I don't know why you keep saying that Baikal seals have "over-populated" the lake. If anything, overfishing of the lake would be having the opposite effect on the seal population. They are still a common species but only in parts of the lake (not over the entire area).
yes you have said it in a previous instance. I suspect that you didn't mishear the documentary, simply that the documentary was bollocks as they so often are. I don't anticipate any trouble seeing the seals (there are boat trips from the village I'll be staying at to a regular haul-out site) -- which makes a change from looking for animals which are impossible to find!
Russian visa requirements for NZers need full day-by-day itineraries with all acommodations etc booked in advance so they know exactly where you're going to be; the hostel was therefore booked long ago. Russia's not the sort of place where a NZer can just turn up with an air-ticket and some cash and nothing else, as in a lot of other countries. I found out there actually is another hostel in town but it is someone's apartment and they don't speak any English.
it's three days straight (I think seven days if you go the whole way between Vladivostok and Moscow in one go), but it stops at stations all along the way for short periods, basically to pick up and drop off passengers. There are three types of sleeping carriages: first class has two-bed cabins and is very expensive; second-class has four-bed cabins (i.e. imagine two bunks inside a wardrobe and that's about right); cheapest is third class which has thirty-odd sleeping platforms, like a prison ship. I'm in second class.Well that's good news for us Americans who want to visit Russia one day!
Besides the actually city part, it seems you had a good time and saw a few new species which is always a good thing!
So how does the three-day train journey work? Do you stop once or twice a day or just at night or do you ride for three days straight?
If you put a knife between your teeth, I'm sure none of the smelly drunk men will come anywhere near you. And absolutely nobody will smile at you.
If you get attractive Russian females, however, then you may find that by the time you reach Lake Baikal you have three wives. To avoid that I recommend putting the knife between your teeth.
Hix
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you know I was wondering if they were big enough to make world news. I knew about them in advance because some stupid American woman in the hostel in Vladivostok was complaining that she had "been screwed over" in some town she'd just come from because her booked room had been given to relief workers and she'd ended up sleeping on a sofa. And all I was thinking was, if it comes to providing beds for relief workers there to save peoples' lives and livelihoods or a bed for a tourist, then I'd be like "here, take my bed"! Some people can't see past their own nose.
