At 3am, the driver picked us up to drive to the railway station. We drove with the train further to Omsk. The clock and display panel as well on the tickets is the Moscow time written. But the train departs at location time which was 2 hours later then Moscow time. After a view more hours of sleep, we soon arrived in Omsk. There we were quite surprised, that the people spoke better englisch then in Moscow. Unfortunately, in this city you can’t see and do a lot. In the restaurant where we had lunch, I had an interesting conversation with the service girl.

Friday evening, our flight to Irkutsk over Novosibirsk departs. In the capital of Siberia was it surprisingly warm. We waited 6 hours in the transfer terminal and had the flight at 3am. Arrived in Irkutsk we had luck and had the chance to already check in in the hotel that early in the morning. After a little bit of sleep, we walked through the market which was really big with clothes, food and so on. After Lunch I discovered the city. I walked beside some old wooden houses, a Lenin statue to the Quarter 130. There was all build as it was in early times and everything was a pedestrian zone. After s bit shopping, I allow myself a coffee and walked a nice walkway alongside the beautiful Angara river back to the hotel. We had dinner in the Belgian Beer Bar. A view houses further was an amazing Shisha bar with good music and drinks.

After breakfast we went to the Bus Olkhon Express which drove us to the island where we could stay for three days. The drive was quite bumpy but diverting. After the ferry was only gravel road to our accommodation Nikitas Homestead in Kushir. After arranged us in our room, we enjoyed a beer and tea in the coffee inside the Homestead. After a nice dinner, I walked a bit around and found a view meters from our accommodation the huge lake with the famous Shaman rock. The view was stunning and the day ended perfectly with a beautyful sunset.

On our first full day here on the Island on Monday, they picked us up after breakfast and drove us to a farm a bit outside from Khushir. They instructed us before we started our two-hour horse riding tour. My horse Rustal was really lovely and so I had the chance to enjoy the landscape from the Lake Baikal which was still a bit frozen. After lunch and a bit sport we were going to the Banya, the Russian Sauna. The Sauna was extremely hot and smelled tasty Spruce. We’ve done a view Sauna rounds and where deeply relaxed. And really lucky for the chilled temperatures here in Siberia. After a break we also had a Siberian massage. After this nice and relaxing day, I slept deeply and happily.

After breakfast I went to a day tour to the north of the Island. On a typical 4×4 wheel Russian car I met the group. They were all really nice and friendly. The drive was really bumpy but thanks to a lot of stops I had the chance to enjoy the beautyful places on this island. Our driver cooked us lunch. During this time, we walked to the norths point of the island and the landscape with the steep cliff and the half-frozen lake was amazing. Lake Baikal is 636 km long, 80 km wide and up to 1’643 m deep. For lunch we had fish soup with the Baikal fish, sandwiches and gingerbread for the tea. During sunbathing I really got a light sunburn in my face. In the middle of Siberia. After dinner with some of the group we enjoyed the sunset on the Shaman rock.

Early in the morning, the minibus picked us up for the way back to Irkutsk. The six-hour ride was bumpy and quite long. The driver passed really sharply the cows and sheep on our way. Back in the hotel in Irkutsk, we went to the Quarter 130 for dinner. The shish kebab skewer was delicious and we prepared us for our 10-hour flight to St. Petersburg over Moscow.

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