Day 1 Olkhon Island - 6 hours in a van

2 October
Day 1 Irkutsk / Olkhon Island

Up this morning for my ride to Olkhon Island.  The bus was picking us up at 9am.  I was up really early so I went outside for a walk and to pick up some snacks for trip at the 24 hour market nearby.

It wasn't as cold as I feared outside which was good.  I really only wanted some snack food since I would be getting dinner and breakfast supplied at the hostel and lunch supplied on the day trip on the island.  I ended up with a couple of cuppa-soups, some muesli bars and some mandarins.  I also got some random food from the deli for breakfast.  It turned out to be meat and rice wrapped in a pancake.  Pretty bland but it was OK.

I also went past a 24 hour pharmacy I saw the night before and picked up some more drugs.  I definitely feel better than I did yesterday but I'm still sick.  It was much easier to buy stuff this time ... I simply showed the packet and got another one of those.

A French couple from the hostel are joining me on the ride to Olkhon.  Carina and Pierre (I'm sure the spelling is wrong) both seem nice.  I find out later they are travelling through Russia then into Mongolia and down towards south east Asia.

The minibus is better than I expected.  I kind of thought I'd have to ride 6 hours in one of the stereotypical grey Russian vans you see which don't look like the most comfortable things in the world.  The minibus is also pretty packed.  I think there ends  up being about 12-13 people in there and 1 seat free.  Most seem around the 20s-30s age group.  There are the 3 of us from the hostel, an Australian guy from Melbourne and his Russian partner, a Chinese girls who speaks English and a bunch of other Chinese people at the front who we don't get a chance to speak to.

We had a bit of a group chat for a while which was pretty cool then the conversation just naturally sort of petered out and we all just settled in for the ride.

Unfortunately the ride to Olkhon is about 6 hours.  Not the most pleasant time to be sick but the drugs are largely keeping it under control.  I don't have to blow my nose and annoy the others too much.  My new thermos was a casualty of the ride this morning.  Stupid thing fell over and the glass canister inside shattered.  You can tell it was cheap.  So there's water leaking all over the truck and I'm having to nurse the thing upside down so it doesn't spill the entire contents on the floor.

There's a stop about halfway for lunch but I decided to use the hot water I've got left for one of my soups since I'm tossing the thermos anyway.

The scenery on the ride is pretty.  It reminds me a lot of Mongolia which makes absolute sense given the border is not far away from here.  I think I managed to get a couple of small naps on the ride but it's not exactly conducive to sleeping.

After maybe 3 1/2 hours we arrive at the ferry crossing to Olkhon.  There is a significant weather difference to Irkutsk here already.  It's very windy and much colder than Irkutsk.  The ferry only takes about 10 minutes to cross then we've got another 90 minutes or so on dirt roads to travel the 30kms to the township.

The township is pretty small.  Lots of wooden buildings and dirt roads but it looks charming enough.

Olga's Guesthouse is pretty basic but it's comfortable.  I'm in a room with 3 single beds and it looks at this point like I'm going to have it to myself which would be super.  The French couple are staying at the same place.

We head up to the common room and sort out payment and I organise the tour for the next day then I head off for a nap because I feel terrible.

A couple of hours later I head up for dinner which was simple but filling.  There was baked local fish with some topping on it, mashed potato, some sort of salad and a sweet bread for dessert.  Pretty filling meal.  And of course the ever-present tea.  Olga gave me some honey to have with my tea which was a godsend for my throat.

Ate dinner with the French couple and a couple of German guys who are stopping at Baikal on the way to Vladivostok for a conference.  They work for one of the organisations which defines global standards (like ISO for example).  Interesting work.

Those guys are travelling first class to Vladivostok, I've been travelling second class and the French people are travelling third class so we compare notes a bit.  I'm going to travel third class next time I need to do an overnight train so I can see what it's like.

There is also a Finnish couple staying who join in on the conversation a bit.  It's a nice communal atmosphere here.

I went back to my room pretty early and slept until I was woken up and someone else came in to share the room.  Enrique is from Argentina and he was also in the hostel in Irkutsk.  I'd met him that morning and he seemed like a nice guy.

I feel really bad running into all these people from different countries who speak English and here I am just running around the world not bothering to learn any other languages.

Back to sleep.