Siberia!

So begins the epilogue of Crime and Punishment, which I just finished on the 4-hour bus ride back to Irkutsk from Lake Baikal. Don't roll your eyes, it wouldn't be fair for me to have read anything but Dostoevsky on this trip.

We just spent the last three days at Olkhon Islands in the center of Lake Baikal. Go on and Google Earth it, I can assure you it's every bit as beautiful as it sounds. The day we arrived it was foggy and raining. I asked our driver if it was always this way, and he answered "tolka sevodnya" - only today. By driver I mean guy from the street we had convinced to take us up to the islands since all the real bus tickets were sold out. Also of note, almost all the cars here have right-side steering wheels. Yes, they also drive on the right side. No, it doesn't make sense.

The best part about Siberia is that no matter what you do, it sounds incredible. Going for a walk? Eh. Going for a walk in Siberia? Cool! Buying a beer? No big deal. Buying a bottle of pevo in Siberia? Awesome. Everything sounds amazing when you add "in Siberia" to the end. Just yesterday we went mountain biking from one side of the island to the other, were fed some raw fish by friendly russian swimmers, and lost all feeling in my palms from the bumpy ride. But it was unbelievable. How often can you say "I just went mountain biking...in Siberia."

And now, we're paying an arm and a leg for internet as we wait for our evening train to take us out of Russia and into Mongolia. Our seats are in kupe (second class) because they don't offer the cheaper 54-bed dorm-style platzkart option on trains to Mongolia. Unfortunate, since they cost twice as much as our other tickets. Fortunate, since we'll be only have to share the cabin with two french backpackers we met at the train station. We're quite excited at the prospect of a body-odor-free train. Excepting our own, natch.

In a word, Russia has been expensive. Allow me two more and I'd add beautiful and under-appreciated. Both by foreigners who don't visit and by locals who leave their trash everywhere they go. Perhaps I should add a disclaimer to a previous statement I made - littering is lame, even in Siberia.

Dasvidanya Rossiya, Ya uzhe skuchaya po-tebye.