Had a bit of a day off today, had breakfast at 9am and then sat around until about 12pm trying to readjust to the right time zone… I had once again ignored my own advice to get off Moscow time as soon as possible. I stayed in the chalet for most of the day and at about 4pm went back down to the café for sunset.

The sunset over the lake was unreal. It was like seeing hell above heaven, fire in the sky above and icy world below. The Lake is not just one big frozen expanse, but rather a frozen expanse with ice formation rising from the shoreline, almost like waves that had instantly frozen in motion, except Baikal has no waves, even in the summer.

The passengers slowly trickled down and met me in the café, some had been for long walks and some had been to the seal show, which the thoroughly enjoyed. I really must bite the bullet and go to that when I come back on the next tour. Again, we stayed in the until closing and one of the older guys on the tour managed to get one of the waitresses to laugh…we again reminded me of the first time I had met Valera and Costa, who had busted in here in September attempting to make the same stone faced waitresses giggle….they had only succeeded in making me giggle…not a hard task at all. I sat and starred into space thinking of this much happier time, time I had spent with two guys I could barely communicate with. I guess that's one of the hardest things about being a tour leader, people say never go back….unfortunately in this job, you don't get a choice.