Getting to Baikal

In my Russian History class, the professor said "Can you even imagine how long it would have taken to get to Irkutsk in this time?" My mental response was, "Actually, I can, because I can tell you with complete certainty that even now it takes forever to get there." To reach Baikal we flew to Yekaterinburg, and then took the Trans-Siberian Railroad across the vast expanse of Russia to Irkutsk. The Trans-Siberian Railroad is relatively famous (perhaps infamous?) and romanticized as the last great railroad in the world. I confirm that the train journey is certainly an experience.


We travelled in "hard class" so we were grouped four in a cabin. Our furnishings were two bunk beds with a small aisle between them. In this aisle was a small table which we used to eat, or more frequently, play Scrabble. The journey from Yekaterinborg to Irkutsk was to take fifty hours, so it provided an excellent opportunity for us to get to know our travel companions very well. In addition to socializing with our travelling companions, we met many other travellers on the train. Some got to know the man in charge of the dining car, and from him procured many a Choco-Pie. We also met a young Australian couple who had recently been living in London, who were moving from London back to Australia, and taking trains as far as possible. Also on our train were a group of young Russian soldiers who were being re-assigned to the Far East. We also spent a great deal of time sleeping on the train, and writing in our omnipresent journals. After fifty hours spent thus, we were glad to arrive in Irkutsk, although our journey was still not over.



We were met in Irkutsk by our Russian companions, and loaded onto a bus to drive to Baikal. The drive took approximately an hour. When we reached the shores of Baikal, amazed by how beautiful it was, but too disoriented to properly process where we were, we had a one hour boat journey to our final destination. When we arrived, we were greeted with breakfast, and were glad to have a place to stay and call our home for the next few weeks.

Photographs:
top: The view out the window from our car.
bottom: At Krasnoyarsk, an historical train commemorating the Great Patriotic War (WWII)

www.trans-siberian.co.uk