Birthday fun on a big big lake
Making it to Irkutsk was a pretty big milestone as it was our last destination in Russia, we had made it across Siberia and were hoping things were going to get a bit easier as there are actually tourists in Irkutsk. Most travellers on the trans-sib only stop in Irkutsk before heading on the Mongolia so there are a few hostels and actually other tourists, which was a bit of a novelty. It was kind of funny though as you spend so long not seeing any other backpackers and thinking you are the only ones in Russia when suddenly there are all these other people who have been doing the same thing as you and it doesn’t feel so adventurous any more. We had a couple of nights in Irkutsk which is a nice town close to lake Baikal, the world’s biggest lake. Baikal is so big it contains 20% of the worlds drinking supply, and if the world ran out of water it could provide enough water for the entire population for the next 40 years. We are talking about a big big lake here. Which is why Irkutsk is so popular, although it’s not right on the lake it’s a jumping off point for lake side towns. We were going to head out to Olkhon Island but had a day in Irkutsk to look around. It was however, freezing cold and at one point started to snow. I was over it so after we dropped our passports off to get our Mongolian visa’s and handing over money for the most expensive train ticket so far to Mongolia, I hid back in our dorm room in the warm. It was nice to be in a hostel again and meet some other travelers to hear stories and swap tips over a few beers. There were just five of us on the second night there, we all cooked tea together, made cookies with left over ingredients we found in the cupboard and watched a dvd. So normal but nice way to spend a night.
The drive to Olkhon Island was 7 hours so we headed out early to find a mini bus which supposedly left at 9. After ditching our tram because it got stuck in the most ridiculous traffic jam ever (even I could plan Russia’s traffic systems better) we headed off on foot to find the bus station and ended up getting spotted by a driver (do we stand out that much as tourists?) and were loaded on to a mini bus. The drive over to the island was really beautiful passing yellow fields and clear blue skies. We picked up passengers along the way and the mini bus filled up and emptied out at different points. The area around the lake is home to semi autonomous region of the Buyrat people who look much more Mongolian than Russia, shamanism is big here and we passed lots of ribbons tied around trees and the two ladies in the front threw out a few coins at different holy sites along the way. After a long drive we eventually made it to the ferry to take us across to the island, of course being Russia the whole process took ages and was stupidly organized with heaps of cars and vans trying to drive on at once. While waiting though we had nice views of the lake which is extreamely clear and blue.
In a couple of months the lake will be totally frozen over and there is an ice road across to the island. Finally on the ferry it was short ride across to the island then another half an hour drive to the town which has become really popular with tourists because of this one guest house called Nikkita’s. Nikkita’s is really an amazing place, on this island in the middle of nowhere, after hardly seeing another tourist for weeks we are suddenly at tourist enclave with English speaking staff and people around.
All the rooms are in little cottages, all built really ornately and the place is beautiful. We got a nice room with a fireplace and meet 3 others who had arrived that day, Yennina and Juliet- Dutch and German girls travelling together, and Paulon a French guy. We ended up spending quite a bit of time with them as they were on our train leaving Russia. The best part about the guest house is that is provides all meals so we got a late lunch when we arrived of soup bread and fish in the dining room. We went for a wander down to the lake as the sun was setting, we were near some rocks which have some significance and the ladies from the bus were down the end praying and doing some sort of ritual, and then a group of men close by drinking vodka, there were lots of blue ribbons ties around poles which worship the sky god, so you see those everywhere. The township is on the side of the island close to mainland so looking across it doesn’t look very big but along the side you can see the water stretches on forever.
The town is reasonably sized, but really a collection of ramshackle houses, dirt roads and a lot of cows and dogs wandering around, it’s a very slow and relaxed place but nice. The colours of the yellow island and the blue sky with the setting sun were amazing and we walked along the edge for a bit before cutting back through town and arriving just in time for…dinner! Only a couple of hours after our huge lunch, but another delicious big meal of fish and vegetables. The owner came in to play piano for a bit and we sat around drinking tea and reading before finding the other 3 where we headed to Paulon’s room to drink some vodka. Then it was off to bed, my last night being 22.
We had the full day on the island which was my birthday. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny, we had a huge breakfast of eggs bread and porridge then hung around for a huge lunch before heading off on a walk trying to walk to the top of the hill behind the town to try get a better view of the lake, of course harder than it looked and we ended up just wandering around the forest for a few hours without really seeing anything, But no worries, we went back to the guest house and me and Rdoc braved the icy waters for a quick dip in the lake which is the cool thing to do, and apparently adds 25 years on to your life. It really was the fastest swim ever, in and out immediately as the water was freezing!
(after our swim…looks warm, but it wasn’t)
But it felt good and was very refreshing! Tom wasn’t feeling well so didn’t come down but of course couldn’t be out done so ended up getting up really early the next morning and going swimming. We meet up with the other 3 who had hired bikes and hadn’t had much success finding the other side of the lake either, had some dinner then I went with them sand they shouted me a birthday banya, a Russian style sauna complete with birch branches to whip each other with, which I got from all three while they sung me happy birthday…one of my more interesting birthdays! It was ridiculously hot but warmed me up from our earlier swim. After enough of the heat we found the boys then went out to find the one small bar on the island which didn’t have many people inside but whole groups of people outside parked up with loud music pumping from their Lada’s. Classic. We had a few beers and played a whole lot of games, thanks to Paulon who has this amazing knack of keeping people entertained.
(Rdoc, Paulon and Yennina at the super cool ‘bar’)
We walked back under the clear sky with thousands of stars. Great way to spend my birthday!
Tags: Russia, TRAVELS 2008, videos 2008
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