Southeastern Siberia

The road to Ulan Ude was our first fully paved road in Russia. It was refreshing. The weather also turned cooler and we ran into some rain. There were a few Russian army bases on the way. On the left, a happy dog in a army truck

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.

Visiting Russian tourists from Ulan Ude trying Monica's bike for size. Friendly and curious.

The sandy beach along our campsite. The Russians love their camping. They even set up makeshift saunas along the beach.

The beach.

Russian fishermen out setting up their nets.

They were up early, collected their nets, and left us a bunch of fish for breakfast. Very friendly and hospitable.

Russian tourists and the village in the background.

Setting up for the return trip to Ulan Ude, and down into Mongolia.

Ulan Ude. Tomorrow we're off to Mongolia.