Kyrgyzstan Silk Road

Notes from the Gulag

Outside our Siberian village Dacha the snow is falling and so is the temperature. Something much more serious than today’s -15C must be in the forecast because a cheery middle aged lass is perched on a ladder tamping felt into cracks in our wall.

Its been a surprising week since Pat and I arrived in Novosibirsk for a long overdue visit with our Russia partner, Olga. Come in the winter I want to show you the real Siberia when the countryside is covered in snow, when its really cold and you can pretend that you are Dr Zhivago and Pat can be Lara. We will go for a picnic in the forest with the horse sleigh and stay in a real Siberian village house.

On a recent mid November morning we set out from Novosibirsk to do just that. Overnight mist off the Ob River had covered the city in hoar frost. It looked cold but apparently wasn’t. Olga reported that the temperature was only -18C, not really cold but a good start. It would certainly be cold enough for what she had in mind.

Snowy fields and silver birch trees twinkling with frost were just the setting that we had been anticipating. Although perhaps not quite the Zhivago-esque dreamy romantic frosted landscapes it came pretty close. Our ‘Sane’ may have been a bit more fit for village purpose and driver more practically done up in Russian army surplus camo but the experience of a horse drawn sleigh gliding along a snow clogged forest trail was real enough.

Village life nowadays includes central heating and indoor plumbing but the traditional ‘banya’ bath house can still be found most places with 112C brain baking heat to purge toxins and give real meaning to the saying ‘take your sinus’ to Siberia.

I’m sure that there are travellers who are busting to have ‘winter in Siberia’ on their list but this isn’t really the objective of this wee story. Siberia in spring, summer and Autumn is the plan for 2015 and we have some stunning trips lined up.

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