Day 3 Part 1 Khuzhir

---

The journey to Olkhon is not a short one.

Thanks to our host, we had tickets reserved and only had to show up at a bus stop by the Central Market. The market is awash with strawberries - apparently, the climate in that area is favorable for growing strawberries, so there is plenty of them. Of course I had to run and get some - and by the time I was done, our mini-bus, or marshrutka (coming from the word marshrut - route) was there. We ended up at the back row, cramped and uncomfortable, so the ride seemed to last ages. We stopped after 2 hours at a road-side cafe and ate some pozy - Buryat dish, a large dumpling filled with minced beef or lamb. Usually two or three of those thing are enough to feel full.

After another 2 hours we reached a ferry crossing. There are two ferries, and a huge queue of cars, but the transport company that owned our bus had a smarter idea. Instead of spending hours in line, we got off the bus, got on a ferry (no queue for pedestrians) and simply got on another bus of the same company on the other side. The crossing itself only takes 10 - 15 minutes and it gave us a first proper look at Baikal lake. The channel between the mainland and the Olkhon is called Maloye more, or Small sea and it does look like sea - from clear blue-green water to huge waves crashing onto the shore.

After reaching Olkhon, it was another hour on unpaved and bumpy road to a village called Huzhir - the administrative centre of Olkhon and is one of five villages on Olkhon. There are around 1,500 people living on the island, most of them Buryats, and 1,200 of them live in Khuzhir. The village is doing its best to adapt to the inflow of tourists, many of them foreign - locals build little houses within their land plots and rent them out, or simply let rooms in their own houses to tourists. They offer services of banya (Russian-style sauna) and sell fish.

Now the fish deserves a special mention. It is called omul, or Baikal omul, endemic to Baikal and is considered a delicacy. It's a whitefish of the salmon family. Every ten meters there are kiosks selling omul - cold-smoked, hot-smoked (my favorite), dried and salted. Every restaurant and cafe serves omul dishes and many local people advertise on their houses that they sell fish. I believe that Khuzhir was actually founded around a fish factory, set up during WW2. We ate the fish every chance we got, unfortunately the hot-smoked kind wouldn't survive the journey home.

---

Comments

[Gaye Kelly]

Baikal
Thanks for the pictures and descriptions of the countryside and life there. It's fun to see what you are doing and learning about that part of the world. Love, Grandma

[Colleen]

Good show!
I want some of that omul!