We make our way across the island, and try not to kill the cows. |
We setup camp and enjoy the sunset. |
Despite the fact that I'm sick of fish by now, we have a feast! |
And I'm not so bitchy after all... even if I'm burnt by the Siberian Sun. |
Dmitry is happy after all. I love the gold capped teeth of this Siberian bear. |
And who couldn't be happy after polishing off a fifth of Russian vodka? |
My last night on Olkhon Island. |
The next day, we make our way back to Irkutsk through this grandiose metal entrance. |
I'm so hungry for anything but fish. I stop at "Domino Pizza" and order a mushroom pizza. But the sauce isn't tomato-based, it's ketchup and mayonaise... and it was gross! But I ate the hell out of it! Anything is better than a fourth day of fish. |
That night, I make arrangements to do a homestay in this apartment complex. |
The rather unattractive staircase reminds me of that of Raskolnikov's (in St. Petersburg) and feels a touch ghetto. |
Like everything in Russia, it's all a bit complicated. This even goes for the door keys!!! |
My hosts are nice enough, but somewhat curt. Svetlana is studying to be an architect and is days away from flying to Berlin to study! (Scarily, she plans leaves one day after the plane crash of Irkutsk.) |
Russian interior design can be interesting. The wallpaper is particularly unusual. |
There is a rustic feeling to this family's apartment. |
The kids network plays classic stop-motion animation for which the Russians are so famous. This is Sleeping Beauty. |
The daughter is adorable, and immitates the ballerina. |
Later, I meet my travel agent Natasha who invites me to hang out. She's very well travelled for a Russian, and has been to many countries in Europe. |
She considers herself "the Siberian Princess" (especially with this big slab of meat), but is nice enough. She is obsessed with the "other Lennon" (from the Beatles). |
The next morning, I'm on my way to the train station... |
...and find yet more Soviet military propaganda. |
West and East. I'm definitely heading East... |
...on train #8 (line 1) from Novosibirsk to Vladivostok, I plan to hop off at Ulan Ude--a mere 8 hours away. |
Heading East out of Irkutsk offers some of the most stunning views on the entire Trans-Siberian train. |
Lake Baikal in all its glory (and its downtrodden shacks). |
Even polluting smoke stacks seem miniscule by the lake's utter vastness. (Fortunately, Green Party activists have managed to get laws passed to prevent further industrial development aound the lake.) |
Dachas populate the route across the southern tip of Lake Baikal. |
The Ulan Ude train station. |
I stay in this Soviet monolith called Hotel Buryatiya. |
The view from my window! |
Another view over the city square. (If you look very closely, you can see Lenin's Head.) |
I take a trip outside the city to the Ivolginksii Buddhist temple--the center of Siberian Buddhism. It was built at the end of WWII, and was one of the few datsans to have escaped Stalin's wrath against religion. |
I personally never really knew that ethnic Buddhists even existed in Russia! |
Many kiosks hawking their wares lace the entrance of the temple. |
Buddhist tchotkes (primarily Chinese in origin) dot the stalls. |
At the restaurant, patrons eagerly await their pozas. |
The datsan is pretty cool, but there isn't as much excruciating detail as in other religious institutions. |
But for a place that is resurrecting itself from Communist eradication, it's pretty impressive. It contains the largest collection of Buddhist texts in Russia. |
The main temple was built in 1972... |
...and these comic tigers guard the entrance. |