Lake Baikal

We arrived in Irkutsk at 5am to be greeted by local Russian lads keen to ply us with vodka and practice their English in the local cafe. They’d been up all night drinking but we’d just woken up and all we wanted was a shower after 4 nights on the train. We managed to persuade them that 1 shot each was enough and headed off to find a bus to Olkhon Island.

Olkhon Island is the biggest island on Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest fresh-water lake. It’s an exciting six hour minibus ride away from Irkutsk. The tarmac stops half way making for a bumpy ride and the bus slowly filled up with drunken villagers who managed to smell worse than us. Lake Baikal was well worth the trip though, the scenery is outstanding and it is so hard to believe that it is a lake and not the sea.

We spent four days here walking around, appreciating the views over the lake to the mountainous mainland and visiting the important spiritual sights, which seem to include every rock on the island.

.

'

'

'

'

'

Nikita’s homestead was a great place to stay particularly as it is run by an ex USSR table tennis champion, so ping pong a plenty. It was a good back packer meeting place and we made a few friends including Peter and Hannah, who are losing 7-3 and 2-0 in the table tennis and chess tournaments respectively. Also, a friendly member of staff , Dimitry, who seemed to be running several businesses on the side – including keeping the tourists plied with beer, while telling us stories about Olkhon Island and life in Russia.

Away from the backpackers the local village was an interesting place with several villagers each owning a cow that wondered around grazing on the unpaved streets and being chased by the stray dogs that howled every night. A highlight was being invited to a local ‘concert’. We sat through a few Russian speeches and poetry recitals before any music got under way. When it did, we were treated to a seemingly unending succession of old villagers singing god knows what, quite badly – all good fun.

'

We were fed well at Nikita’s, including this lunch in the woods.

'

'

'

The food was good and included at least 3 portions of Omul a day. Omul is a tasty white fish found only in Lake Baikal.

'

'

'

'

'

'

Food Pic #6. Omul Soup. A lot tastier than it looks.

'

'

'

'

Food Pic #7. Omul on a plate.

'

'

'

'

For Sarah’s librarian friends: the local library