So, the rest of the train journey was pretty good. On the last day I was invited to join some Belgian guys in the bar at lunch time, so I obliged, just to be polite of course!  Anyhow, I had informed one of them that I had yet to have a vodka shot in the land of vodka, even though I’d been in the country over a week!  Well, this had to change…Joe, one of the Belgians had been shown one way to drink vodka shots by a Russian guy earlier on in the trip, so, after we were brought our 100g of vodka, he poured it into two glasses and then added the magic ingredient – pepper! And lots of it too!  He gave it a stir, then let it settle slightly, then boom! Down in one!  (Carefully leaving most of the settled pepper in the glass).

Give it a few seconds then wow, I could feel my shoulders burning from this stuff!  Surprisingly, it wasn’t unpleasant, although my initial face may say otherwise!

I was pleased I got to have some vodka finally, hey I know I like the stuff but it wouldn’t have been the same having it on my own.  Two was enough though as later that evening I was meeting my home stay host in Irkutsk, could hardly turn up drunk!

This one must be where the heat hit…..!

With one of the provodnistas!

And a beer to wash it down with!

More pics from the journey

The building with a mouth!