Cute

Day 18: Listvyanka (RUS) - Irkutsk (RUS). “Oh they're lovely”, “Prijatnyj”, “Oh so cute”... About a dozen gooey eyed women of various nationalities crammed around the tanks that were home to the Baikal Seals - fixated by these gorgeous animals. As I watched both the seals and the reactions that they invoked, I decided that when I finally do meet my maker, I'm going to ask if I can come back as a seal next time - because as a seal you really can't fail to be a hit with the ladies!

Apart from the seals that we had come to see, the Baikal Museum had a number of fascinating displays and exhibits describing the the unique ecosystem that has developed in this huge fresh water lake over the last 50 million years. The lake supports over 3,500 different forms of life of which 80%, the seals included, can't be found any where else on earth. Almost hunted to extinction, the seals are now a protected species, their numbers fortunately on the rise again with a present day population of around 60,000 animals.

“We need to find somewhere to stay for the night”, I said to Karen as we reluctantly said goodbye to these beautiful creatures. We had a very early train to catch the following day so we thought we'd check out the station rest-rooms or 'komnaty otdykha'. In a mixture of broken English, broken Russian and sign language we enquired the cost of a bed from the rather stern looking attendant “That will cost 110 roubles per hour and an extra 85 roubles if you want to use the shower”, she replied with a dead pan expression. Karen nodded her approval to me and so I counted the money onto the little table in front of the attendant. She handed us our towels and we retired for the night.

So that's another 'first'. Never before had Karen and I bought a room by the hour! Seedy? Well, maybe just a little!