Arrival at Ulan Ude

Hi All. We have made it to Ulan Ude which was a quick 8 hour journey from Irkutsk. The views were amazing as the train followed the Southern Shores of the lake before travelling up a vast river valley. Many large bridges and for the first time so far some tunnels.
We had a bit of a mission finding somewhere to stay, not for a lack of hotels, but because they were all charging extortionate rates. They are all vast concrete blocks with awful interiors but were expecting a minium of 50 pounds per night, this of course is because we are English. We managed to find a hotel with a single room for a more sensible amount, the room is like a museum piece. Our favorate item is the radio - it only has an on off switch so you have no choice of radio station, only the one it is pre-set to!
There is not too much in Ulan Ude but its a nice place (if you ignore the huge smoking chimneys on the horizon). We have spent the afternoon admiring the worlds biggest Lenin head (its huge) and fur shopping. We have just tried to brave the hectic Russian Post office but couldnt make any sense of the 'system' they were using so will try again tomorrow morning when it is hopefully more quiet.
Today is 'Mens Day' where the country celabrates people who have been in the military (we think) and who still are. We also think (if we have read the sign properly) that there will be some kind of military parade tomorrow which should be interesting. We are now off to find the Buryat history museum and a museum about Russia in Afghanistan.
Tomorrow evening we have our 3.5 day journey to Vladivostok where we will 10 hours ahead of the UK which is a strange thought!