Choosing not to freeze in Lake Baikal

Of all the places we have visited in Russia, the village of Khuzir on Olkhon Island - where we stayed for 3 days - has definitely been the most different from home. Olkhon Island is near the west coast of Lake Baikal in Siberia; The lake is 50 million years old and holds enough fresh water to sustain the entire population of the planet for forty years.

Khuzir is the island's largest settlement, with a collection of wooden houses, sandy tracks for roads and other wooden buildings housing cafes, bars, shops, an art gallery and at least three internet cafes. Cows, dogs and cats wander the streets and although the island only got electricity a couple of years ago, mobile phone reception is excellent. Oddly, the island is also covered in litter. We saw beer bottles, rusty old machinery, broken glass and other rubbish everywhere, in the villages, forests and on the beaches. It's hard to understand why the residents tolerate this, but it does seem to be due to local lack of interest in the environment rather than disrespectful tourists (although no doubt they also play a part).

During our first evening on the island, we decided to join an excursion to a 'traditional' Buryat village. The Buryats were historically nomadic people living near Baikal long before the Russian colonists arrived. They are the largest ethnic minority in Siberia and have their own republic south of the lake. Visiting their village was a bizarre experience, partly as the tour was entirely in Russian, but also because it felt like we were watching people perform a fake version of their lives for tourists to take photos of. It made me feel a bit uncomfortable, but hopefully it is profitable for the people who live there and that's why they choose to do it.

On day two we went on another excursion, a day trip to the north of the island, where there were stunning views across the lake. The scenery on Olkhon Island is spectacular and varied, from sandy beaches to snow-capped mountains, and the lake is perfectly clear and a brilliant shade of blue. It was also very cold and windy, but despite this a favourite activity among the other backpackers staying on the island was to sit in a banya (sauna) on the beach before plunging into the freezing lake and then running back to the banya. According to the myths, swimming in the lake adds 25 years to your life (if your heart can stand the shock, presumably)... but even so I wasn't convinced!

Trains, churches & the Black Rose

On Thursday, after 2 days of visiting gold-domed churches and drinking mead in Vladimir and Suzdal, we boarded the sleeper train to Ekaterinburg, or Sverdlovsk as everyone in Russia still seems to call it. The town was renamed Sverdlovsk in 1924 after Yacob Sverdlov, a Bolshevik party official responsible for arranging the murder there of the royal family, the Romanovs, in 1918. It reverted to Ekaterinburg in 1992 as part of Russia's attempts to leave its Soviet past behind.

Within minutes of joining the train, Amber and I found ourselves right in the middle of the authentic Trans-Siberian experience. We were sharing a 4-berth compartment with a Russian woman and her young son (or possibly grandson) and - for the first couple of hours - a young guy on his way to Nizhny Novgorod. He displayed the Russian interest in English speakers that we had been led to expect, by inviting us to drink beer with himself and his friend, and insisting we accept a box of Siberian biscuits (which he seemed to carry for such eventualities) as a gift to welcome us to his country. Between his few words of English, my (shameful) knowledge of Bon Jovi songs - his friend's favourite band - and Amber's supply of Kiwi toys, we got along pretty well until the carriage attendent came along to tell us to be quiet! Apparently 9.30 is way past bedtime on the Trans-Siberian railway.

After a week of sightseeing there is something very relaxing about being on a train for 24 hours with nothing to do but sleep, eat picnics, read and look out the window. But once in Ekaterinburg the sightseeing began again, starting with another gold-domed church (a continuing theme), this one dedicated to the murdered Romanov family. In the interests of balance we also visited the statue to Sverdlov, still standing although with some graffiti - whether pro or anti-monarchist it was surprisingly hard to tell. We spotted a couple of Banksys (real or homage?) and also saw the Black Rose, Ekaterinburg's Afghan (anti-)war memorial, a soldier sitting with his head bowed (see photo above). My guidebook suggests it provides an insight into how the Russian people feel about the Afghan war. I thought about how fitting it would be for the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.

Moscow via Dusseldorf (and Vienna)

When Amber and I first started to plan our Trans-Siberian trip, we intended to do the environmentally-friendly - and most interesting - thing, and take the train all the way from London to Beijing. Unfortunately, problems obtaining a Belarus transit visa meant that we eventually had to compromise our principles and fly to Moscow. However, the environmentalists will be pleased to hear that the non-religious version of divine retribution soon struck on behalf of the melting glaciers, as our journey was not quite as straightforward as it could have been. After our flight from London to Dusseldorf was delayed by more than an hour, we missed our connection and ended up redirected to Vienna. Which would have been fine, apart from the fact that our bags stayed in Dusseldorf and the airline staff weren't confident of it making it to Moscow any time soon....

Luckily the non-religious retributors had decided we'd learned out lesson, as our bags did turn up in Moscow before we left, and we could get on with the sight-seeing. We were lucky enough to be staying in Moscow with Tim's friend Nadya and her mother, both of whom were wonderfully hospitable and generous. Nadya showed us round the markets and even sneaked us into the school where she teaches English, to talk to some of her students. Her mother cooked us delicious traditional Russian food (even vegetarian food for me!) and made sure we got on the right train when we left Moscow for Vladimir.

Red Square was unfortunately closed during our time in Moscow, so we couldn't pay Lenin a visit or go into St Basil's Cathedral. However, we made up for it with visits to several museums, the State and Tretyakov Museums and by the time we left had almost mastered the Metro system. I knew I should have learned Cyrillic before I left.