Last night we slept on a bed that wasn't similar to a plank of wood. It was heaven. Now back on the train from the Buryat capital of Russia, Ulan Ude to Irkutsk. Only 7 hours and we have a compartment to ourselves, bar the parade of Russians coming past for english/Russian chats.

The scenery is beautiful, very green valleys surrounded by forested mountains. Cute little wooden houses with pretty window shutters in blues and greens. The train hugs Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world, for the most part. Meant to be absolutely stunning, actual fog (not smog) is hampering the views today.

Train travel is grand, though it is conflicting with a couple of my life rules, numbers 3 and 6 to be exact;
- no hot liquid (don't like the sensation)
- no using the bathroom on moving vehicles (planes, trains, buses - uncomfortable and in many cases quite horrific, especially on trains)
As it turns out, on these trains, you pretty much live on cup of noodles/soups or take your chances with street food at station stops. Noodles and soups are out being hot liquids and the street food would most probably be in direct violation of the bathroom issue. I am currently surviving on Pringles, so many flavors to chose from.

It's been fascinating watching the changes in facial features and fashions as we have gone from China, through Mongolia to Russia. Camouflage gear seems to be in vogue in Siberian Russia.

The history they share is pretty amazing too, they have all ruled over each other at sometime or another and it seems they all still hold grudges. We were speaking to a Mongolian regarding talk that in many years time the Moving Gobi desert would swallow up Beijing. He was very enthused by such a possibility.

Being we were unsure when we would arrive in Irkutsk due to our little train issue we had no accommodation booked. Lonely Planet told us accom is an issue in summer, being its the old edition we thought we would be fine. Not so much.

First we needed to get our onward train ticket. As we have come to expect not an easy task. Though I'm not sure why Tatiana was so glum. We are either on a gold class train, or we have paid for a ticket and to put Tatianas first born through to college. Hard to know if, or more to the point, how much we are being ripped off here. No prices in sight and given our lacking language skills no choice but to pay and move on. All helping the Russian economy.

Ticket in hand downtown we headed. Now It would appear to English eyes Russians are trying to hide their hostel and hotels; they are really not labeled at all and often part of an apartment block. After 2 hours of trudging we finally found a hotel with a spare room, 5 floors up with no elevator, well over budget - we'll take it! We even got a smile with it.