On 22nd June, Anna at the Ibis hotel in Irkutsk kindly booked us on to the 09.07 train from Irkutsk to Ulan Ude and, after eating an early breakfast, we got a taxi to the train station where the train was waiting. The only seats left were so-called “open seats” which meant that we weren’t in a carriage with cabins and a corridor, but open compartments; Anna had only been able to book places on the second level of the bunk. Jennifer refused to climb up the precarious step and I can’t really blame her because when I tried I fell a full six feet and the whole carriage came running to help me to my feet. A large burly Buryat said “Ty khorosho?” (“Are you alright?”), using the informal “Ty” reserved for children and doddering old gits. The carriage stewardess, a very portly elderly lady who didn’t stop smiling for the whole journey shouted “Gooligan” (“Hooligan”) and laughed like a drain. I eventually got into my bunk while Jennifer was allowed by a very friendly girl to sit on her bed.
On reaching Ulan Ude, the capital of the Buryatiya Autonomous Republic, we got a taxi to the city centre and I saw a hotel which looked a class above the usual glass and concrete monstrosities. The Buryat people are of Mongolian heritage and look Chinese and the staff in the hotel spoke good English.
The River Selenga which flows through Ulan Ude
Ulan Ude in the distance
Ulan Ude railway station