Looking Back on Russia
Ok, here’s my attempt at summing up Russia. I know many of you are waiting for pictures, and hopefully I’ll have a bunch of them up soon (Hong Kong promises a cheap and fast laptop Internet connection). Also, I’m working on getting the Travelogue up to date… I have Venezuela, Spain, Morocco, and the UK all written up and now I just need to upload them. If you want a more day-by-day look at my trip thats where you should go.
When I last wrote, I had just passed over the border between Europe and Asia. Andy and I were visiting Yekaterinburg where the last Tsar and his family were killed. After 2 days there, we got on a train to Irkutsk… which some of you might remember from the game of Risk.
Irkutsk is an industrial city that really doesn’t have much in itself to look at. However, it does happen to be about an hour away from one of the most beautiful sights in Russia. Andy and I got on a bus and went down to a tiny little town called Listvyanka right next to Lake Baikal.
Listvyanka is indeed a tiny little town. There is one Soviet style run down hotel that charges outrageous rates and fortunately there is a brand new hostel/guesthouse run by, we believe, the Russian Mafia. They had running water and electricity which from what we could tell was impressive for the area. (The town was tiny I tell you.)
The Lake was completely frozen over but was still beautiful. We read in our guidebook that if you stick your feet in the lake you get 5 extra years added onto your life. (If you jump in and survive, you get 25.) We took the dare and found a hole in the ice where we believe people fished through. Suffice it to say, “It was cold.”
After some relaxing time away from civilization in the middle of Siberia, Andy and I decided to pack up and head back to Irkutsk to get the train for the rest of the journey. We spent one night in Irkutsk in a house named “Americansky Dom” or “American House”. We weren’t sure why it was called that, but it seemed the best choice from our guidebook
When we arrived, we realized why it was called what it was. It turns out that years back in the late 1970s, a retired US Army officer was visiting Moscow and met a young lady. He came back to visit many times and long story short, they married. But instead of taking his wife back to America as the story always seems to go, she took him back to Siberia. They built a house, and let the extra rooms.
If you are ever in Irkutsk in Siberia, stay at this guesthouse. The woman who runs it (the wife from above) is older now, but still friendly. The house may not be in the best location, but it is well kept and the people speak English. Best of all, the house is decidedly “American”… even down to the electrical outlets.
We stayed there only one night, upset that we hadn’t found it earlier, and boarded our train destined for Vladivostok… the end of the Trans-Siberian Railway… 3 nights away.
The train ride is a post in itself.
April 21st, 2005 at 7:30 pm
so do you have to stick both feet in the lake to get five years? if you stick only one in do you get 2.5 years?