To first appearances Russia is a little bit bleak

It was a long trip on the train from Mongolia to Russia not helped by the over nine hours that we spent going through the border procedures. We travelled overnight the first night and then stopped at the border at about 4am. Of course they don't start work until 7am so we just sat there for three hours doing nothing. Then they finally started to process the passports and customs forms (which we had great fun trying to fill out in Cyrillic). After spending hours doing this with the Mongolians, we then went a couple of km up the tracks and did the whole thing all over again with the Russians. The Russians were a little more fussy though and we weren't allowed out of our cabins while they were on the train and they weren't keen on us getting out of the train, or taking any photographs. We were all very bored and it was a shame that all of this takes place in the daytime so that when we finally started to move again and see some of the Russian countryside, it was starting to get dark. We arrived in Irkutsk in the early hours of the next morning. We aren't sure exactly what time because there was some confusion as to which direction the clocks needed to go when we got into Russia and we were on totally a different time to everyone else. It doesn't help that the entire rail network in Russia runs on Moscow time so the clocks in the stations don't have the local time. Nor do the timetables!

We headed straight out to our homestays in a small town on the edge of Lake Baikal one hour out of Irkutsk. Nicole and I stayed with a lovely woman called Olga who spoke only a few words of english but this didn't stop her from talking constantly. We did a lot of nodding while we were there. We arrived in her apartment to breakfast of fresh bread, biscuits and homemade raspberry jam. It was delicious. I then had possibly the best shower of the trip so far. There was water pressure, there was hot water and there was plenty of it. Unfortunately for Nic the water went off while she was washing her hair and she had to finish with bottled water.

We then all met up at the bottom of the hill and went to the Lake Baikal Museum. It's only a small museum but very interesting. Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world and contains 20 percent of the world's fresh water. They have aquariums in the museum and we got to see lots of the fish that live in the lake. They are all largish and grey. They even have fresh water seals in the lake and they have two in the museum. They are enormously fat, kind of like a ball with legs at one end and a very round face at the other. But then again the water is around 4 degrees for most of the year so you'd need a bit of fat to keep you warm.

There are lots of earthquakes in the area and the lake is getting deeper with each quake. The bottom is mostly sediment and this tends to shift very easily.

After the museum we went for a walk in the rain to go and get some lunch. We of course chose the first restaurant that we came to as we walked along the lake's edge. The prices in Russia were a bit of a shock after Mongolia but the food was delicious. After lunch and a bit of a dry out we walked the rest of the way into the village to have a look around. It's becoming a popular lakeside resort for the wealthy from the West of Russia. There are daily flights from Moscow and St Petersburg so it's easy to get to. There are some spectacular examples of money not buying taste in town. There is the Barbie Dream House come fortress that is painted a lovely shade of purple and then just down the street is the Swiss Chalet gone wrong. The hotel at the other end is just like a giant orange wedding cake.

The local houses are quite cute and are made of wood mostly. They have a single storey with three windows along the front and little decorated shutters. They usually have a garden in the front as well so everything is colourful at the moment. We went to the local market where you can buy tacky souvenirs and lots of dried fish, so we didn't stay long.

After we got back to the houses, I decided that I would like to swim in the lake. They had told us at the museum that the surface temperature was 17 degrees. Not where I tried to go in, it wasn't! I got wet to the knees and my toenails went instantaneously purple so there was no way I was getting wet all the way.

Dinner at Olga's was really nice. She made us ravioli with meat in the middle, fried zucchini and pickled salad. We then had raisin cake with raspberry jam for dessert. We both then crashed into bed and were asleep before nine. It's strange how tired you get when you have been on the train for a couple of days.

In the morning, Olga filled us up with pancakes and more of the delicious jam before we packed up and got back on the bus to Irkutsk. We started Irkutsk at the Decemberists' Museum which is in an old house in town. The Decemberists had attempted a revolution in Russia in 1824 and those that weren't shot were sent to Siberia in exile. They were initially in prisons and salt mines but after their release they weren't allowed to go back to western Russia and had to stay in Irkutsk for many years. A small group of the wives came out to Siberia to be near their husbands and after their release from prison, they settled in and had families and built houses. Their families from St Petersburg and Moscow sent them money and nice things so they weren't exactly suffering in Siberia. They had things like grand pianos and feather beds. After 30 years, the Tsar decided to pardon them and they moved back to the West and left everything behind. The museum has the house set up as it was, with lots of the original contents and photos and things.

We then went to the hotel to drop our bags off in the day room as we were getting the train that afternoon. I'm kind of glad that we weren't staying in the hotel after seeing the inside. It's a 60s soviet monolith on the outside and the inside is like a time warp. I'm sure that the whole thing is still original. It's 180 US a night and it definitely isn't worth that. The bed was so soft that I had trouble getting out of it and the bathroom was one of those all in one jobs like in Vietnam, where you get water everywhere.

We then went for a walk around Irkutsk to see the few sights that there were. Siberia truly is the land that fashion forgot. The clothing is spectacularly early 80s and the strangest thing is that it is new clothing, not opshop, not stored since 1984. The mullet is still the most popular haircut for both sexes and bare midriffs are just fine even if you are 15 kg overweight. The makeup is also totally appropriate for the look. If you want to get some apricot lipstick or cherry red, Irkutsk is the place to go.

The buildings in Irkutsk are nice but slightly faded. It looks like not much money has been spent since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The market is huge and sells all sorts of processed meats, offal, pickled things, cheeses and fruit and vegetables. We grabbed some kebabs for lunch before going to the supermarket to get some food for the train. We also attempted to find an internet cafe but we had no luck at all. The hotel had a really slow really expensive connection but we didn't bother.

We got the best train in Russia for the trip across to Suzdal. It was the Baikal and was very comfortable. It had aircon, soft mattresses and a slightly larger cabin. It was nicer than some of the hotels that we have stayed in. I was surprised by the large amounts of forest as you go across Russia. The hills disappear into the distance covered in pine and birch trees. There are little villages dotted in amongst the trees with wooden houses and vegie patches. The larger towns are ugly as with lots of large concrete apartment blocks, derelict buildings and graffiti. There is something kind of sad about them.