By chance there was a lovely group of French people from our train carriage staying in the chalet behind us as well as a very well spoken Australian woman who's husband and son were going to the World Cup. One of the French guys was unmissable due to his big portly belly and the fact he looked like 'Doc' from Back To The Future.
We put our belongings away and then went in search for somewhere to have a sunset beer. We found a place near the fish market right on the lake which sold local brews and played Russian pop music to watch the sun go down. A group of middle aged Russian women were drinking and and dancing the terrace they kept gesturing for us to join in. Finally one of them grabbed my hand and dragged me up, we did this weird combination of the waltz, tango and slow dancing. It was fun but slightly scary at the same time. My friends thought it was fucking hilarious and were pissing themselves especially every time she pulled me in close to her big Russian boobs. Luckily she let me get away with just the one dance, so we finished our beers and left as my new Russian cougar friend blew me a kiss on the way out. After we headed back along the lake to a local restaurant for dinner before bed.
The next morning we walked along the lake the other way as we heard there was a lookout. We found the entrance unmanned so we just walked up the wooden path. It was mini botanical gardens with names of all the trees posted at the base. It felt very much like spring as there were literally birds and bees everywhere. We got some great views over the lake to the mountains and it was a beautiful walk through the forest.
About half way down last night's dinner started creeping up on me and I was in sudden need of a toilet. We had come about 3kms from our guesthouse and the last 2.5kms there was pretty much nothing so going back wasn't really an option. Only problem was we were coming up to a bend and we couldn't see if there was anything the other side either. There was a museum close by but that had a few coach loads of Chinese tourists visiting and a line for the toilet outside the door, plus the reception lady wanted full museum entry fee of about $8AUD. After a few unhelpful jokes about "does a bear shit in the woods" we decided to take our chances and keep walking around the corner. Luckily about 500m down the road there was a little market and public toilet which only cost 25rub, about 50c. I paid my money, was given a roll of toilet paper by the old Russian lady and never in my life have I been so happy to see a squatter. In fact I hadn't even used one since just after the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Feeling a lot better and a little lighter we sat down in the sun for a plastic bottle of home brew. I don't what the % was but it felt like good strong Russian beer. After downing a 1L bottle each we walked back to the guesthouse and bumped into our train cabin mate Gaby and one of the Uruguayans. By this stage the beer had gone right though us so we said a quick hi & bye and kept going till we found a restaurant to borrow the bathroom.
For dinner we just grabbed a meal from the restaurant at the front of the guesthouse I had the Russian version of ceviche, the local raw fish with vinegar, onion and lemon juice. It tasted amazing, it literally melted in my mouth. Just another of the brilliant local dishes I've been lucky enough to try on this trip. Tomorrow we head back to Irkutsk for a night and then on to Ekaterinburg
After my short time in Russia I've learnt that many stereotypes seem to be true:
- many of the woman are gorgeous, but have resting bitch face
- the men are huge, some look like they could easily take down a bear
- there's a lot of athletic wear, think Lonsdale, Tap Out etc
- they wear it badly, pants pulled up too high with tops tucked in and plenty of bling
- the elderly look the've had really hard lives (I'm sure many have)
Having said that we came across a few really friendly happy people, but unlike the previous few countries they were harder to find.
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