned meat we had been eating). Khouzir is a fairly depressed community - the electricity was turned off in 1993 because of the poor economy and has never been restored (the power lines were quickly stolen and sold as scrap metal), and there is no telephone service. Most of the inhabitants don't have jobs, but survive as fishermen. Omul, a tasty whitefish native to Baikal, is in abundance, and is used for food and for exchange for goods and services. The village has a large Buryat population, so there are many significant spiritual sites on the island. Shamanism is still an important part of their culture - at several places we left offerings to the Gods - cigarettes and chocolate, which are broken in half, and coins. These places are also littered with vodka bottles, illustrating how much alcohol is a part of life in the community.

Unfortunately, earlier on our trip I twisted my ankle quite severely, so we couldn't enjoy all the wilderness the island had to offer. The place we stayed, экоцентр "беркут", offers bike rentals and tours, boat trips, bus excursions, and has several trek routes posted for guests. But the weather was remarkable, a comfortable 28 degrees every day, and the beaches are something to behold - crystal clear water as well.

I will never forget the six days we spent on Olkhon, and the entire journey for that matter. I strongly recommend Baikal as a holiday destination, summer or winter. In fact, all the locals claimed that winter is better. It's not as cold on the island as on the mainland, not a lot of snow either. But the lake is frozen, so there's good fishing, and there are bus and cross-country ski trips to almost everywhere. You won't get five-star resorts and drinks with little umbrellas, but if you are into hiking, camping, and eating fish, you'll enjoy it I'm sure.

Travel Advice! If you ever do make it to Irkutsk, there is an agency that can hook you up with decent rental flat accommodation, that's cheaper than all the hotels and close to the center. Contact Нина Алексеевна Андреева: Phone: (3952) 34-16-62 or 59-73-61. Address: ул. чкалова 12 офис 203.

And if you go to Olkhon, contact Никита Владимирович Бенчаров at (3952) 466-776 or email: nikita@olkhon.irkutsk.ru. You can also visit his website at www.olkhon.boom.ru. He runs the backpackers in khouzir. Or just ask anyone in the village where Nikita is - that's what we did!!

Going to St. Petersburg? Another useful number is for an agency in Petersburg that organizes rental flat accommodation - $30-45 a night, which is good for a group! Contact Акцепт+ at 320-6032. Address: с-пб, ул. автовская, дом 16 оф 404.

Mike