Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt



Wednesday 26th of July

CHANGING TIME ZONE

09.21 We remain in our compartment on the night train between Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk. During the night we have entered yet another time zone. It has become some time zones this summer. When it comes to the landscape and the views then? They have not been as varied as the time zones.

11.12 More of Russia is passing by outside our compartment window. The time that has passed since we left Krasnoyarsk is the most we´ve ever spent on a single train.

11.39 We have stopped in Angarsk and a lot of new passengers stepped on. The wilderness is now behind us. Civilization comes closer.

12.04 This train trip's end Irkutsk is getting closer and closer. Our long journey is soon over. How and what are we going to do in and around the city? It remains to be seen. We originally had plans to make a trip to Lake Baikal, but on the basis of the changed plans in connection with the visa application, it is doubtful if we have time to do so.

12.40 We finally arrived in Irkutsk, one of Siberia's most famous cities and a classic stop along the Trans Siberian railway. The city has a population of about 600 000 inhabitants. The journey took about 19 hours. It is a new record for our part, but it will not stand very long. Longer journeys wait in the near future. We were welcomed on the platform with grand music. Now we are going to walk towards our next home.

We are staying in a Russian mini hotel again, this time it´s called Panda.

Peter is resting in our room at Mini Hotel Panda.

This is where our train arrived a few hours ago.

Christer is walking on the bridge Glazkovskiy Most.

The Angara river divides Irkutsk in two parts.

Свято-Троицкая церковь (The Holy Trinity Church), Irkutsk.

13.25 We have now reached our pre-booked hotel. It's called Mini-Hotel Panda and we are staying in room 4. It was a little tricky to get up here, at a height inside a housing area above the railway station. We first needed to take us past a huge puddle of water on the sidewalk, take us across a street with heavy traffic and then up the steep hill to the accommodation. At check-in we had to submit our passports, departure cards and previous visa registrations. The lady who checked us in spoke in her mobile who then obediently translated her words to English writing. Now we mostly need to get in shape and regain our submitted documents.

15.08 We could remain and rest here until it becomes night. However, it will complicate things for us so instead we'll go out. We chose this hotel because of the proximity to the railway station but the centre of Irkutsk is located on the other side of the Angara River. That is where we will find shops, restaurants and attractions.

15.51 We got our passports and registrations back at the reception. We also ordered breakfast for tomorrow morning. Once again the conversation was made through the cell phone. Now we have, via a long bridge (Glazkovskiy Most) spanning the station area and the river Angara, made it to a small park near the bridge. It's nice in the sun today. The Siberian summer heat is here for sure. It is +26°C today.

16.35 Just as we left the bench and walked further we met a police car came into the oncoming lane. Suddenly the driver honked the horn and flashed the lights. A U-turn was made and the police car stopped by us. Then it backed off a bit and drove on. For a while we thought that it was us they were after. After a lot of searching and some frustration, we found an ATM at Raiffeisen Bank. To our great joy, it wanted to borrow our cards. After a while we got the cards back and rubles as a thank you. Now we are at one of the city's Traveler's Coffee. The address we are sitting at is Zhelyabova 3.

Ulitsa Stepana Razina, Irkutsk.

Сквер им. Кирова (Kirov Square).

Christer is having an afternoon meal at Traveler´s Coffee.

A wonderful park atmosphere with music in the speakers.

Собор Богоявления, Bogoyavlensky cathedral.

The founder of Irkutsk, Ivan Pokhabov.

17.33 Coffee, pastry and juice, it was just what was needed. It was a perfect light meal and we just have to ignore how expensive the juice was. Today it is warm, sunny and generally nice. What is it like here in five months from now? We are currently at the beautiful Kirov square. The sunlit benches are empty while the benches in the shade are used extensively. In the speakers that are set up around the square, music is played. It is a great summer atmosphere here.

18.34 We are now down by the river walk along the Angara, with its fast flowing waters. Before we went here we looked at a few religious buildings. First it was the beautiful Bogoyavlensky cathedral, which during the Soviet times was closed and in periods was used as a bakery. After that, we went past the white Spasskaya church. We have also looked at a war memorial, an eternal flame and a small statue, a bust of the war hero Beloborodov. The river water in front of us hurries on and the railing has padlocks with lovers' names.

18.58 Without much success, we have been looking for a restaurant for tonight's dinner. Now, we are collecting energy on a bench. The 19 hours on the train are felt in our bodies. We move, act and think slowly.

19.09 We got up and went on. Pretty soon we saw the restaurant Brusnika, by the way it means lingonberry. First we went past it. It looked closed, no sign of life appeared. We took a chance anyway and of course it was open, but no other guests were in place. Here we have now ordered a tray of mixed meat. However, we do not know what kind of meat. To the meat, we ordered potatoes in some unknown form. This with the Russian language is still a challenge for us.

19.17 There is only one portion left of the ordered potato dish. Now we've switched to something else which we do not know what it is. We get a sense that Brusnika is mainly a lunch restaurant. Now in the evening it is quieter than quiet here. A bit comical is that we visited restaurants named blueberry (in Saint Petersburg), and now lingonberry (here in Irkutsk) on this Russian journey.

Spasskaya church from 1710 is the oldest stone building in Irkutsk.

The fallen soldiers from the second world war are remembered at Vechny Ogon (Вечный огонь).

The war hero Afanasy Beloborodov is remembered. He was born close to Irkutsk.

A young girl is thinking about life on a bench at the Angara river.

Peter is waiting for tonight´s dinner at the Brusnika restaurant.

The meat was cold, not what we expected.

19.23 Cold cut meat on a wooden platter and two kinds of potato dishes have been served. It was perhaps not what we dreamed of and hoped for but it is in all cases food. We had understood that we ordered mixed meat, but we thought that it would be warm, possibly grilled. It wasn´t.

19.46 It was difficult to eat one part of what we had ordered. It was salo, which is lard, something that is often eaten together with vodka in Russia and Ukraine.

20.49 On the way home we took a closer look what the railway station had to offer. We bought some soft drinks and found a shortcut up a flight of stairs from the station area and between some houses. Suddenly, we were quick and easy back home. Now we are back in the room at the Panda hotel for peace and quiet. Much of the power and energy that has been built up over the last few days have been lost during the train trip, and this day. A night's sleep may hopefully bring us new energy.

21.28 Home in Sweden the opposition discuss if they should submit a motion of censure against the minister for defence Peter Hultqvist, minister of the interior Anders Ygeman and minister for infrastructure Anna Johansson. This as a result of the safety scandal surrounding the Swedish transport agency. A possible response from the government is to resign and declare a new election.

23.06 We fill up with lost fluids. It seems as if a lot of fluid was lost in during the train journey and the heat during the city walk did not make things better either.

Summer evening on the Angara river.

The railway station in Irkutsk.


Thursday 27th of July

08.41 Good sleep is a great start to each day. It is far better to sleep in a hotel bed than in a compartment on a train in motion. What's for breakfast this morning?

10.29 There were no major defects and deficiencies with the breakfasts in our room here at the mini hotel Panda. There are, however, certain shortcomings and errors, with our energy and motivation. You just can't give 100% all days during a long journey. Sometimes, we simply need to give less.

11.07 Some people talk on the walkway along the bridge over the Angara River. We are positioned below it. It is time to think about the next move. Today we will see the parts of the Irkutsk centre, which we didn't have time for yesterday afternoon. To travel down to Lake Baikal seems pointless. We can, in principle, only go there and turn back again. We hope we can see the lake from the train tomorrow instead.

11.30 After having found the old friend, the supermarket SPAR, we are having a new bench break on a brown bench along the street Stepana Razina. This is mostly to check the directions. Where are we now? Where are we going later? Now we got a note from a lady who passed on the pavement. We wonder what it says. We still not master Russian.

11.53 More places have been found. Now we are at a small square where a politician, Yuri Nozhikov, stands statue and a beige dog is sleeping in the grass. From a loudspeaker we hear some commercial radio station. Wouldn´t it be a good idea to have such things at home, a street radio?

12.16 The name of the radio station is roughly translated from Russian, to street radio. We are now inside the nearby coffee chain Coffeeshop Company (http://www.coffeeshopcompany.ru). The waitress who master English have just announced that there is only enough freshly squeezed orange juice to one of us.

A clock store and Yuri Nozhikov. That´s what we can see from where we are sitting.

A local dog is resting in the grass.

Coffeeshop Company will be the place for our coffee break.

Yes, the juice glasses is this shape. There is nothing wrong with the photo.

The pedestrian street ул. Урицкого (Ulitsa Uritskogo)

Two men with backpacks in Irkutsk.

12.47 I got the last glass orange juice. Christer chose fresh apple juice instead. No one of us seems to remember that we drank apple juice in this form in the past. Inside the toilet are towel and toilet paper holders from the Swedish company SCA.

13.09 We are now along the Uritsky Street, a pedestrian street with shops and a smaller copy of the Eiffel Tower. We are pleased and listen to accordion music and have a woman in bra and panties above us. The woman is on an advertising poster and the first travel journal book is now fully written. Time to change!

13.40 New ground has been broken. We sit at the intersection between the Lenin street and Karl Marx street. We are not in the middle of the street, but in a small nearby park. In the park is also a Lenin statue. We ask ourselves how many times we have seen Lenin standing and waving this summer?

14.11 The walk in the summer heat (+28°C today) continued along the Karl Marx street. We came to a park by the Angara River, with a statue of Alexander III. This will be the second tsar and the fourth leader in the form of a statue that we have seen but then again I might be wrong. Now we are sitting on a bench in the shade. It has become time to travel to Stockholm, at least in literary form in my book. We'll enjoy a holiday feeling and to sit here and read for a while.

15.25 Some tree mowers came ever closer to our literary bench. In addition, the sun began to break through the canopy and fry on our pale bodies. Instead of reading, we have now bought an ice cream each from a woman with a freezer. She stood close by the tsar.

15.42 We are relocated. We are sitting once again in the park with the Lenin statue. We read further in our books. A pigeon just tried to land in Christer's book.

17.09 We are, as a foretaste of what is to come in some days, at the Kochevnik (https://www.kochevnik-irk.com), a Mongolian restaurant. The name means "nomad". Food is ordered, the beer is here and also my drink "Blue sky of Mongolia". It has become tradition since 2014 to order a local drink.

18.02 Grilled is always better. We were served roast beef, onion, pepper and half a garlic. To it came salad and thin bread with more vegetables. Enough with the talk about food. Now we will have coffee. On the street outside, a group of people from the Hare Krishna movement walked, sung and played.

Lenin is waving again.

A man is trying to catch some fish in Angara river.

Alexander III was the Russian ruler 1881-1894.

Yuri Gagarin with flowers around him.

We´ll have dinner at the mongolian barbecue restaurant Kochevnik.

Peter is happy with today´s dinner.

19.00 We are now on our way back home. Now I and our small backpacks have a bench break. Christer is buying some evening snacks and travel food. These purchases are made at SPAR, a food chain that served us in the past, mainly in Europe.

19.53 Both of us have been inside the supermarket. It had a strange layout and a strange range. Some things were in abundance and some goods barely at all. Now, it will be nice to take it easy in our room. At home in Sweden, ministers have gone and come. Gone are interior minister Anders Ygeman, minister of infrastructure, Anna Johansson as well as public health, health care and sport Gabriel Wikström, the last due to health reasons. New ministers are Heléne Fritzon, who becomes minister of migration; Morgan Johansson will be in addition to the secretary of state for justice that he is also minister of the interior. Annika Strandhäll fill on the service as social insurance with social security. Tomas Eneroth becomes minister of infrastructure. We hope that we still have our jobs when we come home again.

21.30 It is nice to relax but also to plan the next day. Tomorrow, Friday, we must have some form of activity and nutritional intake before we travel by train in the afternoon.

23.07 The book reading has been put on hold for my part. Now I open my evening beer.


Friday 28th of July

08.25 There was some knocking on the door. I went and opened it and today's breakfast was rolled in. Unfortunately it was almost a joke and travesty of a breakfast this morning. We got some bread, eggs, a sausage, salad and coffee with milk. It was far too little and we also got it too early. It is typical that this happens on a day like this, when we planned to hold back hunger for a while with a stable breakfast.

09.25 The breakfast cart has been retrieved back. We really could have gotten a better start today. There was a hope that the breakfast would have been bigger than it was. We have a certain lack of restaurants on this side of the river, so it will be tricky to get us some lunch.

10.22 A plan slowly begins to grow and looks out from the shadows and the darkness. Such departure days when we must carry around on the backpacks often become slow and devoid of content. It is just a long countdown.

11.58 We have checked out from the hotel. We stayed in the room as long as we could. Along the way from our Panda hotel, we bought an ice cream each and some other stuff in a small shop. Now we have a bench break in a neat park with comfortable benches. We are near the river, the bridge and the railway station. Nikolai Chelnokov is also here. He is made of stone. Who was he then? On the basis of what we have been able to find out he was some kind of flight officer during the Second World War.

A water car takes care of the dry flowers.

Nikolaj Chelnokov is looking at us.

Inside a warm train from Irkutsk to Ulan Ude.

12.19 A blue lorry with an orange water tank drove right into the small park. It stopped by the big flowerbed. Two people stepped out of the car, disconnected a hose and the water were turned on. They are watering the flowers. I don't think I've seen this version before.

13.08 The reading on our bench has been cancelled. We are thinking about whether we should go on board the train directly, or do something else before it's time. The sweltering summer heat continues. Today the temperature has risen to +29°C and it will be even warmer in the afternoon.

13.40 We walked slowly to the railway station. Here, we mostly make ourselves ready, maybe buy something more for the trip. Today we are going to hopefully get some lake views from the train.

14.01 We are in our next train compartment. The restaurant cart is about 5-6 carts away. We may unfortunately lack a lake view from our compartment, the windows are dirty and the carriage attendant kept our tickets. We seem in all cases to be alone in the compartment.

15.20 It didn't matter that our windows were dirty. Lake Baikal will appear on the other side of the train, through the windows in the hallway. There is variation in the views we see. Suddenly we pass trees, wooded hills and slopes. A small rock wall, the mountain side reveals itself.

16.50 Exactly two years ago, we were by South America's largest lake, Lake Titicaca, last year on a different date, we were at Africa's largest Lake, Lake Victoria. This year, the time has come to the world's deepest lake, Lake Baikal, 1637 metres deep.

Today´s journey is through beautiful landscapes.

The railway is sometimes very close to the shores of Lake Baikal.

Lake Baikal seen through the train window.

Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world and the 6th largest.

18.08 Mountains are towering up to the right at the horizon. Can't it be a little bit cooler in the compartment? It has probably been over +30°C out there for a while now.

19.30 At the station Mysovaya some of the local population walked around with fish in baskets, fish that was for sale to the passengers. This was actually the first time we have seen the local population try to sell stuff to train travellers. Before the summer trip, we had an idea that it was common everywhere in Siberia. Maybe it was more common in the past?

20.31 The sun sinks slowly in the west. How many beautiful sunsets have we seen through the years?

21.47 A city is looming out of the darkness. We are soon to arrive in Ulan Ude, capital of Buryatia, one of all of these autonomous republics that exist within Russia. Buryats are a mongolian buddhist people.

22.10 We have come to the last Russian city for this trip, Ulan Ude. We are 6220,3 kilometres from Vyborg, the first Russian railway station we were at. Time to get off and walk in the dark.

22.34 Via some purchases in a kiosk at the station and a stroll in the warm summer evening, we are now at the Hotel Victoria (http://myhotelvictoria.ru). During the payment process, we first paid 6000 rubles, and then 1000 rubles. The receptionist had asked for the wrong amount at first. Now we have booked breakfast for 09.00 tomorrow and we moved into room 108.

In the mirror you can see one of the guests in Hotel Victoria.


VIDEOS


You can see 56 photos from July 26 in this photoalbum.
You can see 33 photos from July 27 in this photoalbum.
You can see 25 photos from July 28 in this photoalbum.


CONTINUE


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