The World Is A Book...: A (Very) Quick Dip Into Lake Baikal...

So, after a minor Mongolian visa confusion, here we are at the pretty little. ullage of Gremyachinsk, on Eastern Lake Baikal. I mentioned twice before that this is the world's deepest lake- but get ready for how deep it actually is...1673m at its deepest point! Patrick read in the LP that divers get vertigo because of the distance beneath them as well as above. Can you imagine how I would react to that! I think a quick dip in its 15 degree Celsius waters is quite enough for me!

Now, you all know that Patrick and I are independent souls who try to avoid using any tour operators, preferring to figure things out for ourselves. However, there are times when it is just unavoidable... and a nice respite! We originally went to Baikal Nadan Tours to arrange our bus to Mongolia...only for them to drop the bombshell that Mongolian visas could not be obtained on arrival, as we'd originally thought, but had to be obtained beforehand. Good job Lake Baikal was around the corner- an excellent Plan B! Lonely Planet had let us down with visa advice, but it did make the great suggestion that Baikal Nadan Tours could arrange homestays by the lake. So, after a long afternoon of booking, booking, booking, we had instructions to catch the bus to Gremyachinsk first thing in the morning, get the bus driver to drop us off at the right spot, buy return tickets to Ulan- Ude with a lady whose only other language was French, AND try to find our lakeside lodge with just the written (Russian) address for guidance. Not asking much from us, then...

Well, thanks to the tour company writing most of our demands in Russian on handy cue cards (e.g. 'I ask to stop at Gremyachinsk'), we managed most of our four tasks without hitches. We found the bus stop OK, and boarded the stuffy minibus without a problem. Somehow, we ended up outside the house of the French- speaking Russian lady, called Olga, and scraped together school-standard French to converse with her, find out the name of her dog (Marsha), and get directions to the lodge. Funny what you remember after finishing French lessons 11 years ago! We even found out her previous profession- a French professor in Ulan-Ude- and the population of Gremyachinsk- around 500-800 people.

Speaking of Gremyachinsk, it was tres interesant to walk around a tiny lakeside Russian village. We were surrounded by inflated doll's houses- complete with bright blue window fittings- made from logs...or was it gingerbread? I kept looking on the ground to find the crumbs that Hansel and Gretal had left behind! Anyway, we seemed to be the only tourists thrown into this fairy-tale...only the sunshine seemed to be on our path. No crumbs, sadly.

After some 'cafes' at Olga's own doll's house, we followed the instructions- 'droit a l'ecole, et tout droit'- to find our way to the lake. Two older Russian-men in flat caps helped us make head or tail of the address...and soon we were approaching the blue-roofed lodge itself. Blue seems to be the theme of this village...the Russian ladies in charge are all wearing blue overalls. One such lady greeted us at the door, and got the help of an English- speaking Russian guest to translate everything we needed to know for our stay. Within seconds of entering the lodge, we were even offered 'omur'- a salmon-style fish unique to Lake Baikal.

Though there is no mutual language between us, the staff seem to know exactly what we want! Patrick had mentioned that he fancied a boat ride across the lake...and lo and behold, they offered us a ride in a boat without us even asking! It took a few actions and translators to realize what they were offering, but before we knew it, we were in a rowing boat with a Gremyachinsk local, heading out towards the river that feeds into the lake. He tried to show us the omur jumping out of the water, but my rubbish eyesight was having none of it! We looked out for the freshwater seals that reside in the lake too, but sadly to no avail...maybe better luck today. After a tiring journey back against the wind for the poor Russian rower, we swapped into his topless fisherman friend's motor boat back to our lodge. Russian men sure love to be topless, that's for sure...I'm impressed he could handle it in the lakeside chill!

Speaking of the lakeside chill, no visit to a lake would be complete without a dip inside. We didn't venture in until after 5pm- not even when some Russian ten-year-olds (some of who were smoking!) tried to lure us in by jumping off the dock. How was it? Bloody cold...but not as cold as we'd imagined! Definitely not lingering temperature...more of a yelp-inducing, quick in-out kind of temperature. We felt great afterwards though...and we'll have to head in today as well, seeing as its our only washing facility!

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So, those were my thoughts on Russia's 'Great Lake'. We didn't end up trying 'omur'...maybe on the way back from Mongolia! We had a lovely send-off from the blue overalled ladies...they loved looking at my home pictures! Patrick and I gave them British, Fijian (it helped to explain what Fiji was!) and Canadian coins...the ladies found it hilarious that 'looney' and 'tooney' sounded the same! One of the ladies, the one with long grey hairs coming out of her chin, asked if the bear on the 'tooney' was a grizzly. When Patrick tried to explain 'polar bear', she said 'Oh. Snow bear!'.

Tomorrow we head to Ulaanbatar, the capital of Mongolia. I'm already intrigued by Mongolia...itself and Russia have had more of an impact on each other than I'd ever imagined. Ulaanbator is actually a Soviet name chosen in 1927, meaning 'Red Hero'...if you see the name as Ulan-Bator instead, you will see the similarity to Ulan-Ude. Most interestingly of all, after a Soviet influence for many years, Mongolians still use Cyrillic for their written language. Am very excited to see what else these countries have in common- and indeed, their many differences. Watch out Mongolia, Pat and Jen are a-coming'!.....