We had hoped to spend this winter break with Sarah’s parents, who celebrated their 50th anniversary at the end of December, but as with many plans this year, Covid forced us to revise our plans. Our HR told us if we leave Russia, we will not be allowed to return, so we decided to venture with our ISK friends Jen and Chris to Lake Baikal. We wanted to go somewhere uncrowded with outdoor points of interest so Siberia, with 1.5 people per square kilometer and picturesque Lake Baikal, seemed to be the perfect destination for a socially-distant vacation. Being the off-season and due to international travel restrictions, it was quite empty in the places we visited.

Irkutsk

We flew into Irkutsk on a red-eye and had a brief jaunt into the city, strolling along the river and stopping for a bite in the small pedestrian area 130 Kvartal. We watched some guys carving ice sculptures with hand tools and chainsaws and then walked back to the hotel. On the way, we stumbled upon a small ice park with impressive sculptures and an ice slide.

Arshan and Zhemchug

On our first full day, we went on a tour from Irkutsk to the west into the region of Buryatia near the Mongolian border with our guide Yulia. She led us to the remote site of an observatory that researches deep space and the sun. The deep space telescope area was closed to the public, but we were able to walk along the rows of solar satellites while Simon pretended he was in Spies Like Us. Those that were active made a quiet clicking noise as they tracked the sun.

Our guide told us this area has 300 days a year of clear skies. Despite the odds, we got a snowy day, which was beautiful but obscured most views of the mountains. We spent the ride scratching ice off the windows to catch glimpses of cows, horses, and villages as we passed by.

We hiked to a frozen waterfall past trees tied with ribbons and a Buddhist sanctuary near mineral springs whose waters are reputed to heal eyes. The tying of colorful ribbons dates back to shamanic religious rites in this region. The more modern Buddhist practices of the Buryat people have integrated this tradition. Both Shamanic and Buddhist religions are still practiced in the region today. Throughout our trip, we saw colorful ribbons tied at spiritually significant landmarks along with offerings of rice, change, cigarettes, etc. The beginning of the trail was lined with mostly vacant merchant booths, but a few locals were selling Mongolian wool items, medicinal herbs, and other souvenirs. Simon bought some larch tree “gum” which we sampled. It tasted like the forest (not in a good way).

We ended the day with a quick soak in some hot springs in Zhemchug before a long snowy drive back to the hotel.

Olkhon Island

The next day we left for a tour of Olkhon Island. The drive to the ferry from Irkutsk offered a variety of landscapes and microclimates. Some areas were snow-covered and others drier and windier, which provides an ideal environment for year-round cattle grazing. The Buryat people were historically nomadic and depended on meat and dairy for all of their dietary needs. The only plants in their diet are the ones that occur naturally in this harsh environment. We stopped along the way to see some petroglyphs. While we waited for the ferry to the island, we checked out some cool ice formations in the bay.

Olkhon Island (population 2000) is the only inhabited island in Lake Baikal. There are no paved roads and electricity just arrived in 2008. We got to our hotel in the evening after an hour of bumpy travel from the ferry. After a relaxing evening, we met Yulia and a new driver with a new vehicle that was better equipped to handle the terrain. Most of the island is part of a national park. During our day-long trip around the island, we saw about five other people. Yellowstone this ain’t 🙂 Our driver served us a homemade lunch of rice and omul (a fish endemic to Lake Baikal) accompanied by homemade pickles and blini with jam.

We neglected to take a picture of the three-legged dog Vera at our lodge on Olkhon, who befriended the kids. When Mila reminisced about her favorite parts of our trip, the dog made the cut and we regretted not getting a photo. Mila’s teacher Ms. Kelly saved the day by sending us a video when she visited Olkhon a few days after we left.

Listvyanka

We rented a home in Listvyanka for Christmas so that we could all be together Christmas morning and cook dinner together in the evening. It was the first time in Sarah’s life that she has been away from her family for Christmas and the first time as well for the kids. We missed all our past family traditions but did get to Zoom with them after a brief wifi-outage scare.
We had quite the memorable Christmas experience dog-sledding and literally dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh! When we arrived the dogs were tethered to the sleds and the air was full of snowflakes and excited dog barks. We had three teams of dogs as well as a horse and a sleigh. The mushers spoke calmly and kindly to the dogs telling them:
молодцы (good job) налево (to the left) направо (to the right) Давайте (let’s go)
Chris, Jen, and Sarah rode the dog sleds out while the kids rode on the sleigh with Simon. We stopped after about a half-hour in a clearing in the forest and visited with the animals, played in the snow, and warmed up by the fire as we waited for our guides to cook us lunch. The lunch was a delicious feast of campfire-cooked pelmeni with broth, homemade bread, and a delicious dessert served with a hot cup of Siberian herbal tea. On the ride back, Simon and Mila shared a dog sled, and Alden and Sarah rode on the other dog sleds. Mila giggled the whole way back as you can see in the short video our friend Jen captured as they passed.

Later in the day, the adults went for a short walk in town, checking out beautiful icicle formations along the piers. The sunset over the lake was quite stunning. Simon got to sample some more omul (this time cold-smoked) as well as a strange little fish called golomyanka (or Baikal oilfish), which has no noticeable bones and extremely high oil content. It tasted like fish butter.

Trans-Siberian

We had considered returning from Irkutsk to Kazan via the Trans-Siberian Railway, but after some research decided that the stretch heading east from Irkutsk to Ulan-Ude seemed to be the way to go. We were not disappointed as most of the 7-hour trip hugged the lake. We upgraded to first-class to ensure we would have our own compartments and enjoyed our comfy cabins with two beds and a small table. We enjoyed reading, gazing out the window at the slushy, lapping lake water, and sipping tea as we chugged along.

Ulan-Ude

Throughout the trip, we were checking the forecast, nervously anticipating the arrival of COLD weather. It was quite cold during the first week of our trip but, it wasn’t until we arrived in Ulan Ude that the real cold arrived. It was around -20 degrees Fahrenheit (for a high), with our last day reaching a snot-freezing, eyelash-icicle forming -25 degrees.

On our first day in Ulan Ude, we took a tour to Ivolginsky Datsan, the oldest Buddhist Datsan in Russia. Though Buddhism has been practiced in Siberia for hundreds of years, all religious activity was suppressed during the days of the Soviet Union and all Datsans were closed by 1917, with many monks and practicing Buddhists arrested, killed, or exiled. In 1945, Stalin permitted the Ivolginsky Datsan to be built and it has continued to expand, now housing a monastic center and university.

In 1927, Lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov told his students to chant for his death, bury him, and check on his body in 30 years. He sat in the lotus position, chanted, and died while meditating. His students followed his instructions and when he was exhumed, they found his body had no signs of decay or decomposition. He was reburied and in 2002 his body was exhumed again and transferred to the Datsan where it was examined by monks, scientists, and pathologists, who again confirmed that his body was remarkably well-preserved. His body is still in the lotus position, on view in one of the temples of the Datsan.

After the Datsan, we stopped in Tarbagatay, one of the largest surviving communities of Old-Believers. The Old-Believers were a sect of Christians that split from the Russian Orthodox church in the 17th century. Many of them left the country at that time. In the 1700s, Catherine the Great allowed them to come back — to Siberia. After a quick outdoor tour of their property (it was REALLY cold), we enjoyed lunch and a performance of traditional songs. The traditional costumes are colorful and the songs were beautifully harmonized. They also performed a wedding ceremony, dressing up our friend Jen as the bride and a young Indian engineer from a separate group as the groom. Ulan Ude is home to a major helicopter manufacturing facility. Our new Indian friends have been stationed in Ulan Ude for two months as part of a helicopter tech program.

On our final day in Ulan Ude, we relaxed in the hotel and then ventured out in the frigid temps to check out one of Ulan-Ude’s claims to fame- the largest Lenin head in the world. It is 25 feet tall and looked to be wearing a kippa due to the layer of snow resting atop his head. Apparently, for this reason, the locals call it the “world’s biggest Jewish head.” The kids enjoyed sliding down the giant ice slides in the central square set amongst beautiful ice carvings. We could only last about 20 minutes before we were all too cold and headed off to our final dinner at a fancy Buryatian restaurant where we sampled among other things yak tartar and tarasun which is a liquor made from fermented milk that has been used for centuries in Buryatian religious ceremonies. It tasted like stinky cheese. During dinner, one of our Indian friends happened to wander into the bar of the restaurant where we were dining. He was extremely happy to see us and kept buying us shots of vodka throughout the evening. Jen’s groom from the previous day also made an appearance. It made for a fun ending to a memorable trip.