Chill time

I did very little of note in Novosibirsk and I'm glad. It was the first time since I left London where I had no plans, but to chill.

The city itself, had a huge Lenin statue in its centre, but was not particularly attractive; but I liked it. Maybe because my hotel was only a 15min walk away from the centre so I didn't have to walk much in the glorious Siberian weather. Yes, that last bit is true - 31 celsius during the day and 20 celsius at night - and with no cooling to speak of in my rusty hotel room.

I had a great Italian meal at Makaroni, probably best meal i've had since London. Otherwise, days were spent walking up and down the main street and lots of afternoon siesta. Evenings were spent at the Old Irish, which other than a few expats, was full of locals. Having said that, this is where I met Lee, an English teacher from Maidstone, and Trevor, an aviation engineer from Liverpool, who had been in Novosibirsk for 4+ years. We then went on to Trubar, where I met a lovely couple, Sergi and Ira. Ira grew up in Altai, so was fascinated by my experience there.

Whilst wandering, it did seem that there were more women than men, and many stunning at that. At first, I thought it could have been because more men work or drive cars maybe, but I was told this is very possible as Russia still hasn't completely recovered, in terms of population distribution, from WWII, where apparently 1 in 4 men were killed (also has to do with increased life expectancy for those mathematicians).

After more than 2 days of R&R, I had my first train journey in 10 days to look forward to - forgot what it was like to be on a train for so long - 30hr this time. As Long As You Love Me by the Backstreet Boys on the train speakers as we head into Irkutsk, from where I would experience the wonder that is Lake Baikal.