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Ulaanbaatar to Irkutsz

Ulaanbaatar to Irkutsz

The Ulaanbaatar to Irkutsk trip was the second longest and the worst train journey of the trip. It started with flying colours with the arrival of a Mongolian family on the Mongolian side of the Russian-Mongolian border, where we had arrived at some point in the middle of the night. The mum promptly began pulling hats, scarves, underwear, boots, jeans, salami, vodka and various other bits and pieces from out of her bags and under her clothing. She arranged them into various compartments in the cabin and sat down, looking quite pleased with herself.

We passed smoothly through the Mongolian border checks with smiles all around and crossed to the Russian side of the tracks, where the fun and games started. The very official-looking Russian customs officials, obviously used to the smuggling trade, pulled the cabin to pieces. Her pride shifted to vicious tantrums, obviously put on, adamant that each and every piece was a gift for her mother. Without a second glance, the customs officials took away most of her (and many other people’s) luggage, safely storing them in the provodnista’s cabin. As the officials left the train to verify passports and visas, the smugglers started removing their items from the provodnista’s cabin and stowing them back into their bags, a process obviously supported by the provodnista, who kept watch at each end of the cabin.

Eventually, the passports were returned, and without the rest of the train that had remained at the Mongolian border, our carriage crossed the border to Russia. Stopping at the Russian side of the border, the Mongolian family quickly left the train, never to return, leaving us to spend several hours waiting for our carriage to combine with the other carriages and make the 24-hour journey to Irkutsk. With no interesting characters, no foreigners in sight and no dining car, we whiled away the time reading, writing in journals, eating and sleeping. After what seemed like years, we finally arrived at Irkutsk at about 7:30 in the morning.

Lake Baikal

We were whisked away by our lovely guide, Ivan, to the nearby village of Bolshoe Goloustnoe, where we were to spend a relaxing homestay for two days on the shores of Lake Baikal. Following a late breakfast of buckwheat with slices of salami, tomato, cheese and unlimited cups of tea, we went for a stroll down to the lake. Lake Baikal is the world’s deepest, oldest and most voluminous lake. It is about 1.6 kilometres deep, contains one-fifth of the world’s unfrozen fresh water, and gets slightly bigger each year because it is situated on a rift. More than 80% of the animals in Lake Baikal are only found in this lake because of its unique characteristics. 330 rivers feed it, but only one, the Angara River, flows out of Lake Baikal.

Russian pioneers first came to the shores of Lake Baikal in the middle of the 17th century. Bolshoe Goloustnoe was an important transit point for people crossing Lake Baikal during the winter. The small Russian Orthodox Church was first built in the 19th century by a Russian merchant who was said to have been saved by St. Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors while crossing the lake in a storm. Like many churches, it was destroyed during the Communist period but was recently rebuilt by locals, who also managed to hide away many of its relics.

For people playing along at home, you can tell a Russian Orthodox Church by the sign of a cross with a small diagonal line across the bottom of the vertical cross. Christianity was brought into Russia by Greek missionaries in the 9th century. It was accepted as the state religion after the baptism of Vladimir I, prince of Kiev in 988. It has had a chequered history, enjoying a favoured position during Mongol rule in the 13th to 16th century, then slowly falling out of favour until 1943, when Joseph Stalin’s support helped resurrect its status.

We stopped for some quick snow play on the way back, where I made my first-ever snow angel. After our walk, it was time for our own private banya, heated to the extreme but well worth the effort, as we could finally wash our hair and feel clean again after the long train ride. Most houses in Russia have their own private banya. I suspect it’s difficult to move very far from your home in the depths of winter, and why wouldn’t you want to warm up with a hot sauna at the end of a long day? And the only thing I could think of that might be better is a home-cooked meal. This time, it was meat patties with mashed potato; I could feel my stomach getting slightly bigger each time I ate.

Our second day in Bolshoe Goloustnoe started with a late breakfast followed by a beautiful guided hike around the lake. The scenery was stunning, and the lunch at the midpoint was simply delightful. It was the first time I had tried borscht (like minestrone with meat and potato) and Russian pancakes. While the fish was a bit to be desired, I’d had so much food by that point to last me for a week, and I struggled to get up and do the return stage. The sunset through the forest and over the lake made the struggle all worthwhile. Finished with a trip to the family banya, followed by more food and a Russian card game called Donkey.

Irkutsk

After travelling back through the forest, we finished with a short city tour of Irkutsk. Irkutsk was founded in 1661 as a settlement for trading gold and furs. On 14 December 1825, Russian army officers, aristocracy and soldiers marched to the Senate Square in St. Petersburg to request the Senate to carry out democratic reforms. The uprising by the protestors, known as the ‘Decembrists’, was severely suppressed, and the five main leaders were executed. Most protestors were deprived of their rights and exiled to Siberia. The first Decembrists arrived in Irkutsk in 1826 and were given hard labour or forced to work in factories and prisons. However, given that most of the Decembrists were from nobility and intelligentsia, they made a huge difference to the cultural, historical and political development of the eastern Siberian region by teaching the younger generation and the peasants maths, languages, medicine, natural sciences and music. During the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917-1922, Irkutsk again became the site of civil war with furious and bloody clashes between the Whites and the Reds. In 1920, Kolchak, the once-feared commander of anti-Bolshevik forces, was executed, effectively destroying the resistance movement. Today, Irkutsk is known for being one of the most popular stops on the Trans-Siberian railway.

The city itself pays tribute to the history of war with a beautiful dedication to the victims of the Great War. We also visited the Tsar Alexander III statue commemorating the Trans-Siberian railway building in the early 1900s. We visited the Cathedral of the Epiphany to see the famous paintings on the wall and finished at the Church of our Saviour, built in the shape of a ship.