Getting of the train was a nice feeling. Although the cold did hit us as it was -14, it was still dark at 9am.

We had a bit of a discussion which way the hostel was. It took us a while to find as James got us lost... again. He has since been demoted furthermore to my personal luggage carrier.

We had a shower, the best shower ever since we'd been 4 days without, had a nap and went to explore the city.

The city wasn't what I was expecting, I expected a run-down city that Russia had forgotten about. Instead it's as nice as St Petersburg and Moscow and the people are a lot friendlier. At a shop a guy actually asked where we were from and shook our hands when we said the UK, we were both shocked, but pleased as he looked like a typical football hooligan from Coventry.

We tried to have an early night sleep but the jet-lag and a couple of snorers kept us awake. In the morning I tried to wake James. He wasn't happy about this and told me to go away not very nicely. He finally got out of bed at 3. In the mean time I had done some washing and read.

We made most of the sunlight and saw some sights and found where the bus station is for a trip to lake baikal for the next day. Walking on the streets was hazardous as its very slippery, we've both had near misses falling over. When we got back to the hostel the snorers had left so it was only us in the room so we had a better night sleep.

We got up in the early in the morning and headed to the bus station. We caught a bus to the lake which allowed for an hours nap time. The lake was nice as lakes go. It holds a 1/5 of the fresh water in the world and will apparently eventually become the next ocean.

We found a bar and had some food. Met some locals, they were very friendly but didn't speak any English. As our Russian is non existent it took us a while to say where we're from. As soon as we said James Bond and Sherlock Holmes they knew.

We are heading in Mongolia next. We're both a bit apprehensive about getting out of Russia and being allowed into Mongolia but I'm sure it'll be fine. We are getting up at 3am to make our way to the train station.