A lake, a train and a wonderful border crossing

I didn't really have many expectations about the Baikal region before I got there. I imagined a large, deep lake, with the usual beautiful scenery. This all was proved to be true. The Baikal was a cold, blue lake, with a nice big island in it. There I spent four days enjoying the relative peace and beauty of Siberia. Ol Khon, as the island is called, is a very enjoyable place, with a small, sleepy village located about halfway up the island. Still, there are good opportunities for biking, boating and so on. I decided on a very relaxed approach, and didn't do much besides relaxing, walking, bouldering and enjoying the company of other travelers.

Taking a relaxed approach turned out a good thing as the one active thing I did turned out very dangerous indeed. On the last day I decide to rent a bike and cross the island. Unfortunately a forest fire blocked the track, and even before this the rear brake on my bike had failed, sending me over the handlebars as I hit a ditch. So remember, stay at home and never do anything active, and never buy bikes from a certain US based bike company using the name of a small animal that fights against cobras.










The last train ride in Russia, from Irkutsk to Ulaan Baatar, was a bit different. First thing, I had tickets in coupe, or second class, instead of third, platzcart. This also meant that this was the first train with foreigners. Lots of foreigners. The train was the famous Baikal train going to China, carrying a few locals and lots of backpackers and tourists. Luckily this ride was only around thirty hours, and I also had interesting companions in my compartment.

Two companions will go without further mention, but the third, a slightly eccentric Israeli retiree will get a few words here. The gentleman had traveled a lot, with travel being his main activity in his free time. He didn't seem to make much of a fuss about most things, and started asking after the train departed about our visas, and did one need a visa for Mongolia. We responded with our guess that probably everyone does and that they aren't available at the border. Well, he wasn't about to stress about this, and things did end up well for him, as Israelis do not need visas. No stress there.

The next day when we were waiting for passport control to start, a pondering and slightly worried retiree came to talk. It had occurred to him that the "young Russian hooligans and vandals" might get the idea of putting a stone, the size of a large apple, on one of the tracks. This would for sure derail the train causing huge damage and loss of life. But this was not all, he had a very clever solution to this scenario: attach a broom in front of the first wheel of the engine, just one centimeter above the track. The broom would then knock all these life threatening obstacles out of the way, and train travel would again be safe in Russia. I sincerely hope the Russian railway engineers are reading this blog. Here they could get a brilliant idea for free, and save Russia from hundreds of serious accidents. I did however, try to calm him that the likelihood of the "vandals" of getting an idea as murderous as this was unlikely, and that trains do not derail easily. I also think my assurances were not convincing enough, as he passed on the idea to two more people in our carriage. Their reactions are unknown, unfortunately.




RANDOM FACT GENERATOR:

How long can it take to cross one border by train?

Time spent in Russia:

• random connection and disconnection of train carriages: 3 hours
• scheduled passport control started after delay of: 1 1/2 hours
• passport and customs control: 1 1/2 hours
• reconnection of carriages and engine: 1 hour

Time spent in Mongolia:

• Customs and passport control: 1 1/2 hours

Total time to cross one border: 8 1/2hours