What a day. I arrived in Slyudanka at 4am. It was freezing. I sat in the train station until one of the workers, around 7.30am, told me something in Russian which I assumed meant that I couldn't just sit there all day. So I put on warm things and went looking for a coffee shop.
Turns out Russians don't love the coffee so much. But I found other things to do, mostly walking around, photographing the lake.
Around 11 I found a cafe and decided to get some food. Boy was that a trip. I just wanted a Bellini and because I didn't know what the waitress was asking me it turned into this whole awkward ordeal, with a lot of laughing, though not on my end.
Once I boarded the slow scenic train to Port Baikal I was invited to sit with these two older gentleman. Again, we hilariously struggled to communicate with each other. The one guy helped me get all the good angles for my pictures. And he asked me via google translate if I could "throw them to him" meaning could I send them to him.
This train trip was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. So gorgeous. Pictures will not do this beautiful lake, surrounded on all sides by snow capped mountains, justice. Perfect weather too.
This train, though only traveling about 50 kilometers, took 5 hours to arrive in Port Baikal. The point is for the train to go slow so people can take in the beauty of the lake. Once we arrived though, I was a little nervous. I had booked a hostel in Listvayana, but it wasn't clear to me how to get there, despite attempted research on how to do so.
I said goodbye to my gentleman friends and was witty enough to follow a group of Chinese people, thinking, these are an organized people. Sure enough, they lead me to the ferry from Port Baikal to Listvayana. They were traveling there also. It was very dark, but the ferry across the clearest, cleanest lake I have ever seen was a ride I'll never forget. So haunting, so dark, so mystifying. The sky was so dark, the new set of constellations I was laying my eyes upon for the first time was emensely gratifying. A different, brand new sky.
The group of Chinese travelers that I met were amazed that I was traveling alone and of course, they wanted their picture with me. I have taken, not by my choice, photos with at least 20 different people at this point. I must be walking around with a sign on my back or something. They gave me warm packs for my hands, concerned that we don't have these kind of products in America, and they paid for my ferry ride. They kept telling me to be careful. They were so cute.
Well, I parted ways with my Chinese friends after the ferry ride, and set forth to find my hostel in the dark cold night.
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