Several recent occurences!

So, once again I've let the blog slide, and this time but just over two weeks, so I'll set about straightening that up at once!

The journey from hell

It looked to be such a nice day...

Well, my journey back from Mongolia, was, needless to say, exhausting. How I ended the night driving along a bumpy Russian road listening to incomprehensible Russian music and with a Russian girl asleep on my shoulder is still somewhat beyond my comprehension... I left Ulaanbataar early in the morning of the 10th and caught the bus back to Ulan Ude. The day had dawned beautifully and looked to be a fine day for travelling. Needless to say, this was not the case. I got on the bus and found my seat, squashed between the window and a rather portly woman on the aisle side, whom was definitely overlapping into my seat. To make matters worse, the moron in front of me glanced at me, and then proceeded to bend his chair back as far as it would go, succesfully forcing my knees up against my chest so I could barely move for the entire journey. Of the whole first section of this trip, only one thing is worthy of note - when the bus stopped for a break at a gas station, several people got off, including said moron sitting in front of me. The bus driver then got back in, turned on the engine and started off down the road, not waiting for the two people left outside (yes, you guessed it, the cretin in front of me was one of these!). I feel it is my need to admit my guilt at this point at having noticed his absence but having not said anything about it (I was indeed hoping he would be left on the Mongolian side of the border). However, my dreams were smashed as a couple of miles down the road, some other woman noticed and the driver turned around to pick them up again. Just my luck.

Somewhere near Ulan Ude

Either way, we were late getting back into Ulan Ude, probably part of the man in the seat in front of me's evil plans, so I jumped off the bus rapidly, hardly stopping to say farewell to the New Zealander, Aaron, whom I had met on the bus, and got a taxi to the train station. Once there I ran up to the desk (more waiting, some stupid woman in front of me spent about 20 - 30 minutes at the desk), where I asked about the trains to Irkutsk. The next one, I was told, was in 6 hours time, and that there were no third class tickets left, so I would have to go in second class. Politely, I told her that I wouldn't, and wandere outside, feeling moderately upset and wondering what to do next. As luck would have it, there was a minibus which was going to Irkutsk parked right opposite the station. I went to it and sat inside for what seemed like hours (and, in all honesty, it probably was), before the bus started off towards Irkutsk. The last person to get on the bus was a pretty Russian girl who had fought off some other woman for the last seat. As chance would have it, the seat they were fighting about was mine (not that they wanted to sit next to me, it was the last seat, clearly nobody else much wanted this dubious honour!), and, within minutes, with no prior introduction, she decided that my shoulder, bony as it was, was a very suitable pillow, so she lay down and slept whilst my legs were still incredibly cramped from the seat in front. Despite being such a pleasing pillow, she made no effort to talk to me at all over the whole trip, even though we stopped for a drink at one point. Either way, we arrived in Irkutsk early in the morning, where I was ripped off by a nasty cab driver... At least that taught me not to take a cab which has no fare agreed in advance!

Illness strikes!

No sooner had I got back and helped JungHeum cook a meal for everyone who was still here, Dries, Emily, Lara and Maria having gone to Altai, that I began to feel slightly queasy. I instantly thought it may have been the food I cooked, but sadly it seems that was not the case, as nobody else fell ill. Whatever the disease came as a cause of, I immediately found myself staring back down at the food which I had eaten a scarce few hours before. Unfortunately, the other side effect of the disease meant that I felt nauseous and only ate yoghourt for the next four / five days.

Parental supervision

My parents, walking through the gardens of a house-museum



Birthday girl in Taltsi

So, the day after returning from Mongolia, my parents came for a flying visit! Seeing as they stayed for a week, I shall only quickly mention some of what we did together, as, for the most part, I was feeling a bit under the weather during their stay! On the first day, after a brief walk around the city, and showing them to the hotel, I came back to the residence to rest, and then, with Danya, took them out to eat at Papa John's. This was just the first one of my friends here they met, as over the week, we met up with Gloria (for a walk and a trip to the museum), Eugenia (for a Russian meal), Guillaume (for numerous desserts), and Dries, Lara and Maria, who met them on the last day before they headed off. On the Tuesday, which was a very sunny and warm day, the three of us went down to Listvyanka to see the Baikal, and both of them decided to get a little bit wet. Omul was also tasted and was met with great pleasure, as only eating an animal in danger of extinction can be! The following day, after having been at 30ºC in Listvyanka, we were lucky enough to encounter some Russian snow, which decided to fall for the whole day in Irkutsk! Other than this, however, ours plans for going anywhere were effectively ruined by my having fallen ill, so we spent most days wandering around Irkutsk and then meeting up again in the evenings and going out for dinner! Evetually, however, I packed up the last few things I had left here in Irkutsk, packed them all into my suitcase and handed it over to be taken to the airport and sent off back to Spain, where it arrived safe and sound including my cactus, which I couldn't bear to leave behind, and, of course, my parents!

Father in Listvyanka

Canada comes to Russia

Jack and the Stalin bus

So, as people may remember from my previous post, I mentioned that I met a Canadian by the name of Jack in the hostel in Ulaanbataar - as it was, I thought he had already passed through Irkutsk, but I received a message early in the morning of the 21st informing me that he had just arrived and asking whether I was free to meet up or buy tickets for his onward journey as I had offered to him. So, from the 21st to the 23rd, we met up several times, buying the tickets, and then introducing him, obviously to Ben, as they are from the same area. We also made a quick trip down to Listvyanka, where Jack met several other travellers whom he had become acquainted with, including two Australians (one originally from Canada), Brigid and Michelle, whom I made a few recommendations to. On the 23rd, I met up with Jack again at the train station just before his train headed out to Krasnoyarsk, and saw him to his wagon (we also met the two Australians there again, a mere three carriages away from Jack's. As all three of them asked me for the address to my blog, and assuming that they found it, I hope that all three of you have a great journey on your way through to Europe!

The growth of wisdom

As chance would have it, in the most inoportune moment possible, my wisdom teeth have decided to make an appearance. Seeing as how I'm not a big fan of dentists, and seeing as how I'd rather not try my luck in such a foreign country, I'm swallowing my pain (but very little else, as I can't really fit much in my mouth), and hoping that they grow out quick and straight! From looking inside my mouth, I think that I have more than enough room for them to grout out without causing any problems to my other teeth (comes from having such a big mouth), so fingers crossed that just because of such a silly thing I wont have any real problems!

Julia and Lara's birthdays

Lara's birthday

So, the youngest member of our corridor has finally turned 19, still being at least a whole year younger than any of the rest of us - obviously, I'm referring here to Lara. Julia's birthday, I'm afraid, I kind of missed out on, having taken place during Jack's stay, and arriving back, I felt a bit queasy and tired, so after hanging around for a while I returned to my room and to sleep for an hour or so before Guillaume and Lara came in and we watched a couple of episodes of 'A Game of Thrones' which we had missed out on..! Lara's birthday was also a fairly quiet affair, with those of us who are still here (Maria went to Peak Cherskovo with the Polish girls, and the Italians went to Olkhon), Pauline, a French girl whom we met through Logan, and a few Russian girls whom Lara is friends with. Still, it was nice to have a little get-together.

A couple more fairwells

Today, despite not being sure of wanting to, I decided to go to Linguacafé to bid farewell to Ben and Emily, who will both be leaving before I get back - tomorrow evening, I will be going to Tulun (a village between here and Bratsk), with Guillaume, Mark and a Russian girl called Sabine (a friend of Pierre's girlfriend), to join Pierre and his girlfriend Nastya in her house in the Russian countryside. To this purpose we went to the train station this morning to buy tickets, and we will be arriving on the morning of the 26th in Tulun. It looks like it'll be nice to travel around a bit, but I have no idea what to expect of this place! By the time I return, Antonietta will already have headed off with Emily, and within a couple of days of this, the other Italians and the Polish girls will be heading off. Dries and Maria, and possibly also Lara, will be heading off at the beginning of next month to go to Mongolia and potentially the Gobi desert. More about that later in any case!