Trail Log 1995-1997 - Lamar at Colorado State University

I took several pictures here of the engine, of women selling food, of two children who, with their
parents, were getting off the train. (The parents refused a tip.)
Changed time, back one hour, now 5 hours ahead of Moscow.
Unscheduled stop at Kizha. Big water tower (pix), cottages in distance with blue shutters. We got
off and walked inside the train station, when we were called to get back on.
The landscape is drier, though not semi-arid. It is settled throughout, at least near the railroad.
There are some fields of planted grain, said to be barley. Still, there is seldom seen a car, more
often a motorcycle, and nothing that suggests a store.
Reached Ulan Ude about 6.00. Ulan Ude has 366,000 population. There is a famous Lenin head,
and also the main Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Russia. It is the capital of the Buryat Autonomous
Republic. It is the second most visited Siberian city, after Irkutsk.
The matron opened the doors on the opposite side of the track, and we could only get off there, for
a shortened time, since we had had an unscheduled stop. A trainload of soldiers pulled in on the
opposite track, which was crammed with young men in drab uniforms, a very ramshackle looking
train. Rather revealing of the Russian military.
The train started moving unannounced, and some had to run and get on, including Virginia!
Supper at 7.00 p.m. and while eating it we passed a big paper pulp mill, now said to be
environmentally friendly.
About 8.00 p.m. Lake Baikal became visible, and, then, the track often ran much closer, often with
the shore only a few meters from the track.
For much of the day, the country had seemed somewhat dry, but Lake Baikal vegetation here is
amply wet and lush. Dominantly birch. There are mountains with snow on them in the south, the
Khamar-Daban Range, easily visible.
Pinus sibirica has an edible nut.
The train went by the second and more polluting paper pulp plant, in the setting sun. This plant is
right on the lake.
About 10.45 p.m., it was getting dark. The trains stopped at Slyudyanka at the western tip of this
southern part of the lake. Omul fish were being sold enthusiastically at the stop, a smoked fish
endemic to the lake.
Reached Irkutsk about 12.45 a.m., and more than ready to get off the train. There was a transit to
the hotel in the middle of the night, and I took a welcome shower on a rather slippery floor.
After two and a half days on the train, we are still 5,191 km. from Moscow, or 3,244 miles, the
distance across the United States.
June 20, Friday.
Breakfast in hotel, 8.00 a.m. Irkutsk Hotel, run by Intourist.