Day 27: Lake Baikal, the deepest and biggest volume of fresh water in the world

Thursday, October 13, 2016

After a delicious breakfast of crepes and eggs, I waited outside in the cold to be sure not to miss my tour. An empty van pulled up at 10 a.m. and even though the driver spoke no English, I climbed in. We picked up two French people at one guest house and a Korean woman at another. Finally, my group! The French guy had been traveling since November 2015, mostly by bicycle and spoke quite good English. The French woman (they'd just met the day before) had been traveling since December 2015 and spoke some English. The Korean woman was on a 3-week holiday in Russia also by herself, and spoke a little English. 

I learned that I was the only one who bought a package tour from Irkutsk. The others had signed up for the day trip around the island at their Olkhon guesthouses. The Korean woman was told 800 rubles ($13.50), but the French people were told 900 ($15), so the French woman said she was only going to pay 800. I don't know how that went because I got dropped off after the Korean woman.

I would have liked to have an English-speaking guide, but for lack of that, this beautiful Flickr website by Rita Willaert has gorgeous photos of the island, the lake, the Buryat people, and a shaman, all with explanations. I highly recommend it.

Our van driver, like all the others, stopped at the most scenic spots and gave us time to walk around and take pictures. We had no explanation of anything. The French guy said nature needs no explanation, but I would have liked to know more of the history and the spiritual background of the area.

The water in Lake Baikal is very clear and drinkable. I refilled my water bottle.

An old pier

There were some large groups of Chinese tourists who enjoyed taking pix of themselves and each other.

I figured out why all the vans are four-wheel drive. A normal car never would have been able to navigate the rough dirt roads.

We saw horses and cattle along the way. Since I never saw anyone riding a horse I could only conclude that they raise them for their meat, like in Mongolia.

More prayer poles along the way.

This guy on the rock was yelling down to his friend in the red jacket below.

I overheard the legend of Three Brothers Rocks from an English-speaking guide. The brothers were instructed to kill the shaman's daughter and her lover because the shaman didn't approve of their relationship. The three brothers liked the couple and decided to take them far away and leave them instead of killing them. The shaman, because he knows everything, knew he'd been betrayed, so he turned the brothers into rocks. However, this website has a completely different legend about the rocks.

Beautiful orange lichen covered many rocks.

The French woman attempted to climb these rocks, but couldn't. I asked her if she's done rock climbing. She said no, but she'd like to.

That's me in the pink jacket with airs out. The Korean woman took this picture for me.

I'm guessing that one company owns all these vans and just hires the drivers. We all stopped for lunch at the same time. I'll bet they all made fish soup with bread and tea. Do you know how to say tea in Russian? Chai.

"Tying a ribbon you send a prayer in the sky."

It's a long way down.

The woman on the right lives in Beijing and speaks very good English. She's traveled in the U.S.

I assume these coins are left on this sacred ground for good luck.

Our driver made a tasty fish soup with potatoes, carrots and onions.

I was happy to use the rest room. But I'm not going to lie, though, it was pretty gross inside.

This French guy has been traveling by bike since November 2015. He's hoping to get some work in Australia so he can keep traveling.

The road was deeply rutted and tricky for our driver to maneuver.

I don't remember seeing our driver smile the entire day. It must get boring to drive the same route every day with tourists you can't talk to.

Heading back to the village.