(photo : At 4 am I had to change to a local train)

303 Tomsk - old city Tomsk is not on the main train line so is smaller and more historic than the other cities. Tuesday Morning made it to Tomsk met up with Alina from HC and her mother in their shared apartment. She is TV writer and some of friends from TV wanted to film some stuff with me and her for local TV. So we did a bicycle tour of the town and all the normal TV stuff, filming the same thing again and again etc. (it didn't look bad on te TV news the day after) Tomsk is the Oxford of Siberia .. many students etc. Went to a show at the Polytechnic pretty interesting.

Wed - Museum of the repression saw how Stalins secret service had persecuted and killed many ordinary russians in his paranoid campaign to stamp out any opposition : Gulags for people related to anyone regarded as an enemy of the state etc.. terrible and bizarre.

Then we met up 3 more HC women in the park and went to Elena's house for dinner and looked at her research project into Indeigenous languages in the region. It was a pity that people just seem to accept their languages will die and everyone will speak Russian. Where is the support to keep indigenous culture alive..schools and TV in their languages. The Russian girls complained that it's difficult to get a UK visa. I guess it's the government trying to stop sex slave trafficking.

(photo Alina and her Mum)

Some photos from Elena ..typical Soviet apartments, Typical Tomsk old house ... bus station in the middle of nowhere

Thu.. Got the results from the tick test negative for Ensyphitis but positive for Lymes disease so I have to take Antibiotics, but luckily I don't have the red spot symptoms so maybe I am OK ..gotta to take a blood test next month.

I walked into town and met Alina for a concert by folk group who travel to different villages to gather material to keep traditional songs and music alive.
great send off from Alina and her mother ...met some people at the station bar for karaoke in Taiga