10 April: Sometime in the arly morning, my fever broke; a hot shower, a couple more hours of sleep and it’s time for breakfast. Today I feel a thousand percent better but still not up to 100% (don’t do the math). Today is a free day, so a good opportunity to catch up on journal entries that have fallen about one week behind. Meanwhile, Jerry and Linda, Steve and Jennifer arranged an impromtu visit to a local dairy farm.
Betty has been doing battle with both the local tour company, Irkutsk Baikal Travel, and the larger, Travel and Visa Pro, which is organizing all our travel in Russia and Mongolia. They are refusing to pay for either a larger vehicle or a separate vehicle for luggage. It seems that we will also have a similar small van in both Moscow and St. Petersburg. She has sent emails outlining the problem since we arrived in Ulan Bataar and was on the phone half an hour last night with Kestutis – our US representative in San Francisco. I think they have reached some compromise. Fortunately members of our group have a great attitude, are really flexible, and are willing to kick in a few more dollars if neccesary. Betty – we did reach a compromise and Kestutis and I agreed to split the bill for the extra, larger transporation. He has been very good to work with and we would use he and his company again were we to return. We’ve traveled in Russia twice before and I can tell you that the tour operator can make a big difference because Russia is not an easy place to travel.
Good news – I am caught up on my journal entries. Bad news – the fever and chills are back; I continue to vegetate.
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Today is sunny and a bit windy. After a VERY ROUGH night, I had a bit of breakfast and went out to explore the market with Betty and Charlotte. I bought a bracelet and ring of the Siberian stone – charoit. The Johnsons and Johnsons went to visit a farm. They really had a great tour. Went to a farm specializing in raising dairy cows, to a zoo, to a farm house, etc. Chuck was catching up his journal and trying to get over his plague. We leave tomorrow for Irkutsk where we will catch the train to Moscow. Fran