We're getting deep into Siberia now, and its getting colder, which I wasn't sure was possible. And we're off the train! I feel dizzy from not moving, but a splendid man called Dennis (more on him later) has come to take us to a big lake called Baikkal. I may have spelt that wrong.

Its very pretty here. Dennis says that if all the other fresh water in the world dried up then the water in Lake Baikkal would sustain the world's population for 50 years, and that Russia would rule the world (he didn't actually say the last part). The world would have to wait until summer though, because its covered in ice so thick that people are driving on it. It's the deepest lake in the world, is that impressive?!

Russians like to have incredibly hot saunas called banias (again, probably spelt wrong) and we've got one in our hotel. The process involves stripping down and sitting in the very hot room, then beating each other with branches, then standing outside in the snow, then having tea, then repeating until you can't take the heat. Or the weirdness. And it is weird. Especially when you find yourself beating a naked Russian with a branch whilst he groans and asks for it harder. I don't want to talk about it.

Dennis is a magnificent man, a vegan who can often be found topless with a cigarette in his mouth, doing press-ups on your porch. His organisational skills are being tested by dealing with eleven people though… he's doing OK but perhaps needs to relax a little. He has organised a trip to the mountain for skiing/snowboarding/sliding down the hill in a rubber ring though. I opt for ski, which is clearly not as cool as the other options but I reason that I did it once when I was about 8 years old and will be less likely to end up in a Siberian hospital. Turns out I can sort of ski, which makes the day more of a success than I'd anticipated. We celebrate in the traditional way, with straight vodka, some sort of potato based dish (The food in Russia hearty - i.e. 90% potato - but I'm sort of looking forward to China in this respect now) and a game of dominoes.

We seem to have angered the hotel lady, she came into our room last night, said something which sounded obscene, although its pretty hard to tell, then slammed the door. Ah well, we leave today to get another train to Mongolia - I'm not optimistic about Mongolian internet……