Lake Baikal, Siberia on Qantas and Siberian Airlines (S7)

[OATEK]

Fascinating day's tour. Was much made of the Gulag?

 

[RooFlyer]

Fascinating day's tour. Was much made of the Gulag?

No. I wonder if 'gulag' has a broader meaning such as 'place of forced labour' rather than the nasty internment camp type things we think of.

 

[RooFlyer]

Posting a few of the pics from the far northern tip of Olkhon Island that I wasn't able to do before.

Looking north; western mainland shore on the left, a big promontory of the eastern shore on the right. About 400km of lake straight ahead.



Note the snow covered range on the left. This is unusual this time of year. They had some very rare snow in August which has hung around up there.


Looking back south down the cape; 'little Baikal Sea' to the right.



A bit down the east coast looking NW to the northern cape of the island.


Similar view to the first.

 

[RooFlyer]

As I stepped out to walk to dinner, I discovered a nice sunset but unfortunately not in a great place to view.





Oh, OK - they've come out a bit washed out. A bit like dinner; not as nice as the previous night.



Breakfast - sorry I can't rotate this pic for some reason.

Quiche, bread n' stuff and crepes. Also not as nice as yesterday's.





Time to leave. One thing is obvious - they have and are still building a LOT of new accommodation in Khuzhir. All homestay/shared facilities type stuff as far as I can see. This is a big complex of buildings, 4 rooms to an building, shared facilities.



The road to the ferry is pretty desolate. Just the odd village and cow.

 

[RooFlyer]

Looking south towards the mainland where the ferry docks



Being Sunday, with less traffic, they are using the small ferry (on the right) and its not running continuously. Maybe every 30 mins or so.



Quite a different experience from when we came over!


Sigh. Not a seal in sight.



We just get cows.

 

[RooFlyer]

The second object of this trip was to see the Siberian taiga forest in Autumn. Can tick that one off! These are mostly larch (and green pines); birch is also present in places and is a brighter yellow. Larch forests they call 'light taiga' - as more light penetrates due to the needles of the larch. Birch forest is 'dark taiga' as the leaves make the forest floor quite dark.

 

[RooFlyer]

Choice of dinner venue tonight.

Do I 'go the pies' or something more local?

 

[kermatu]

Do I 'go the pies' or something more local?

C'arn the Blues.

Whoops. Did I stupidly say that aloud?

Amazing TR RooFlyer. Wonderful experience.

 

[RooFlyer]

No, I went local of course. The pies are actually called 'pirogi' in that sign (my Russian is improving!). Something different, so who knows what they serve. But I'd like to try before I leave.

I was a fan of the 'Soviet cafe' in St Petersburg when I visited, so 'Rassolnic' here was a natural. Both play of the old Soviet dining experience and foods. Very Retro.

First down some steep steps to the basement



Décor was basic; best was around the corner in the other part of the restaurant. The foreigners seemed to be put where I was - I guess the waitresses, with English, can serve them better that way.





The table next door ordered an urn of tea with a thick sock on the top.



There were two menus, in English. One traditional Soviet fare, the other modern with 'farm fresh' ingredients.

Chick-pea puree with the bread. The wine list by the glass was basic (this is the same everywhere I've been here, so far). I chose a glass of Crimean 'semi sweet' white; tasted like hock and was forgettable.



From the Soviet menu I chose borscht to start with, and it was very good.



Roast and spiced duck leg with mash from the modern menu wasn't entirely Russian, but very nice nonetheless.



Had to have some pud. Siberian apples with honey and cream. Yum!

 

[wandering_fred]

Great report.
Interesting to note the double windows on the "traditional" houses in the city.... Maybe there is a colder season?
Just wandering
Fred

 

[RooFlyer]

Another beautiful morning in Irkutsk. Waiting to leave for trip West to Arshan hot springs. ( No, this isn't me)

 

[craven morehead]

Another beautiful morning in Irkutsk. Washing to leave for trip West to Arshan hot springs. ( No, this isn't me)

View attachment 138579

BearFlyer now is it ??

 

[RooFlyer]

Lying on my ( now) self made bed in our somewhat chaotic accommodation at Arshan after a dining 'experience', waiting for the room to be made up ( fail) I'll try to recount today's fabulous drive west while battling dodgy phone keyboard.



We drove on a good highway South East through glorious autumnal forests to the southern end of Lake Baikal. It was another superb day.

On this tour I was joined by a lovely Aussie couple, both very experienced travellers and they like me were russophiles. Great company.


Sorry this is hopeless on the dodgy keyboard. Will have to wait till I get laptop or can fix the phone.

 

[RooFlyer]

Still seeing some quaint architecture



We were heading for a small diversion in the schedule, to the town of Slyudyanka, were I wanted to visit a private minerals museum.

We eventually found it, and after some effort, got the attention of the owner, who let us in.



Quite a nice display, not spectacularly presented, but there were some very rare minerals on display, some unique to Siberia.

Like Charolite, only found in one location in Siberia and only described in 1978.



Other displays were OK.









There was a shop of course and I finally got my Baikal seal - in Charolite (not shown, but like these). Very happy.



I couldn't help notice that there were lots of big pieces of a mineral generally called mica. ( Forms in rocky 'books' of very thin transparent sheets.)



Guess what. 'Slyudyanka' means 'mica-town'.

 

[RooFlyer]

Also in Slyudyanka is the eastern Siberia railway museum, which the other couple, being train enthusiasts, were keen to visit.

Turned out not to be a rolling stock exhibit which is what we were expecting, but more of photos and the like in this building.



I'm posting these probably for the possible interest of @BAM1748 more then anything else . Can't add much context, sorry.

This was our host. We got the impression he didn't get many actual visitors ( the museum is a small building stuck down a lane in amongst various railway sheds and other buildings). Hard to get him to stop going into excruciating detail ( in Russian) at every panel!



The reason we had to put on these protective booties was unclear. It was just a plain linoleum floor!



Lots of pics of old rolling stock, workers, tunnels etc









Can't get the politics out of course





From the war

 

[RooFlyer]

Driving away from the museum we spotted an engine, after all. Speculate that the round building is a water tower?



The Trans Siberian railway guess though here of course - in fact an old and new route, which are both still used. A magnet for rail buffs.

A great innovation at a level crossing of the TSR. A metal flap pivots up in the road, making it impossible for cars to go ahead with the boom down.

Stop



Go



Petrol station coffee machines make decent coffee and you can even get a flat white !



An orthodox Christian grave yard on what is thought to be an ancient Mongolian burial mound. Armies of Genghis Khan came through here.

 

[OATEK]

Driving away from the museum we spotted an engine, after all. Speculate that the round building is a water tower?

View attachment 138818

The Trans Siberian railway guess though here of course - in fact an old and new route, which are both still used. A magnet for rail buffs.

Thanks for that pic - looks like an FD class 2-10-0 and would have been quite a site when in full flight!

 

[RooFlyer]

The Tunka valley is a West East feature bounded by the Harmadabun and Sayami mountain ranges which get up to 2500m . Permanent snow on the former. We are headed for Arshan, at the foot of the Sayami mountains.

The mountains are covered in larch, all of which have turned a brilliant yellow ( but this doesn't come out well in my phone pics, what is what I'm using at the moment).



The road is good and uncrowded, and our petite guide used her lead foot.



Several very picturesque villages along the way.

 

[RooFlyer]

Thanks for that pic - looks like an FD class 2-10-0 and would have been quite a site when in full flight!

Oh, are you a railway-phile too? That post is dedicated to you too. The couple I am travelling with do railway trips all over the place. They are doing Irkutsk to Beijing on the TRS next.

 

[RooFlyer]

We turned north to hear towards Arshan at the foot of this range.









Then we turned off the road for 27 km of dirt road to get to something unique.

In the middle of nowhere, a large cross of microwave receivers - a solar observatory run by the Russian Science Academy.