We just spent 10 days around the Baikal lake, and although we took it rather slowly, feels like we saw a LOT of different things.
CITIES
We visited two Siberian cities, Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude. They are in fact very nice places, for the sad reason that a bunch of aristocrats and intellectuals were exiled and imprisoned here since the 19th century and therefore they built beautiful houses, churches, theatres etc.
THE LAKE
We went for a hike around the lake, discovered that the lakeshore is mountainous, and belatedly remembered that hiking up is a pain. Somehow it always seems like a good idea, until you start climbing 😛 On the plus side, there were no mosquitoes in the humid birch forest, although we heard that it gets so bad that people use beekeeping equipment to walk around…
Then we took a 6-hour shaky bus ride and a ferry to Olkhon Island. It’s a 70km-long island in the middle of the lake, quite popular with locals and foreigners to enjoy Baikal. It was a funny mix of wilderness, shamanism traditions, and a Russian-style resort.
RUSSIAN BUDDHISM
On the East side of Baikal lies the autonomous republic of Buryatia, where most Russians are asian-looking, buddhist and many speak Buryat. Now we feel like we are finally reaching Asia!
And now we are taking the bus to Ulan Bataar.
Bye-bye Russia, hello Mongolia!