What a dill

Wowsers. I am very tired. Almost dysfunctional. The overnight train from Irkutsk to Ulan Ude wasn’t the best idea. We were in third class as they were the only beds left. It meant there was not partitioning between us and the other 50 people in the cabin. It really wasn’t too bad – it was clean and they gave us fresh linen and blankets. There was NO airflow which was pretty sucky. I like some good airflow…. I guess it was a night of constant waking up because I was falling off the bed, because we went over a bump or round a corner, because someone was snoring – you know, all those little things that apparently add up over the space of one night! I feel like POOH.

I liked sleeping on the train though. There’s something soothing about the train chugging along, going over little bumps and making the same clicky-clack sound repetitively.
Anyway, it means now we’re in Ulan Ude absolutely STUFFED. We don’t fly out til 8pm and we arrived here at 7am. We have no hotel and nowhere to put our bags (yet, we’re hoping we’ll find lockers in the train station). I haven’t had breakfast and the lady in the shop wouldn’t serve me when I asked for two buns in english (they were right in front of me). The toilets here didn’t open til 8am which was a bugger because we got here at 6:45am. I made it though, and then paid my 15rubles (about 40c) to go to the loo.
So, I left you in Olkhon Island. We stayed for 3 nights and ate their prison-style food for 3 days. It was edible but it wasn’t nice. The island itself is great! The water is so pretty and the atmosphere is lovely. The sun shines for a minute then ducks behind the clouds that then give way to rain. Our second day was a cloudy, lovely day. We went on a day long tour to a Stupa statue on a little island between the mainland and Olkhon Island. The view from the island was lovely but that was about it. Our boat went slow. And I mean it. We could have rowed there faster, literally. But it was really nice to chug along. I sat on the nose of the boat with all my warm clothes on and breathed in the fresh air and let the water moving against the boat lull me in and out of sleep. (below: me all rugged up on the boat; the Stupa and people walking around it; the view from Stupa island)

We also stopped off at a natural spring that’s got a bit of silver in it. We weren’t suppose to take rocks but I yoinked two little ones. I already peed behind a buddha in Mongolia and stole rocks from somewhere sacred in Africa so I’m hoping I live through this bad karma. They’re only little and I got them for my twin cousins who collect rocks. And these ones sparkle under water. (below: me drinking the spring water)
The water from the springs was delicious! It was so cool and refreshing. I ‘cleansed’ myself many times (washed my face) mainly because we’d had fish soup for lunch and my hands smelt fishy.
We chugged back to Olkhon Island and I had a really weird massage by some nice but weird guy. He cracked my back though, for which I was thankful as my headaches have disappeared for now!
So after the cloudy day, they gave way to an awesome rainy day. It just spat all day until it rained properly. It was a bit inconvenient as I had all my bags with me and we had to go from bus to ferry to bus (and be on the ferry in the open for 20mins). But it’s always so nice to have a bit of rain on your face and to smell it in the air!
All-in-all, our journey back to UB goes like this:
Walk to bus stop; 1.5hour bus to ferry; ferry across strait; 5.5hour bus to Irkutstk; 3 hour wait; 7 hour overnight train to Ulan Ude; 13hour wait; 1.5hour plane to UB; 20min taxi ride HOME
It’s pretty epic. I’m happy to say we’re a bit more than half way there. WOO!
I’m also really bloody hungry but the bitch in the shop wouldn’t let me buy a BUN and I can’t eat any more dried apricots.
re ‘what a dill’: EVERYTHING in this part of Russia has dill on it. I like dill which is lucky. If you didn’t like dill, you’d definitely go hungry. It’s fresh wild dill so it’s strong. It is put in soups, on soup, on fish, in fish, in salad, on salad, on pancakes, on breakfast, on your tea – EVERYTHING. It’s great!