After escaping from the train, we made our way to a 'safe' house in Irkutsk. Irkutsk was the last city where the Russian nobility and the White army congregated before the Red army of the revolution made their final push and Russia became a communist state. So it would be from this historic city that we would begin our Siberian campaign. The next day we travelled to Khuzir on Olkhon Island, in Lake Baikal. Lake Baikal, is the world's deepest freshwater lake, 1637m at its deepest point, containing 20% of the world's unfrozen fresh water. That's more than America's five great lakes combined. If the world's water supply ran out tomorrow, Baikal could quench mankind's thirst for 40 years (Trivia for the quiz team.) This was a 6 hour bus journey over dirt roads with a crazy driver. When we arrived, the "town" had the appearance of a South African township with ramshackle wooden buildings and corrugated iron roofs set in a maze of dusty "roads", where cows and dogs wandered aimlessly. Throughout the town there are old cars everywhere, in various states of disrepair (our road trip the next day would partially explain). Despite this we met some good people, in particular a travelling couple from Australia - Lera and Sahand (Lera was originally from Russia) who were particularly friendly and helpful.

The second day we took a tour of the northern part of the island in a Soviet style Military 4x4 van, the route was over harsh terrain, it would make a Land Rover test track look like a Motorway, the "roads" looked impossible to negotiate and very scary at times - Heather screamed from time to time amusing the driver who headed for every cliff top like he was rehearsing for "Thelma & Louise" but turning away at the last moment. The views however were breath-taking and well worth the risk. We also saw many artefacts from the Shamen religion, most notably totems with ribbon display's, the site of an old Gulag - Work camps where Stalin banished dissidents, these were located in the most inhospitable corners of Siberia - we moved on. Lunch was fish soup, served out of a bucket and cooked on an open fire (Yum Yum).

The next day was Sunday so we went to find some bikes and headed South, cycling was difficult the terrain being hilly grassland, sandy pathways and very dusty roads but once again an excellent day.

The sunsets are unbelievable, the whole sky lighting up to a bright luminous red and we spent the final night watching the sun go down with Lera and Sahand, drinking beer and finishing off our last bottle of Siberian Vodka.