The most beautiful place I have ever been
Trip Start
Aug 10, 2008
1
8
59
Trip End
Ongoing
Where I stayed
Olkhon,
Siberia,
Russian Federation
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Day 1
In the morning we took a minibus to Olkhon Island on lake Baikal, which took around 8 hours including a ferry crossing. It would have been a bit quicker but we waited around an hour for the ferry to be fixed before we could get to the island. It was to be the most beautiful places I've ever seen. There are many facts about Lake Baikal but I'll just you that it is the world's deepest lake with 1/3 of the worlds unfrozen fresh water, and almost the size of the UK. Olkhon, where we stayed is the lake's largest island and is famous as 1 of the 5 global poles of Shamanic energy. It has a small population of around 1500 people and only got an electricity supply very recently in 2005.
We stayed in Nikita's guest house in Khuzhir, which also doubles as a tourist information centre and tour agency. It's a complex of wooden cabins and almost has a hippy feel to it. There is no water supply (as with the rest of the island) and they use environmentally friendly bio toilets. For showering, you have a choice of using cold water from a container with a foot pump to force it through a shower hose, or a much nicer option of the bathhouse and banya where you have hot water from a heater that you mix in a separate bowl with cold water from another container and ladle it over yourself with a long-handled saucepan. The bathhouse is heated and with the banya next door it's actually a nice experience. I paid 750 roubles (approximately £16) per night and that covered the accommodation (sharing a twin room), plus 3 good meals a day.
The first night was a good welcome, after dinner there was traditional Russian folk singing, with Nikita on an accordion and two women singing. After the singing, some of the guests continued the music with a guy on guitar, and another on the piano, impressing us all, that they could jam so well after just meeting each other and without any preparation. That night I also met up with the two German guys I'd met before at the hostel in Moscow and they told me their stories of getting lost on the island, seeing dogs shot dead for no reason and their exploits with some Russian hunters!
Day 2
Today we took a trip out in a minibus to explore the island. The driver took us to various beautiful spots around the coastline including Cape Khoboy, on the Northern tip of the island. Around the places that we saw were lots of different stories and traditions such as one part with two large rocks that was said to have strong energy for fertility. You should leave gifts (usually a coin) on the right hand rock if you would like a girl, and on the left if you want a boy. Apparently it's ok to 'invest for the future' so I left a coin on both just in case! Other places were good spots for energy and health and I really did feel amazing standing or sitting up on the rocks and looking out the lake. It's so blue, beautiful and vast it looks like a sea and spreads much further than your eyes can see. I felt both energised and at peace here - I really have never seen anything like it. We stopped at Cape Khoboy for lunch and our driver cooked up a delicious fish soup over a campfire which we ate with bread, salad, biscuits and black tea.
When we returned I took a quick trip the the only internet café on the island - one computer in a ger in a family's garden, with a young boy running it. The town is small but lovely, with cows walking randomly among the houses, just a couple of small food shops, and men herding cattle across the fields. There now seems to be a number of new constructions. I'm not sure whether they are for normal residents of just holiday homes, but it would be a shame to see too much done here. At the moment it is perfect, I hope it doesn't change too much. The beauty of the place is that it's so cut off and self-sufficient. Apparently during the war they weren't effected by the foot shortages and problems because they had everything they needed. I would love to come back to this place - and maybe in winter, when the whole lake freezes and you can drive across to the island. We saw some photos and it looks like another world.
We had a quiet evening, as everyone abandoned the canteen when a pianist asked for money to perform. I had a quick spell in the Banya and an early night.
Day 3
This morning we tried to find some mountain bikes to hire, but no-one was around (you seem to just have to be lucky to find places open - people work when it suits them), so instead we went for a walk around the Shaman Rocks along the coast near the guest house. There was a beautiful bay there and I braved the water for a dip - I think it was around 10 degrees and although I was only in for a few moments it's said to addd 10 years to your life! We also wrote out our names in rocks on one of the hills and was I was pestered by a very sweet but annoying stray dog up there that wouldn't leave me alone and was trying to hump my leg - I ever had to drag it behind me as a walked.
After lunch we were more successful with the mountain bikes and hired them for 4 hours - a good amount of time to explore around town, going up to the little chapel where they have to have a barrier across the entrance to stop the cows, past the school, a car graveyard and to some of the new builds. I was knackered by the end, and fell off once when I skidded in the sand but I loved it.
That evening, we had another good night with a very international group of people, some polish sailor songs and guitar, and a few beers and vodka. At one point we had ran out of drinks and snacks so Damian went with one of the Russian guys to find some - the shop was shut but they knocked door to door and brought some that way!
We left the next morning by minibus and I slept much of the way because I was so tired from thee night before. It was sad to leave this place, I could have easily stayed longer but had already booked my train for the evening.
