It all started at the bus station in Irkutsk.. There were two minibuses with one seat in the first bus and and two in the other. As usual we solved the problem with rock-paper-scissors and I lost! Or you could actually call it winning because I had a lot of fun in the bus that was filled with crazy spanish people and a few germans :)
After about 6 hours and a very bumpy ride we arrived at Olkhan! It was already quite late so we spent the rest of the evening hanging around at Nikitas' homestead and our guesthouse.
Next day we got an offer to wash dishes for three hours in the evening in order to get two meals at the restaurant. I decided to settle for the food in the store because first of all I wasn't hungry and second of all I wanted to enjoy the only day and evening we had at Olkhan...
The day went by quite fast even though we didn't spend it together... I was mostly chilling out alone, also because the boys disappeared somewhere... I chilled out on the beach, walked around the island and took joy in not talking to anyone and just being alone. Later on I hung around with a few german guys who we had got to know the day before :)
In the evening we went our different ways again, the boys were washing dishes at the same time as I sat on the beach watching the sunset, listening to music and drinking beer with the germans! The evening stretched out and when I finally at about 3am got back to the guesthouse the boys werent there!? One of the germans Martin taught me chinese as we waited for the guys, who after a while came back full of energy, excited to tell us about their night! They had found two hot local girls and gone partying with them to the beach disco :D Soon the guys went to sleep, I stayed up until 7am having a nice four hours conversation with Martin :)
On the next day we already had to get back to Irkutsk :/ We hadn't booked bustickets in advance and didn't get seats in the five o'clock bus so we had to leave with a five minutes notice with the 3 o'clock bus.. It was really sad because all of us had so much fun but too little time on the island! I was quite sad about leaving so soon... It sucks that just when you're getting to know people and making new friends you have to leave!
Anyway...the island was very beautiful with all its highlands and untouched nature. You could easily find a peaceful place on the island to escape the other tourists and just chillout alone...
On the bus on our way back home we all thought that the time was too short, and none of us would have wanted to leave! We also started to think about how everything has a meaning and even though something goes wrong, something better can happen instead. For example if Eva hadn't ditched us we probably wouldn't have met the same people and done the same things! It's crazy to think about how every small decision has the power to change everything.  It doesn't mean that if things don't go as planned you wont have fun. I at least believe that with all bad things come something good and the trip to Olkhan is a great example for that.. We got a lot of great memories and I think we'll never forget the days at Olkhan!
Today we're going to leave Russia behind and take the train to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Another two days in the train eating noodles and mashed potatoes... wohoo! :D
-Cute Pig

Thoughts about toutism and travelling by Ass Pig and Coloured Pig:

While Ida was spending the day alone we headed off to a rocky beach that was slightly off the main sandy one. It was a very small stretch but we got to be there alone most off the time which was very nice. We spent the day there swimming, tanning and debating the differences between the views and philosophies of tourists/holiday makers and travellers. As we watched people dish out money for comfortable sleeping places, french food, tours, bikes, boats etc. we realized that there was no way we wanted to be one of them. Of course this is nothing against the people that spend their holidays that way. Its very relaxing Im sure, but what you are left with are perhaps scenery and activities. We noticed that many tourists and even travellers can be found guilty of living in the so called travel bubble, isolating themselves from the local people and real culture. For us, couchsurfing and working for food in the kitchen of Nikita's was an eye opening experience that brought us into contact with the workers there and showed us how much more there is to travelling! We made friends with the staff and ended up going to a local beach disco where no other tourists go with the two hottest girls on the island! We will definitely carry on exploring countries in this manner. We treasure experiences like that more than any activity or scenery. Lastly we could mention that while some laughed at us, wondering why we would work for about 2euros/hour, the kitchen staff works for 7,5euros/day.