LAKE BAIKAL

I got up the next morning and went down to the cafeteria by seven and had two eggs sunny-side up, three cucumber slices and coffee. After that we all got our bags and suitcases together and brought them down to the bus parked infront of the hotel. We spent the next four hours driving through the countryside to a little train station in the town of Sludvyanka which is near the famous lake Baikal. Here we would catch the Circumbaikal train that goes alongside the lake. Tell you the truth I had never heard of Lake Baikal before, only the little bit of literature I had read before I came on this trip.

On the way we stopped to get some smoked fish from one of the many people selling them on the side of the road. The elderly lady we bought them from had a card table set up and had her fish all laid out on it. The fish were smoked with the pine cones found in the area.

Fish Monger



We also wanted to get some strawberries and saw many people selling them by the side of the road. We stopped at one stand but found that the strawberries were picked too early and not ripe so we didn't buy any there. We passed all the little towns and villages along the way inbetween vast tracks of of virgin forests. Most of the houses in Russia look the same. Maria mentioned that the people of Russia rent the land from the government but they own their houses. They build them the way they want and they get what they need from the forests and do all the work themselves. They have to pay for electricity and water if it is available in their area. If not they get water from Lake Baikal and either use lamps that burn from the fat of animals or use kerosene.

There are a perfuse amount of wildflowers in Siberia. Every field has them growing in at this time of the year. Here are the names of a few varieties that grow in this part of the world; daisies, Queen Anne lace, fireweed, chamomile, crown veitch, wild sweet pea, Thistle, lupin, wild raspberry, little blue aster, elderberry, yellow poppy, white poppy, cotton wool, cotton tree, blue bells and many, many more.

Village



After the long drive we made it to Sludvyanka. After a short search we found the train we would be traveling on. We got all our luggage aboard. The car had no seats. Only a couple couches and a low table at one end. It had a bar on the other end. Some of our fellow travelors brought some wine and we found some glasses in the bar so while we were waiting for the train to leave we had lunch of smoked fish, bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, ham, instant noodles chocolate for desert and wine.

Trains at Sludvyanka



Once the train got moving I spent most of the time standing up and hanging out the window watching the scenery go by.

There is a bit of history about the Circumbaikal train line that is worth mentioning. Way back in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when fur trading was profitable, the Transiberian Railway was built and the people started to migrate to Siberia. Many came involuteerily if they were exhiled there. Little communities started to spring up. It was found that they needed a railroad line to go around the lake. At this time the Transiberian Railway went as far as Lake Baikal and then the train engine and cars had to be taken by ferry to the other side a few cars at a time where they would be hooked up on the tracks. It was a long arduis and tedious task, so the idea of creating another line was concieved. But there were many problems with this idea too. The mountains around Baikal are made of the hardest rocks on earth and are the most difficult to cut through. How was this huge construction project going to proceed?

Circumbaikal Train



When the word got out about this gargantuan plan, professional tradesmen who were experts in excavation and bridge building started arriving in the Baikal area from Poland, Italy, England and other countries to help the Russians with this collosal project. Using primitive tools and suffering floods, extreme cold, the bubonic plague, cholera, land slides, bandits and tigers; the work gangs carved out thirty three tunnels and countless arches along the rocky shores of Lake Baikal and then build two hundred bridges along the fifty six mile line. They did this all in four years. So a lot of sweat went into this giant undertaking. I'm sure many lives were also lost.

Coming around the bend there were campers below the tracks on the top of the cliffs over looking Lake Baikal. They had their tents pitched and fires going. Many of them waved as the train went by.

The Resort

Finally we reached a little resort along side the railroad tracks on a bluff just above the lake. All the buildings looked new built in the modern Russian style of architecture. There was no inside plumbing in any of the buildings. The generator was turned on about twenty minutes after we arrived. I guess they held out as long as they could before indulging in the luxury of electricity.

Soon afterward it was time to eat dinner. The main building is where the kitchen and dining room were. This is between the two guest houses. We walked into the dining hall and sat at a table shaped in a "U". The cook also did the serving. That night the menu consisted of; fatty pork, mashed potatoes with red gravy and a small amount of grated carrots. I found this dinner to be very good. After this the vodka came out and was poured and we toasted many things as is the Russian way and had a joyful time.

During the evening I heard that there was a sauna on the property. In Russia they are called banyas, which is the Italian word for it. I was the only person that wanted to try it out so one of the resort workers took me down the path where the banya was and showed me around. He was speaking in Russian and pointing to things. I got the idea.

Later in the evening I got my towel and walked down to the banya. It was a fairly recently built small wooden cabin with three rooms. I went into the first room; there were a few benches for sitting and some hooks on the walls where you were supposed to hang your clothes. The next room was the wash room. there were two garbage cans full of water; one with hot water and the other with cold. You take a dipper and you put the desired amount of hot and cold water in a basin that is provided and then you rinse your self with this after you have lathered up if you want to have a shower. There was also a pile of freshly picked birch branches on a table. They smelled like cut grass. You are suppost to beat yourself with these branches when you are in the banya. It is supposed to be good for circulation. If there are other people with you in the banya you lightly beat each other with the branches. I took my clothes off and put them on a hook. I left my underware on. I didn't want to be stark naked incase someone else came in.

I walked into the banya that was next to the wash room and closed the door and let the heat build up a little. I sat for awhile. I threw some water on the rocks to make it steam; then I took a birch branch and lightly hit my legs, back, chest and arms with them. Then I sat some more til beads of sweat started to form on my forehead. When I got hot enough I came out. At this point you are supposed to bolt out the door and run down to Lake Baikal, which is only a short distance away, and jump in. I chose to take a shower so I lathered up and scrubbed myself clean and then took the water in the wash room and rinsed myself and then threw the extra water at the back wall like the man said. The water then escaped through holes drilled in the floor.

That night I had the most peaceful sleep I have had in my entire life. The greatest thoughts ran though my mind all night long. I felt as cozy as a bug in a rug.

I woke up the next morning refreshed at six when the alarm went off. For breakfast it was rice and hot dogs. Then I got my suitcase and shoulder bag and brought them down to the railroad tracks. There was a man waiting on the track with an old fashioned pump trolley. It looked like something that was left over from World War I. We piled all our luggage on it and then walked along the side of the tracks while the man hand pumped his flat car down to about a fourth mile. We got our luggage off the rig and brought them down to a dock where we were to wait for a boat to take us to the little town of Listvyanka.

After awhile the boat could be seen in the distance. When it got to the dock one of the boat crew jumped off with a rope and tied it to a piling. The luggage was loaded and then we came aboard. After the initial greetings the rope was pulled off the piling and we were off. It would take an hour to get to Listvyanka.

Most of us sat in the back of the boat enjoying the exhileration of being on the water. It was a time of reflection on our journey thus far; The watery breeze felt good and awakened all the senses. The little ship chugged through the choppy water. We all noticed that there was a mill at the far end of the lake. We later learned that it was a pulp and paper mill. My thought was, 'wouldn't a mill like that pollute this lake that was supposed to be pristine'?

Later we all went downstairs to the galley to have tea. There we enjoyed some fish that was fresly caught from the lake a few hours before.

By then we arrived at our destination. Listvyanka is a little town located on the southwest shore of Lake Bakail. There is a museum there along with St Nicholas church that we would be visiting.

Boat ride to Listvyanka



We got our luggae out of the boat and into a waiting bus. This was the end of the line for Maria. She would now go back to her mother's apartment in Ulan Ude where she lived. Now we had a new guide named Olga. She would be taking over where Maria left off.

The first place we went was St Nicholas Church which was not far away. It was a modest church. It didn't have the onion domes on top like most Russian orthodox churches have. Inside there was a baptism service in progress. There were icons and painting of saints on the walls. There were scenes of early church history, the life of Jesus and also of the life of St Nicholas. There were quite a few people in the church that day. They were all standing. The priest in his vestments was swinging an incense cantor.

St Nicholas Church



The new guide, Olga decided that we had better leave because the women in our group didn't have scarves over their heads. She may have been afaid that the priest might have said something.

Interior of Church



St Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors. One day a local businessman was out in his boat on Lake Baikal. A sudden storm came through the area and he had a hard time navagating his boat. His life was in danger and he thought he was going to drown so he made a vow to God that if he got out of there alive he would build a church and dedicated it to St. Nicholas. He got out of his situation alive and from then on he was dedicated in fulfilling his vow and started building the church.

Our next stop would be the Lake Baikal Museum.

Fields with Hay Stacks