Sophie's travels 2011-2012: 9/2/2012 Lake Baikal, Russia TRANS SIBERIAN RAILWAY

We had a tasty breaky in the hostel dining room (egg omelette) then we walked down the road to a seal show down by the lake which was amazing. The seals played trumpets, shot goals in basketball rings, painted pictures and everything – it was a little sad to think they have been in captivation for so long but fascinating to see. From there we walked out onto the frozen lake which was awesome! It was really thick ice but if you knelt down you could see through to the water and lake bottom underneath. We skidded around for a bit on the ice then walked over to a café to wait for a bus to take us to the ski fields!

Andrea, Chris and I went snowboarding which was HEAPS of fun! We all managed to master it by the end of the session which was really cool. The snow was really powdery and there weren’t many people which made it easier for beginners! I returned my gear and walked up the mountain and hung out in the café with the others for a bit then walked back down via some amazing views out over the lake – it was soo speccy!

We went back to the hostel to warm up before dinner then walked down the road to a market for dinner. There were loads of fish stalls with people yelling ‘fish, fish’ and one lady yelled ‘my fish is delish!’ then laughed and winked at us haha it was soo funny. We had a quick squiz at the market before dinner which was cool.

Another AWESOME day – loved the snowboarding!