Lystvianka

Is amazing!

It’s where the rich people hang, judging by the Merc’s, BMW’s, Landrovers’, Porche’s and the big pretty houses.

Irkutsk is cool but it’s big which means it has shit bits to go with it. We found our way back to the train station for a fraction of the cost of the same ride the previous day. This guy even gave us change when we tried to give him too much money.

It was pretty tricky trying to find the train. It’s not like Central Station in Sydney where there are people there to help you all the time. We were cutting fine time but eventually figured it out, hopped on board and away we went. Below: at the train station waiting for our train.

Twelve hours later we arrived at Lystvianka. That’s right. Twelve hours. The journey is most definitely not the equivalent in kilometres. It’s quite a short distance, really. If you were in to engineering, you would probably have been impressed at the grandiose effort to create tunnels in the metamorphic rock. If you were a train buff, you’d be keen to stop and check out the old steam trains along the way. If you were in to people watching, it would also be perfect for you. The variety of people is great. Ranging from see through mesh singlets with nipple covers on a fat man to matching pant suits and hat to skin tight, boob-popping white see through dresses. And watching Russians as tourists in their own country is really interesting. We were one of probably only 20 international tourists on the train of about 150 people. Below: an interesting character stalking a train stop. He obviously has quite a few stories to tell.

It was a very long and very slow train journey. We stopped a lot to look at things and take photos which is a nice idea but it got old really quickly. We were in first class which was comfortable but no reclining seats. Everything was announced in Russian (fair enough) so we had no idea what to expect. It was no different to the train we caught form Ulan Ude to Irkutsk – the scenery is great, the engineering is world class (or was, a long time ago), the trains are comfortable, the lake is big….. You definitely don’t need to spend $80AUD on a ticket to prove it. Nevermind, we know now – BUT it means we’re in Lystvianka which is TOTES COOL!

 

Above: our train with the destination written in Cyrillic, the train journey, a stop along the way

It’s a town sprawled along the lakeside with castles and old buildings as well as newer ones. It over looks the lake (every building does) and has one road that goes right along side the lake. From the train, we caught a ferry over the straight to Lystvianka and walked up to our homestay (the name of our accommodation). We would never have found it ourselves. The guy we’re staying with conveniently bowled us up on the highway (we were walking in the right general direction) and made sure he was talking to the right people. He took us up past the Limnological Museum (I don’t know what it means either) and up into an apartment block and BAM – welcome to the coolest place you’ll ever stay! It’s an apartment that belongs to this guy and he feeds you breakfast and provides accommodation and is super friendly. It’s a normal thing to do in Russia – but you need to be a bit more organised as they’re cheaper so book out quicker. The two bedroom apartment overlooks the lake. It has a raging hot shower, kitchen and a loungeroom. It’s so great. We have one room and another couple are in the other room. They’re Polish and about 75 and don’t speak english but they’re friendly enough.

Below: my favourite photo of the day: dad and kids playing in the lake (that’s pretty cold)

More exciting new: he is a biologist (so can teach me about the endemic things of Lake Baikal) and….. his dad is a geologist in UB. Hells yes. Geologists everywhere, from Australia to UB to Russia.

We’re here for three nights. I’m happy. I am also looking forward to going home and being home. And doing nothing at home, just for a little while.