Day 18 - onto Lake Baikal

Our train arrived early this morning. Smelly and sweaty, we were transferred to a village called  Bolshoye Goloustnoye on Lake Baikal for a traditional home stay (Nigel/Sasha, this was a bit like the agrotourism we did in Poland). The road was bumpy but the scenery was beautiful. The village itself contained all wooden buildings, and a very simple infrastructure. It reminded me a little of my father's home village in India - all the water comes from the ground and sheep and cows wander the streets.

Janier, our guide took us for a great walk. There was a lot of wildlife and strange flowers to be seen. Picture attached for Stu's benefit!

Our host, Nadia was very warm and inviting, and we communicated effectively with broken English, broken Russian, a picture book and her Russian to English dictionary. The house was a traditional wooden house - no frills, simple with the basics for life. The toilet was an outdoor shed. However the environment was peaceful and homely. The luxury part of our stay was the Russian "Banya", that all of the homes in the Village seemed to have. A sauna where you beat yourself with a branch, then wash

 with cold water! After five days without a shower, it was welcome and very cleansing!

Later on, Alex, Jonathan and I tried to find the chapel by hiring bikes. We waded rivers but were unsuccessful.