Trans-Mongolian Railway to Irkutsk & Lake Baikal

The Angara River flowing out of Lake Baikal.
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The journey to Irkutsk wasn't quite as pleasant as the journey to Ulaanbaatar due to having to spend basically all day at the Mongolian-Russian border, first getting checked by the Mongolians and then the Russians. Once we finally get moving the journey was pleasant enough and we arrived on Monday morning to a very cold Irkutsk. We were taken to our homestay and then wandered out for a look around and some food. We spent the day walking around the town and along the river. Irkutsk is a nice town and was interesting to see Siberian Russia but didn't really have a lot going for it. Most people stop in Irkutsk in order to go to Lake Baikal which was our plan.

Lake Baikal.
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The second day we headed to the bus station to get a local minibus to Listvyanka, a small village on the banks of Lake Baikal. The bus ride took just over an hour and when we arrived at the Lake we were both really impressed my what we saw. The lake was completely frozen over apart from a small area where the Angara River flowed out of the lake. We walked on the lake for a while which until the week before had had a road across it. It was now getting warmer and too risky to have the road on the lake anymore, just before the road closed 10 cars had sunk. We had some very nice food in a restaurant on the lakes edge and then headed back to Irkutsk.

Painting the boat on Lake Baikal.
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On our last day in Irkutsk we enjoyed a wander in the fresh air before heading for the train for 3 days nonstop to Moscow.

H.