Where In The World Is Evan?

I just thought I’d take this opportunity to give you guys a quick update as to what I’m up to before I drop out of contact again for a while.

Presently I am in Irkutsk, Siberia, where I’ve just returned from two days in the tiny lake side town of Listvyanka. The weather here is extremely cold, as anticipated. It’s -13 degrees outside now, but it was around -20 in Listvyanka, and when coupled with both heavy snow and strong wind it makes it a little uncomfortable to get around on foot (Listvyanka has a population of about 2,500 so there is no public transport).

I met a couple of New Zealanders at my homestay in Listvyanka, as well as two Americans in a cafe, which are the only other English speaking foreigners I have met so far in Russia. The five of us ended up having a great time drinking copious amounts of Russian vodka to stave off the cold (which unfortunately did nothing for our balance nor coordination on the icy ground).

Tomorrow night I catch a train out of Russia and into Mongolia, something I’m quite looking forward to after hearing lots of nice stories from the Kiwis, who had come to Irkutsk directly from Ulaan Baatar. Whilst I’m there I probably wont have access to the internet, so I will be incommunicado for about a week (factoring in transit time to Beijing).

Check out the Siberia photo gallery.