Last stop in Russia...Ulan Ude
Trip Start
Aug 10, 2008
1
10
59
Trip End
Ongoing
Ulan-Ude,
Siberia,
Russian Federation
Monday, September 15, 2008
The journey to Ulan Ude was short, just overnight on the train and we arrived early in the morning, on this I had my first male provodnik (usually female provodnitsa). There were no hostels open at this time of year, so Damian had arranged a homestay that I managed to stay at too. It was the most I had paid for a room at 1000 roubles (approx £22) per night, but we were only there for 2 nights, it was pretty central and it included breakfast. After a shower (we had to wait over an hour for it to heat up again after the first one) we went out to explore. First to the beautiful Datson, the first time I had been to a Buddhist temple and a good place to start. We had to take two mini-vans to get there and it was right out of town, which made it very special to see the beautiful buildings with rolling hills and land all around it.
Later we explored around the city, to the trinity church and to the giant Lenin head. It's the biggest in the world and seems to change expressions and the sun moves during the day. For lunch we stumbled across a yurt in a car park and found it was a great café with traditional Mongolian food - a great find. We continued the Mongolian theme with dinner eating at a good place called World Nomads.
Day 2
Today we went to the large outdoor ethnology museum - a really interesting place with examples of different homes and cultures from Russia - including log cabins, yurts and tippees. The only bad part was the small zoo - here we saw sheep, wolves, bears, lions, eagles etc but all in bad conditions with tiny cages.
Later I went to buy my train ticket for Ulan Bator - I'll leave early the next morning on my own and Damian will also leave early for his flight home. It had been really good to travel with him and to share that part of the journey.
I had mixed feelings about leaving Russia, after 5 and a half weeks, I had gotten to know it more and felt there was lots more to explore. People had become friendlier as I headed East, and I would have liked to spend more time exploring more of the country, but at the same time I was looking forward to Mongolia and beyond - I guess if I spend too long in each place I won't get to go to as many countries!
