Siberia - Day 9

My first thought of the morning was: 'only five km to go, Niiiiiice!' No rush to pack, eat or even open both eyes. The gentle wilderness, the fresh air, and the silence created this atmosphere of perfection.

Breakfast was, you will never guess, PINK and consisted of corn Kasa and freshly made jam, ala. Katya and Svetlana, NOW that's what I call seriously tasty. Just when I was about to lay back and be Mrs Laziness (for a change) Evgeny asked if we wanted to go for an "easy walk"; let me repeat as this bit is very, very important bit, "EASY walk". We thought "OH yes, that would be nice, a few more pictures to our collection, what a great idea". What on earth could be wrong with that ..... Famous last words. Me being the big smartie (or blondie) I asked Evgeny “Will there be actual bridges to cross the streams and rivers?”, he proudly stated – “Of course, there will be”. Hmmm, I guess we didn't learn the same meaning for that specific word. 10 minutes later, Evgeny, Christof, Svetlana and I strutted off with a smile thinking "Oh yes it will be fun". Nothing EVER is as easy as that, now is it? Packed with cameras, water, hope and absolutely no food, we started our lovely easy and scenic walk.

The start was actually really nice and easy: a tiny hill, a small stream, fresh air and great views. Then when we reached the first Bridge. Well, at least he was correct, there was one that could, very loosely, be called a 'Bridge': 1.5m wide, 10m in length and made up entirely of very thin logs above a very annoyed and angry river. Easy!

The next 'thing' however did not deserve the same term, five very thin logs placed, not tied I may add, but placed next to each other that I could have sworn were rolling even before I put a foot on it. With the concentration of a Jedi master, we made it. Fine, I made it. The third "ahm ahm" 'bridge ' however was a bit, how shall I put it ... invisible???...also known as non-existent or imaginary! At this point, we were hopping across stones and all the while listening to Evgeny's "of course, there is a bridge" jokes. GRRRRR :) it may have been funny but I really didn't want to encourage him.

And then the 'easy' part of our program began.

This meant the steepest incline you can imagine, 500 metres straight to the top. I will not tell you how many times I MAY have mentioned Evgeny in very unpleasant, situations or scenarios. 'Easy walk'… my Transylvanian butt!

After a good 45 minutes, we had a very generous 5-minute stop where our, one and only Evgeny, said "Not very far to the plateau". When will I learn to multiply everything he says by 6; it took us another 30 minutes of a very steep climb, ridiculous amounts of sweat, and maybe a high percentage of it spent swearing/praying before we reached the top.

Luckily Svetlana and I kept a constant chatter up keeping our minds off, very illegal, murderous thoughts that may or may not have included Evgeny. The view from the top was great and then it simply became spectacular. The Altai mountain chain that was presented to us was just amazing. They were completely covered in snow. We were told some were over 4000m high, WOW, so worth the sweat and swearing but please don't tell our evil guide I said that :). Considering we were above 2000m and wearing t-shirts, it was a powerful experience. The number of pictures taken between the 3 of us must have exceeded the 500 mark but who was counting (pick me, pick me :)).

Our next target was the lake in the distance, with a short break and then return quickly so we can make our way to the next campsite. The walk took us just over an hour but the Siberian / Mongolian mountains didn't want to be neglected and we were forced to admire them every step of the way.

When we finally got to the lake, the sun, very kindly, made an appearance, so with an anonymous vote we decided to have a mini sunbathing session. I wasn't going to mention how starved we were at that point, but when Evgeny pulled a Milka chocolate out of his bag, I heard angels singing, I think I may have had tears in my eyes. All four of us sunbathing, looking at snow-peaked mountains with horses nearby and no worries on our minds; was worth the hike, the sweat and the swearing but I will never admit this to Evgeny; even if he reads this 😆. While it took almost 3 hours to get to the lake it only took an hour to return. Going downhill is definitely quicker but by God, it definitely is more painful. The key to a happy and fulfilling ..... or let's call it a full stomach, is lunch; knowing our next stop was not that far away gave us the motivation we needed to change gear. As we had walkie-talkies lunch was served on arrival. When I checked my pedometer to see how long our 'easy walk' was I almost got a heart attack, 12km. Not sure on what planet that should be called easy but it was definitely beautiful. That's when the team that stayed behind announced that they would like to stay the night. Even though I was exhausted I was excited about our next camp, it was like a kinder surprise, you never know what you will find. After some discussion we agreed to stay, and to be honest, it was a really good decision. Svetlana, Katya and I decided to have a small wash which surprisingly wasn't as cold; I'm worried to say, but I think we were getting used to it; don't think I will not go as far as to say 'We liked it' but it was refreshing and I felt like a newborn. While some had a nap we decided to learn and play bridge. It was quite fun getting the rules translated first from Russian to German and then to English but we got there eventually. It was a brilliant game, that went on for several hours whilst the view behind us changed gradually from cloudy to sunny and then to dusky beautiful.

Dinner as always was great, Bors - cabbage/beetroot/meat soup - was the tastiest thing of the week. I may have had 3 plates but I can neither confirm nor deny it and will blame it on old age and fresh air 😉. When we retreated to the campfire we started playing a fantastic game: burn items of clothing that were not salvageable. My contribution was a pair of socks that simply couldn't be kept alive for another minute :). I am not sure if I was happy that we only had one day to go or sad that we only had one day to go. I really didn't want it to end.....