On Lake Baikal

Arriving at Irkutsk

The guard or conductor woke us up about an hour before our 0809 arrival at Irkutsk.  We packed and checked that we had everything.  The train pulled into the station on the opposite side of the river from town.  It was a gloomy and drizzly day.

We were met by Eugene who took us to the Baikal Hotel (our accommodation for tomorrow) to change some money, before taking a 1h drive to our accommodation for the night at Listvyanka on Lake Baikal.  We chatted to Eugene on the way and learnt that a new Lada is approximately USD5000 but a used Japanese car is similarly priced.  Russians prefer the latter due to perceived superior quality.  There’s talk of taxes being imposed on the used Japanese cars but it hasn’t happened yet.  Strangely, there seems to be no move to stop them based on them being right-hand drive (opposite to the norm in the country).

Listvyanka on Lake Baikal

At Listvyanka we were taken to the far end of town, up a crummy littered street lined with traditional homes with pretty windows and plank fences.  We were surprised to be in a newish chalet run by Tatiana.  She appeared surprised to see us, perhaps having just woken up.  Our room was huge, perhaps 5x of that in Osaka.

The room was fitted with these windows that open sideways (kinda normal) and top-in (for venting).  While I’m used to them now, both Kim and I were so intrigued when we encountered them at the Babka Hotel in Warsaw a few years ago.  But now they were even in our hotel in Ulaanbaatar.

After a much needed shower, we made an effort to find the USD that Kim had lost.  No luck there.  We walked into town for a look-see.  There was a caged bear rocking back and forth in its tiny cage; Kim tried to comfort me saying it was just practicing its dance routine.  Then there was a stuffed bear on the roadside.

We took lunch further into town.  We tried “omul”, an endemic Baikal fish.  It was battered, lightly fried and served with berry sauce.  We also had beef, pepper and walnuts in a Chinese style with rice.  Both meals were delicious.

We continued uphill to Baikal Hotel to make a phone call to the Edelweiss Hotel in Ulaanbaatar to enquire about the lost money.  Kim spoke to the manager and would email further details.  The view from the Baikal Hotel was gorgeous.  But the Soviet era hotel itself was rather worn.  And I didn’t like the stuffed bear in the lobby; not just because it didn’t match the ATM.

Back downshill we went to the Ecological Museum which had lots of preserved fish (of the non-edible variety; not pickled or dried but probably in formaldehyde) and some live ones.  There was a bit about the ecology of the lake but what captivated me the most were the two VERY fat seals in the tanks.  They look grossly overfed.  [Edit:  I learnt many years later that that’s the actual shape of the local freshwater seal.]

Back outside, Lake Baikal was still slushy in parts.  We could hear the grating of the slush in the water.  It had turned out to be quite a nice day after this morning.  The sun played peek-a-boo with us through the clouds and it was warm enough with the sun out.

We took a brief cruise on the lake with a honeymooning Italian couple.  She had spent 6 months in Xian learning Mandarin.  The lake was crystal clear, which means we could see the bottom in some areas and also the sunken heavy litter there.

After a brief rest in our room we took dinner at the port.  Staff there were more interested in the TV than the customers.  We had a dumpling soup; the skin was tougher than the Chinese variety and more filling I guess.  And also a chicken fillet with mushroom and cheeses on top.  Through dinner, we noticed a few locals came in and left after checking out the menu.  It may have been a little expensive by local standard?  And there was a bouncer present too.  I remember in Moscow many shops had security.

The sun sets late here.  It was still quite light at 2230, partly due to the fact that we’re in the west in the time zone.