The next morning we packed our packsacks for a three day trip to Lake Baikal. We travelled from Irkutsk to Slyudyanka, on the south end of Lake Baikal, by electric train. It is part of the Trans Siberian Railway system connecting Moscow to Vladivostock. The railway is electricly powered, 50 percent of the way with AC and the balance with DC. The engines and train crews operate in a 300 km zone. The engines do not leave their zone. I don't know if it still holds true, but we heard, that, in the old days if an engine went into another zone it simply failed to return. Our train was a domestic shuttle servicing the villages on the way. A great variety of people rode the rails, including some Cossacks, a new militia that is forming in Russia. We had a three and one half hour ride on wooden seats. The knowledgeable passengers bring cushions.
Victor, UA0TO, met us on arrival in Slyudyanka where he had made hotel reservations. The hotel was two large rooms with about 12 beds each, one room for women and one room for men. We were the first foreigners to stay at the hotel. Victor had to use some persuasion convincing the owners to let us stay. The plumbing was of the outdoor variety. I called it "the terror of Slyudyanka". It consisted of two compartments with separate doors. It had seen better days. There were no seats and creepy crawlers were the order of the day. One thing about it, you did not take too long to do your business and you certainly did not take a book to read. As you may have guessed, the outdoor facilities left something to be desired; but, the hotel room on the other hand, while spartan was certainly clean. From then on though, toilets and their cleanliness was the major criteria for judging accommodations. When people advised us, before our trip, that we should take our own toilet paper we did not know if they were serious or not. We found out, that public facilities do not have paper available; and when you went travelling one of the first items to pack was toilet paper.
Slyudyanka is a large village and railway centre. Nearby is a granite quarry. The granite is not suitable for slabs, so it is used for making concrete and bricks. The larger buildings in the village were made of these white bricks. The villagers lived in small frame houses on small lots. We had lunch at a 20 seat cafeteria set up to serve a compound of mechanical repair shops. It was pick up your food and carry it to your table, just like North America. We had soup, salad, meatballs, fruit juice and tea along with the usual dark brown bread. Meatballs, in Siberia, are made using a blend of meat and rice. We had a repeat of this the next day prior to catching the train to Port Baikal.
Victor took us fishing for the afternoon. We rode the train for about 15 minutes to a small village near Victor's Dacha. Here, the shore of Lake Baikal is not a sandy beach. It consist of white granite boulders. To fish from shore you employ a device which floats the line out from the beach as you walk along the rocky shore. Small wet flies were suspended from the line. The group caught four small Arctic graylings. A thunder storm started to move in, so we went from the beach to a small cottage owned by Victor's assistant, Eugene, UA0SSV. There were about four houses joined together with families residing in each. While we waited for the storm to pass Valeri and Eugene were inside making fish soup. Prior to leaving for Russia a fellow had told us how they make fish stew, using the complete fish and how the youngsters enjoyed the eyes. I told Jim before we left, when we had fish soup he was in charge of the eyeballs. As I looked down in my soup I found something staring back at me, needless to say when I finished my soup it was still staring at me.
When we returned to Slyudyanka we were greeted by Serge UA0SR and his son Sasha, they came down on a later train. We all returned to our hotel. The fellows had all the ingredients for supper in their packsacks and we sat down in the large bedroom to food and vodka. The next morning, there were more than a few cloudy heads. After lunch Victor, Leonid, Serge and Jim went to see Victor's radio location. His cabin is located on top of a mountain above the quarry. You use a rope to go up the first 50 feet, and from there it is a trail which climbs at 20 to 30 degrees through the bush. Victor built the antennas, radio equipment, including linear and cabin, carrying all the materials up the mountain. He also strung a 9.6 KV line from the quarry up the mountain to supply power.
Victor, UA0TO, is a Master of International Radio Sporting and very proud of his medal which he wears on his lapel. Most of his operating was during contests. His first contest effort from the mountain was in the month of January and the cabin had not been built so he operated for 48 hours from a tent at minus 40 degrees C. He ended up with pneumonia. Victor calls his wife a "Golden Lady" as she allowed him to spend a lot of time at radio while she kept up with things at home and at the Dacha.
We went by train, in the early evening, from Slyudyanka to Port Baikal. This was a diesel engine with a couple of freight cars and two passenger cars. The train went each day a distance of 140 km passing through 43 tunnels on the way. The tunnels were not built through the mountains. They were built of rock and were like protective sheds built on the side of the mountain slopes. Seats were at a premium as a group of young pioneers were on board. They, with their leaders were going camping in the park along side Lake Baikal. Jim had enough small pins with the Canadian flag on them to give one to each of the young boys and girls. These were received with a thank you in English from most of the young pioneers. Jim and I had some business cards with our name and call signs. We passed a few of these out and then the rush started with all the youngsters wanting a card, and then wanting it signed to prove they actually met us. It was a sight to behold to see Jim signing autographs like some movie star. We even have video of them going through a 73 magazine. Youngsters in Russia have an option of learning their choice of four languages besides Russian and quite a few of them take English. Serge's son Sasha is 15 years old and is studying English. His knowledge is excellent and only needs practice to improve his grammar. Russia is a very literate country.
On arrival in Port Baikal we walked about a mile to a Dacha owned by a friend of Vasya, getting there just before dark. Port Baikal is on the Ungara river which flows out of Lake Baikal. About 100 meters from the inlet of the river Lake Baikal is 800 meters deep. The cold water rushes up from the bottom and boils down the river. Lake Baikal is the largest body of fresh water in the world by volume and is over one mile deep. We arrived in Siberia shortly after spring and when we flew into Irkutsk we could see snow on the higher mountain slopes. The Dacha had three rooms, a bedroom, living room with fireplace which had a large oven, and a kitchen. Our hosts opened their magic packsacks and prepared a stew for our late dining pleasure. Jim and I were given the best beds in the house and I hit the sack about 12:30 a.m., Jim still won't admit what time he got to bed. We left the Dacha about noon the next day to travel by boat across the lake to meet up with the bus taking us back to Irkutsk. On the way to Irkutsk we stopped at a wooden house museum. Some of the buildings date back to the 1700's. Replicas were built where original dwellings were not available.
On arrival in Irkutsk, Vasya, UA0SN and his wife Natasha were our hosts for the evening. The bus, from Vasya's employer returned much later to take Serge, Leonid, Valeri and myself home from Vasya's. Since Jim and I both had our Handi Talkies with us the fellows started talking back and forth as we travelled across town. It was quite a sight to see three Russians, who had enjoyed their share of toasts, hollering into a portable, talking to a distant Russian who was not in much better shape than them. Our portables were really fascinating to the fellows and were used as communication between flats as Serge and Vasya did not have telephones. I was fortunate the battery ran out shortly after we got back to our flat, so Serge had to quit talking and I could get some sleep. I did not tell him about the extra battery until the morning.
June 13th, and our final full day in Irkutsk. We tried contacting Canada again and Jim got through to VE6GC in Olds Alberta. Skip VE3BBS and Matti VE3EEI were listening but could not get through. We only heard them marginally and we were not able to relay through the VE6. At least they knew we were still around and could pass the word to the folks at home. We wound up our final day with a tour of Irkutsk, looking at the old log homes, churches and historical buildings. A proud city, a bit down at the heels, needing funds for road building and repairs.
Our final evening in Irkutsk was at Serge's flat with the fellows. We were presented gifts to carry back to the Lakehead Amateur Radio Club along with scrolls of appreciation to the various donors from the Thunder Bay and district who sponsored the equipment we carried with us to Russia. Our club and theirs will be agreeing to twinning and combining of projects in the future. Soon Irkutsk will be on packet and other digital modes of communication when they get the TNC up and running. Serge and I keep bi-weekly skeds. Vasya and I communicate by e-mail, so we keep in touch and hopefully will see them again in the not too distant future, either in Canada or Russia.
We got up to a bright sunny morning and packed up to catch our flight at 10:30 a.m. We said our good byes to the fellows and checked our bags through Intourist. Even on domestic flights facilities foreigners are segregated. Our passport and visa were checked prior to boarding each flight. Our airplane was a TU-134, a large aircraft, and in good condition. This flight was direct Irkutsk to Moscow with a flying time of 5 1/2 hours. It was a nice flying airplane and very quiet at altitude. We could only tell this when they turned off the music to make announcements. They played Russian music all through the flight at a volume that made talking difficult. I think they had only three tapes and they were repeated over and over. Midway through the flight the stewardess came around with coffee. I asked for tea. She said "NYET, coffee only". They still operate on the principle of having a monopoly and in-flight service to the customer is secondary. I must say though, we did not have a late departure or arrival in Russia, and all our luggage arrived with us.
Grigori met us at the domestic airport and ferried us downtown to the Raddison Slajanskaya where we were to spend two nights. Quite a hotel, about two years old and it looked like it had been transplanted from New York. The room rates were about the same as New York, and the menu would have fit New York or Toronto. Security was very tight, with at least one person holding a portable radio at each entrance to the hotel and each driveway. We got the impression locals were discouraged, except for the hotel staff. After our visit in Irkutsk and travelling with our friends, the hotel was so expensive and plush it was embarrassing for us.
We managed to tour Moscow, seeing Red Square and the Kremlin, along with visiting the Central Radio Club. The chapels inside the Kremlin were extremely interesting, especially the one built by Ivan the Terrible. It was two chapels, one built inside the other. Only Ivan the Terrible and the bishop were allowed in the smaller chapel. The surrounding chapel had a balcony inside facing the small chapel. This balcony was only area his family was allowed in. The icons (paintings on wood) decorating the altars of the chapels were well preserved. I don't think you could put a value on them, they would be priceless. We were trying to locate a radio amateur who lived in Moscow. We had his name but no phone number. We tried to locate him through the telephone service and found out they do not release phone book listing over the phone to city customers. We finally located him through the radio club and talked to him on our last evening. Next time we hope to spend a week in Moscow and have him arrange more appropriate accommodations.
Our departure was through the international airport and the departure area was much different from the arrival area. There are sufficient people to process the passengers in reasonable time. The area had recently been renovated and when we checked through security we found a brightly lit area with duty free shops. To prove how much different it was, there was toilet paper in the washrooms.
Jim and I started out with a lot of misconceptions about Russia. We expected to find a dour serious people struggling to find their next meal. Instead we found people who are going through a change, inflation is driving up prices, the country is not too stable, and the political situation is still tenuous, but the people we were with did not want to go back to what it was. They have hopes for the future. They are fun to be with, are excellent hosts and have a good sense of humour. They like to say "everything is fine, but there is one small problem".
When Jim and I started out we wondered why we were going. After being there, we were sorry others did not make the trip. They missed a great adventure. We wished we had booked more days in Irkutsk, but now, looking back, maybe it was enough for our first trip....... 30