Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal - Irkutsk, Russia – 09/20

(Michelle) We left Olkhon Island this morning to head back to Irkutsk. It was a relatively uneventful ride with no stops taken except one. We did stop at a shaman prayer spot and the driver left some money and a cigarette as an offering. Yes, the spirits appreciate a good smoke. We heard it was also common to tie a ribbon that has been drenched in vodka around one of the wooden posts.

The guy from admiral hostel knew that we would return to Irkutsk while he was still on Olkhon Island with his private tour, so he had us just keep our key to the apartment the whole time. Liz and Bill were returning the day after us and we told admiral man that we would let them in.

That night, we ate at a Subway in Irkutsk. As I mentioned, in Moscow or St. Petersburg you would never find someone working in public service who could speak English. In Irkutsk, not only did we get to buy our train tickets in English, we also got to order our Subway in English. A sandwich artist in his late teens or early 20s hesitated a moment and then asked us in English if he could help us. It was so cute. He told us we were the first customers he’s spoken to in English. He asked us like 5 times how our sandwiches were, but the best thing he asked us was if we had ever heard of Subway before. That is funny.

(TJ) Yes it was cute.