Siberia - Day 1

The journey was long; 7 hours of hot, stuffy, camped, and absolutely wonderful minibus drive. The views were very postcard-like: mesmerising rivers, spectacular mountains and snow-covered peaks. The combination was breathtaking, glorious and awe-inspiring. (Drama Queen out :))

​Breakfast was at 9 am and to my utter surprise we had something that I personally would call a main course: soup, stew, meat and cabbage dish. Very interesting and very tasty.

Apart from our guides and fellow trekkers, no one spoke English. Learning to say 'I don't speak Russian" is essential but not always useful as you were simply ignored :); everyone simply decided to raise their voices thinking that would somehow make us 'understand' :) it was highly entertaining.

I occasionally read my Kindle but tended to forget all about the book as soon as I saw an amazing view, which happened every 2 to 3 seconds. I didn't bother reading after the first hour. ​Getting off the main road was a good indication that we were close to our final destination: Chibit. Putting on our backpacks the first time was an interesting experience; a bit scary and a LOT exciting. This was it .... the moment we've been all waiting for.

​As we parked at the top of the hill we knew that we had to carry everything downhill for the camp .... and surprise surprise carry it back up the following day. But it gave us a good idea of how good our backpacks were and if they needed any adjustments.

​I have to say it took us ages to walk the few hundred meters to our campsite and it had nothing to do with the weight or the terrain, and everything to do with the scenery. WOW doesn't cover it. Our first experience with the famous Siberian wilderness was amazing and we couldn't stop taking pictures. At this point I wasn't taking it easy with the camera as I knew I had two more spare batteries, I was in my mini picture heaven, AAAHHHH.

​Once we managed to walk to our campsite we quickly set up camp and started the festivities, also known as lunch: dried bread, salami and cheese. I was paired with Katya who turned out to be my personal angel.

​True to form I've used the time after the meal to walk around the area and take a few hundred pictures, just in case my memory failed me in about 50 years. I know it sounds impossible but it could happen :) better safe than sorry.

​Life seems very simple here but the beauty of the area, the total lack of plastic behaviour was very refreshing and charming.

​The horseman was supposed to arrive at 5 pm. Three whole hours later they were still nowhere to be seen; our poor guide (Evgeny) looked a tiny bit worried. At 9 pm they finally turned up to collect the food and with a promise to return the following day. I'm honestly not sure what we would have done if they hadn't turned up, another 10 kg to our bags each would not have been fun.

​As we arrived quite early and everything was ready we got a bit antsy; we really wanted to walk, experience and have fun; you know the saying "Be careful what you wish for", well we found out what that meant a day later.

​Just to keep us in check Evgeny offered a walk to the village in case anyone wanted anything before all amenities and all possibility of buying any necessities disappeared completely. We jumped on the idea like flies on smelly cheese. The sky looked very ominous at this point and it felt like it wanted to come for a closer visit. I was prepared for anything and brought my super duper compact rain jacket and trousers. Luckily I didn't have to use it as the rain was just teasing but it was lovely going into our first village. The two shops we visited were simple and only had necessities with a small selection but what they had was good.

​Walking back from town seemed long but again the scenery was stunning from every angle. We even encountered two kids, aged about 7 and 8, who were coming down the hill with a proper bike, no helmet and utter joy on their faces as they didn't even bother holding onto the handlebars. It looked terrifying and dangerous but I bet they had the time of their lives, if the grin splitting their faces was any indication.

​When we got back we started dinner and tried to get a system going with the cleaning and washing up. It was a work in progress but great fun.

​After dinner fellow campers and 5 kids came over asking if they could practice their English, amazing bunch. The guy told us that they were teaching the kids how to think outside the box, really cool.

​We went to bed with pure excitement and a little bit of dread :) I personally couldn't wait for the adventure to start.​