The train arrived at Irkutsk station at 9.07am and our tour guide Leaner was waiting for us on the platform. We then had an hour drive to a small village called Listvyanka which is situated around lake Baikal, which is the largest body of fresh water in the world.
We arrived at our home-stay in Listvyanka at about 9am. We were greeted by our hosts Rita and Alexander who seemed very friendly. The house a dining room in the centre of the house with 3 bedrooms downstairs off the dining room, as well as a kitchen where Rita served all our meals from. The family actually live upstairs though so at night the downstairs part is just for us. Leaner gave us a quick tour of the house and also explained about the Banya outside where would be able to get clean. In Russia they don’t have showers so they have a large ouside building called a Banya. Inside was a changing room section and then a sauna. You filled a metal bowl with hot water from a kinda of stove and cold water from a big drum. You then washed yourself with the water and let it slop everywhere. It was just nice to feel clean after all that time on the train.
We had breakfast straight away with Leaner, which was bread and cheese, jam, tea and coffee and some small buns. As soon as we had finished eating we wrapped up warm and Leaner took us on a 3 hour walk to a museum that had information about the lake and its creatures. It was a bit difficult to keep enthusiastic as it was quite a long trek and was freezing cold (-30 degrees). We then went to a small church just up the hill from our home-stay and had a quick look round then headed back home.
For lunch we ate a popular Russian dish called Boursh which is a beetroot soup, which they eat with sour cream in, followed by two cabbage parcels filled with meat. I couldn’t manage both of them as they were quite oily and not a great deal of taste. We then had chance to have a little nap before we had to start taking turns having a wash.
After our Banya we ate dinner, which was pasta filled with meat but with no sauce which I thought was odd. I did my best to eat it all but ended up leaving a bit, followed by more buns but this time they were mint flavour.
The boys then decided to go to the “local” pub (20 mins hike) for a few drinks. The people in the bar were very un-friendly and everything seemed like an effort as though they couldn’t even be arsed to serve us. After 2 beers at around 11.30pm we were promptly shown the bill with no offer of “last orders”. I managed to get her to let us have a local vodka each but only after begging her as her first response was a rude No !
Went back to the home-stay and Jason cracked open a bottle of vodka and we drank a few shots before bed.