We were leaving the train station in Ulan Ude at 7 in the morning. The train looked soviet and we booked a ticket in the 3rd and cheapest class. We each had a bed and could rest. The night was hard and so it was quite revealing to finally sleep a little bit.
The train ride
The ride was great, we drove next to the Baikal Lake, the biggest one in the world. It was very beautiful seeing all the nature and the lake itself.
I wanted to get out and jump right into the water.
Most of the time I was actually sleeping, but when I was awake I was just looking outside.
My friends were worried about me being in Russia. It is understandable when listening to Western media, but it felt the opposite. I could have also been to Poland or somewhere else in Eastern Europe.
People were talking sometimes with us and they kind of liked us being from somewhere else, it felt that it would have been a bit refreshing.
Irkutsk
After we arrived at the Irkutsk train station, it was different again. Marla and I left the train station and walked to the other side of the river, where luckily it was a bit more pretty. Around the train station it is quite ugly.
We were checking out some parks and sitting down, watching a bit of the daily life of the locals. We had to kill some time before meeting our host from Couchsurfing. They wanted to pick us up from the city.
We found something to eat, which wasn’t easy finding something actually cheap, but it worked out kind of. It was due to being limited with the money, we didn’t want to risk anything, being stuck in Russia was not the dream.
The city itself is quite pretty, just the weather wasn’t the best and also due to sanctions we couldn’t pay with the credit card, so going to get something always needed to include some time to consider.
Meeting the host
We were picked up by Anja and her son from the city center. She is a very kind person and spoke perfect English. We got along very well and had good conversations.
The apartment was located a bit outside of the city, which was helpful for the next step of the trip. The apartment wasn’t big and we stayed on the kitchen floor, but with the air mattresses we brought, it was super fine.
They had two kids in the house and they had a lot of energy.
We received food and played many games. I tried to somehow communicate with the kids, because my Russian isn’t strong. Marla and Anja were helping though.
Even though it was loud and there was not much space, I liked being there and playing games. It was a Couchsurfing experience which is more authentic in my opinion, still having a private room would have been preferred.
Anja and her husband are such nice people, it was great staying with them and getting to know that we have a lot in common.
Exploring Irkutsk
In the morning after breakfast, Anja was driving us to a well located bus station. From there we took the public bus for less than 50 cents.
Irkusk is having something great. They have colored lines through the city which is basically a free walking tour. It has at every sight an explanation, quite nice. Sadly when we explored the city the weather was quite shitty, just raining and gray clouds.
We were hiding in some of the churches. One of them was very beautiful and the others from the inside were sadly quite ugly.
It was good to find a restaurant in which you can eat in 100g steps and pay for that meal, it is quite cheap there compared to other places. It was interesting checking out the supermarket. There were more products from Germany and other countries who put sanctions, than people in Germany would expect.
Finding out that the sanctions are quite bullshit is another proof that the media is just bullshitting a lot, which is sad to see. The prices also were quite decent.
Places like KFC just changed the name, but remained the same.
Of course there are sanctions happening, but it is not affecting daily life as much.
All the people we talked to said the same thing about it.
Money problem
The plan was to exchange some money for the full day we had in the city.
We were walking towards the bank and were excited to exchange the Euros which I brought with me.
There was just one issue, we forgot that it was Sunday.
Obviously the banks were closed. We were not stressed beforehand, but ended up having some money issues.
Taking the train to the next destination wasn’t an option, also going to where we wanted wasn’t an option, due to no banks being around.
Stress with bus driver
When we went back to the bus stop at which we started, we got in the front and paid for the ride. We arrived and wanted to get out in the back, Marla went and then the bus driver was closing the door, before I could leave the door.
I thought about nothing and just went to the front. There the bus driver was swearing at me and screaming. I was saying in Russian that I am not speaking the language, which he was not believing. I didn’t know what I was doing wrong, because I could not see anything.
The people told me to just leave the bus.
When being picked up from Anja at the station I told her the situation.
She knew what the issue was, I should have paid at the beginning.
So in Irkutsk (maybe in all Russia), you are getting in at the back door and getting out at the front door and paying the bus driver there.
I for sure learned that lesson, it was just a very uncomfortable situation in which I was in.
Baking a German Cake
We went with Anja to the Supermarket and we were getting the ingredients for an Apfelstrudel, basically a form of apple cake. Both of us haven’t done that cake before, but we wanted to try it out.
After we got home, it started with it and after a while we were understanding how it is working. The Apfelstrudel was in the oven and we were playing with the kids while waiting for it to be ready.
The cake was a bit hard, but tasted very good. It was tasty, but not as amazing as hoped to be honest.
The night was short, because the next day it was starting to get exciting again, because we were leaving Irkutsk already, to get more to the Baikal Lake and enjoying the natural beauty we were expecting.
First plan was to go to a place called Baikals, sadly the host with whom I was in contact wasn’t able to host us anymore.
It was time to find other plans. There was a huge island which we recommended from Anja, but without cash it wasn’t a good idea.
What is up next?
Next week it is time to read how the story continues. What is happening with the money and where do we go? All this and more in the next week, so stay tuned!
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