Trans-Siberian to Ulan-Ude

18-20 March 2010

A sort of Jack London day in Siberia. We left Irkutsk for a scenic train ride around the southern end of Lake Baikal. Sharing our car with several cooing birds riding the rails to Vladivostok. All we can tell from the man who transports them is they definitely are not destined for a plate. Once again we are served water and a nice bowl of Borscht. The train is #350, slower and older, but a nice ride. Many fishermen on the ice, ice pressure ridges, and cars out on the ice. The lake is immense – the largest in Europe. It is a huge expanse of snow-covered ice with high mountains in the distance. (more…)