It was time to leave our "soundproofed apartment". We packed our bags, but my washing wasnt dry so i hung it on a bench outside and we sunbathed for a while. A little old lady came over (why are old ladies always little? i'll ask my nan next time i skype) she spoke to me in Russian and i told her i didnt understand, she pointed at my washing and told me to follow her, i thought she was telling me off for having my washing splayed across the entrance of the hostel...

Nope! I woke up and my hand had swollen in the night, i now looked like i was wearing one of them foam ones you wear at concerts. But it didnt matter we were on our way to see Lake Baikel today. They say its the biggest, oldest, deepest and cleanest lake in the world, i think maybe one of them facts is true but not sure which. First we had to get there. We found the bus station but getting a ticket wasnt as easy, even with my best Russian i just kept getting shoe...

Finally it was time to leave the train, i was sad to be leaving our new friends and the calmness but excited to see Siberia. It was 4am and we had arrived in a cold and dark Siberia. Often when you come to a city the first things you see are the outskirts, which are often the worst areas. But you have to pass through it to get to the good bits, a bit like foreplay i guess. So i wasnt that worried when we stepped out of the station to find a grey harsh concrete ju...

The rest of the days on the train went much the same, it was slow and uneventful. Often my kindle and phone would run out of battery so I had no choice but to just watch the world pass by the window. I have never felt so relaxed, being stuck on the train was probably really good for me, I'm never still for 5 minutes, I'm always working my way through a list, a few projects on the go, trying to achieve some New milestone. Now all I could do was just sit and enjoy ...

Woke up around 8.30 this morning, it wasn't the best nights sleep as the train seemed to move around a lot and when it stopped it almost threw you from your bed - the first time it happened everyone got up thinking we had crashed into something. We had stopped at a station so I ran out to get some essentials we had neglected to bring, like toilet roll and cutlery - 5 minutes later and I had to jump back on before the train left. Back on the train I met the guy ...