Near Ulan Ude, passing through a nicely painted Russian village, neat as a pin!
The mall, Ulan Ude. It is the capital of Buryatiya with a population of 380,000. Cradled attractively in rolling hills, it is one of the most likable cities in eastern Siberia, and a sensible staging post for visiting Mongolia or eastern Lake Baikal.
The Buryyats are a Mongol people who comprise 30% of Buryatiya's population and practice a Tibetan form of Buddhism. There language is Turkic, but almost everyone speaks Russian.
Even after the fall of communism, Lenin is still an important figure.This statue is in downtown Ulan Ude.
Readying to leave the Hotel Ayan, Ulan Ude, for Lake Baikal. Nice place, friendly, and very reasonable.
Logging truck on the way to Lake Baikal.
Arrival, eastern shore of Lake Baikal. It was a beautiful day, and the road was mixed, gravel and paved.
Lake Baikal is 636 kms. long, 1637m deep, and contains 1/5 of the worlds unfrozen fresh water, more than all of the Great Lakes combined! The water is pure enough to drink.
Sunset, half way up the eastern shore of the lake near the village of Maksimikha. We camped here for a couple of days.
Buying food in the village. Things were readily available, beer and liquor dirt cheap.
Nicely maintained wooden village home.
One of our campsites, among the trees along the shore.