An Endless Journey (Trans-Siberian Railway 2011)

There are thousands of reasons to consider the Lake Baikal one of the highlights of the Trans-Siberian trip: its incomparable landscape, the untouched nature or the vast variety of flora and fauna along its shores among others. Definitely if you decide to go on this adventure the deepest fresh water reserve in the world is an obligatory stop. 

After having a tour around the Lake Baikal on the Circum-Baikal train, we decided to spend the coming couple of nights in Olkhon, the third-largest the third largest lake-bound island in the world.

We started the next day early in the morning, and once we arrived to the bus station, a long queue was waiting to get on the bus. Suddenly, a “nice” driver was shouting at us to leave our backpack in the luggage compartment. Once we sat down inside the crappy-old-dirty bus, while half of the passengers where smoking, Jimmy asked me about where my book and music player were. Obviously, I asked him to relax; man why should we take something for an hour trip? Just relax. His sarcastic smile was the start of one of the worst trip I have ever had.

When we asked to the driver about the arrival time, his answer was so meaningful: you know when you depart but never when you arrive… I looked back and many people were sitting down in the corridor, and the bus was overloaded with luggage.  The road was similar to a rally race one and the mix of powder in the air and high temperature inside was as pleasant as a sauna in the middle of the desert. When after a couple of hours I succeeded to close my eyes, my sweet dream was suddenly spoiled by a strong noise and shouts. We were already in road verge with a burst tyre. Everybody seemed to be used to this situation, as if it was the daily routine, so we took advantage of this time to grab some food and drinks.

Once the driver changed the tyre and had a proper meal, we continued with the journey. After stopping several times, for essential reasons such as passenger physiological needs or asking to walkers whether they need something, a suspicious yellow liquid started flow toward us… when we realized that fortunately it was tea, we felt even comfortable in the powder, heat, shaking road, smoke, stops and noise… After all, we realized that always everything can get worse.

Conditions in Siberia and surroundings are precarious. Roads are in bad conditions, coaches are extremely overloaded and maintenance does not exist. However once we arrived at our destination, the beautiful landscape had a balsamic effect in our apathetic mood. Definitely Olkhon worth thousand of such trips.

Iñaki