11/08/18 After a long trip of 27h straight on the train, I arrived in Yekaterinburg. The hostel is next to the station so that is really handy.
12/08/18 I explored Yekaterinburg by walk in the morning, saw the Temple on Blood, wanted to climb at the top of Vysotsky business centre but it only opened at 10 and walked on Vaynera street where you can spot a few sculptures. Later I stopped at a local café for breakfast where I had a nice porridge, a popular Russian breakfast.
13/08/18 The night train to Novosibirsk felt shorter as I slept better, even though those bloody mosquitos had a feast on me. Each carriage has its own staff member and the one assigned to mine seemed to have a little crush on me. The 3 Russian ladies in my room found it funny so they could not stop joking about it and teased him all the time, till they convinced me he could take a picture of me. The poor Aleksander barely spoke English so he had a hard time to communicate with me. At least the ladies had a good time ?.
14/08/18 My back still hurts but it is getting a bit better so I try to protect it as much as I can. I have explored Novosibirsk at slow pace. It is the capital of Siberia, 3rd biggest city of Russia. Here I can also spot really old vehicles and roads are not well taken care of, it is closer to what I expected of the country.
I asked the hotel’s reception staff for a city map or the address for a tourist info centre but I got kindly sent to Google so I had to search on my own. Luckily the wifi works well at the hotel. I also asked for a blanket or a quilt as I only found a sheet on my bed, and I received a mattress protection cover instead. As it was all wrapped in plastic I guess the lady just picked the wrong one. I won’t complain, that will do.
In the afternoon I rest a bit my back at the hotel than it was already time to get on the night train to Irkutsk.
I asked the hotel to book me a taxi to the railway station so I didn’t have to carry everything on my own at 1am. The guy showed up on time and we loaded all my luggage in the car, then the driver tried to start the engine, and the battery was too weak, the car would not start. He opened the car hood, took cables out of the back and tried for a few minutes to get it working without success. Lucky me. I didn’t want to miss my train so I asked the hotel to request another taxi and took my luggage out of the car. I was waiting outside for the second car when the reception lady came out and said there was an issue with the second car so they were sending a 3rd one. Have I been cursed? No I think it is just how it works here. Before the 3rd car showed up, the first driver stopped a car passing by and asked for help to start his engine and plugged his cables to the battery. As it worked, I loaded my luggage again and we made it to the station on time. Hooray!
15/08/18 On the train to Irkutsk, I was warmly welcomed on board by a Danish girl so happy to have someone to talk to, as she had only been with Russian speaking people so far. She is 26, on her way to Beijing where she will study Chinese for 1.5 years. She sings in a rock band, plays piano, loves animals and is scared of spiders. She has travelled a lot already, very inspiring personality.
16/08/18 I explored Irkutsk with the tramway network and found the beautiful Kazan Church. I walked through the central market but all shops were selling roughly the same items. Bags, shoes, clothes or fruit and vegetables. I was hoping to find some local art craft but could not find any here. And no postcard in this country!
On my way back I could not find a supermarket waking distance so I ordered pizza for the first time since I left.
17/08/18 I was not tired at bed time probably because I slept on and off on the train the night before, so I really fell asleep around 6am. I woke up around 10 and got up as I planned to go to Lake Baikal, the temperature today is 26, perfect for a long walk. I walked to the bus terminal and booked a ticket for the next available bus, at 2.15. It is a late one as I will arrive in Listvyanka, a little town along the lake, around 3.30. But except for the viewing point, I had the chance to check out what I wanted. I walked almost 20km today, my back was going surprisingly well. On my way back to the hostel I found a supermarket to reload before the train to Beijing.
When I arrived at the hostel, the staff ladies were smoking outside and told me they could not clean the room as they didn’t have a key, they gave me the only one they have (seriously?!). Luckily no one claimed the second bed, so I had the room to myself.
When I plugged the hairdryer in my adaptor, it stopped working 1 second later. I tried another power source and as it was still not working I thought I burnt the hairdryer so I gave it to the staff to throw it away. I barely used it so I don’t really need it anyway, it will make my suitcase lighter. But when I tried to plug my tablet, it didn’t work either so I figured I burnt the adaptor instead. Or maybe both. Well it is 2am I am not going to get the hairdryer back. The bigger problem is I can’t recharge my tablet until I reach China in 1.5 days, so I will download some apps on my phone to learn Chinese so I don’t get bored on the train.
