I am writing form Dal'nerechensk, 5.5 hours outside of Vlad. Anatoly, Nadia, Nas and I are staying with some friends Oleg, Natasha and little Sonia. Fishing, hunting and my favorite of all Russian traditions, the bunya are all on the agenda for the next four days.
The trip here was hair raising to say the least. Russian roads are a mine field of pot holes and in some sections disappear altogether. Coupled with the unofficial open speed limit, I was relieved to make it here in one piece. The drive was visually spectacular. Vast open steppe running for miles intermittently broken by very green hills and valleys. I haven't seen such lush landscape for along time. I guess the drought back home made it even more of a contrast. Provincial Russia definitely has a romantic quality. I don't know if it is the quaint little farm houses, the spectacular scenery or just the simple way of life out here. The vast openness does remind me of home, except that this openness is 3 times as huge. People think nothing of driving all day for ten hours, only to turn back after a day of fun. 
Russia is massive! The biggest country in the world: it takes 11 hours to fly from St Petersburg to Vlad, covering 7 time zones. Russia covers a total of 11 time zones. 3 of the worlds top ten biggest rivers are here. Lake Baikal, (2nd biggest lake in the world) is the deepest and holds one fifth of the world fresh water. I read a stat on Baikal, that if all the rivers in the world ran into it for one year, it would still not fill it. That enormity is incomprehensible.
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