day 105, listvyanka

Woke up still on the train after an unsettled sleep, my body not making it’s mind up which time zone I was in, so I either woke up at 4 in the morning or 9. At 9:45 we got off the train and was met by a bespectacled, long haired  tall kid all in black called Sergei, who got us in a bus and after a bit of faffing with passports and money took us to the hotel thing that we are staying in, about a hour’s drive from Irkutsk. The hotel is just by the lake and is small and quiet, and they had laid on a nice breakfast, and we are 3 to a room with lots of space which is excellent, has power ports (thank you) and had the chance to do a bit of sink washing which was hugely appreciated by all. After a bit of settling time Sergei took us for a stroll, first down to the lake (which has the biggest volume of water in the world, and is clear for the first 50m as it is inhabited by a organism that eats everything, it takes them 7 days to completely devour a human body). It was bloody cold when we got off the train (2 degrees) and was colder by the lake, and with the wind I had me base layer on, me t shirt, a sort of fleece thing, a big ol wooly jumper and a coat, with a buff and a hat and was still a bit nippy. We walked along the lake front, before taking a right and doing a loop, stopped into a small church, then into the “retro park” where this bloke has just made different creations out of scrap metal and cars bits, which was quite cool. Just after that it started snowing a bit, and we stopped in a café for a cheeky lunch. I had chicken and vegetables and it was fucking magic to have a bit of food that was good, nutritious and tasty, not just bloody hydrated.  We carried on our stroll through the increasing snow (but it weren’t laying) and back to the hostel. Another 45 minutes of downtime before we all had a banya, like a Russian sauna thing which was excellent. We met in the common room all in cossie’s with t shirts or hoodies, part from lucas the swiss who came out in his trunks and his skin which provided a giggle. We got took into this little cabin just next door with 4 rooms, the changing room, the sitting/tea room, another pre-room then the sauna thing. I say rooms though it weren’t anything huge. To everyone’s surprise the slightly awkward nerdy Sergei got his kit off to reveal a body that no-one really expected and also some small briefs, turned out he was joining us. It was done in 3 stages, to begin with you just sit in a room with white hot logs, it’s a bit hot but not too bad, we did it in 2 groups of 7 so swapped, and had some tea in the break. Next time in the hot room Sergei added some water and it reached 90 degrees, and we sat and sweated for a bit, which was just about manageable. There was quite a lot of giggling and silly remarks about Sergei’s choice of attire, (which I got a right old eyeful of when he decided to check the thermometer, I could have bitten it) and his sudden surge of confidence and use of broken English, it really kicked off the third time in the hot room, with the “massaging” of each other via the force of birch leaves. To start with me, jake, andy and Sergei went in, all hot and sweaty. Me and jake were told to lie down, while andy took about going at it with jake and I of course had Sergei. I might describe being hit by a very enthusiastic Russian kid in budgie smugglers while all hot and sweaty in front of 2 other half naked blokes a bit weird, but it was really nice. Inbetween relaxing and enjoying it I was shitting myself (and others shitting themselves(with laughter) with the whole situation, with people listening in the room next and door and the laughter audible. It went up a notch when Sergei shouted “turn over and move position” and  then possible the funniest thing ever said, and worse thing for everyone else to hear when he half shouted with joy “close your eyes while I make on your face” before getting a whack in the face with a bundle of birch twigs. Of course that comment set everyone off, I walked out feeling a little abused to people laughing. Sergei then set about us with bloody cold water while others went in and had/did the bashing, before being splashed with the cool water. It was a fantastic experience and loved the whole thing, although somewhat bizarre. After another half hour downtime we all had dinner round the table, a home cooked meal (heaven)  of this rice and vegetables and chicken thing which was lovely, followed by a shot of local vodka (pronounced “Wodka” by Sergei, who first got taught how  to drink ‘wodka‘ by old papa aged 7) as it was Brigitte’s birthday, and then followed by a good old cake. After Sergei showing us the Russian way to drink vodka (breath out, breath in while drinking the shot, sniff a bit of bread heavily then eat  the bread) and Brigitte opening her card and present just sitting around the table now playing cards with the odd bit of drinking feeling done in and it’s not even 10 yet(local time). Tomorrow we are getting up at half 8 to go ‘swimming’ in the lake, which is probably gonna be a very brief dip with lots of profanity and elaborate body language as it’s fucking freezing. There’s not a lot to do round the lake, but it’s very interesting to be around and about, anything off the main road running adjacent to the lake (I say lake but it looks like a bloody ocean) is just a gravel-y/mud track with ramshackle housing next to it. The hotel we’re staying in is like a small guesthouse,, and it’s lovely, even lovelier considering where we have spent the last 3 and half days!