... OK, all this writing has wearied me... I'm just a fragment of the man I once was and the man I will be once more... I am in need of a nap, in dire need... tonight, our Mongolian guide will take us for food and then live music and dancing (at least she thinks there will be dancing)... but I'm on a roll, and want to write about Irkutsk and lake Baikal before I submit the the sleep which stealthily shrouds me (seriously, 'Magician' by Feist is really cool if you like a bit of a fantasy novel... but I blame this book for my OTT language:)
So we left the train in Irkutsk and were carried to lake Baikal quicker then the speed of sound by our mini-bus driver... trees rushed past as a blur... I asked our guide if he wasn't a little disturbed by the speed and he said, "I trust him, he's a professional."
... now time for the science... Lake Baikal is the deepest fresh water lake in the world... it is one of only three places in the world to have fresh water seals (and before you ask, I didn't see them save for in an aquarium), and has the largest surface area of any fresh water lake (or maybe the second largest, I wasn't really listening)... ... ... but I'd summarise it as a lovely little lake... all blue and clear and surrounded by hills which we trekked in and among... the "difficult" hike we did on our last day at the lake was a little sketchy as a misplaced foot felt like it might send you teeming into the water below as we sideled past cliffs... Kate has a bad leg as she broke it and dislocated her ankle back in May, she couldn't trust her left leg, and so skirting the cliff felt dodgy... but in the end it was fine, it was really just one of those walks that looks much harder then it was... some lovely views and all that... I'll upload them and annoy you all with them in the fullness of time...
... I've just used the wonder of skype to talk with people at home and have lost my train of thought... so I'll go for a quick nap:) ... my excuse is that I only got 4 hours of sleep last night after 8 hours at the Russian/Mongolian boarder on the train yesterday! ... I'm not complaining, I love naps... when you wake up it's like a new day... BOGOF and all that:)
Anyway, I'm off now... love to you all... Matt:)
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