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Published: August 9th 2011
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Danny and the giant Lenin head in Ulan UdeAfter short night in Irkutsk we took an early train to Ulan Ude – the idea was to go during daytime in order to enjoy the scenic ride along the southern coast of Lake Baikal. The weather didn’t seem to agree with our plan – it was cloudy, at times rainy, so you could see at most the first 100m into the lake… so Danny was reading, I rested my eyes a bit 😊 Once in Ulan Ude we tried to walk to the hostel, I had more or less a clue where it was , but not exactly, so we got kinda lost. Asking people didn’t help much either, the street was so small, nobody knew where it was 😊 so we walked, walked until Danny decided to pull out his blackberry to look up their phone number – one street away from the hostel 😊
Ulan Ude is the capital of Buryatiya which is to 30%!c(MISSING)omprised of Buryat people, ethnically Mongol people like the Tuvan, however their language differs quite a bit. Ulan
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The fountain and me Ude has roughly 400’000 inhabitants – like in previous smaller cities I’ve visited in Russia, the city center is quite modern and well-maintained. The city center is built on a hill with the main square, the huge Lenin head and the government buildings on the upper part of the hill and the pedestrian/shopping/market area on the lower part. After a few hours walking around, I think we discovered most of Ulan Ude’s main sights.
The next day, we went on the search for what is called the center of Siberia’s Buddhism – Ivolginsk Datsan, a complex comprising different temples as well as a Buddhist university roughly 20km outside of Ulan Ude. Getting out there made me realize once again how convenient it is to speak/understand Russian. Danny and I got to the place from where marshrutka 130 is supposed to leave for Ivolga, the town close to the Datsan. We asked the first driver whether he drives there, he confirmed but his marshrutka was already full. About to walk away and look for another one, some other guy comes along and points us to some other minibus that apparently is the next one to drive there [indeed, he left
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Ivolginsk Datsan even before the one that was already full] – a phenomenon that can be observed frequently in Russia – also if you ask someone on the street for directions, if they don’t know it themselves, they just ask the next person passing by. You just need to make the first step of asking someone or knowing at least roughly where to go and the rest will be done for you 😊 In the bus I overheard some Russians who were also heading for the Datsan, so once in Ivolga I let those guys discuss with the driver how to get to the Datsan and then just follow them 😊 In the evening Danny commented: “was quite easy to get out to the Datsan today” – well, yes, if you speak and understand Russian I agree – I would have liked to see him get there so easily, though 😉
At the Datsan we were trying to get a tour in English – the only guy who speaks English there obviously wasn’t around, so we followed the Russian tour. At that moment I wished I understood more Russian 😉 It definitely was an inspiration to read more about Buddhism and
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Sunrise in Chita another experience of Russia’s diversity. Our visit probably has to be classified as touristic; however overhearing two women in the marshrutka on the way back to Ulan Ude, Buryats seem to go the Datsan to seek advice from the Lama. I didn’t quite grasp the woman’s problem, but apparently she was recommended to go to some “place of energy’’ in the west of Ulan Ude in order to solve her issues – so the two ladies were brainstorming the places they know in order to find the right one. The woman with the problem also mentioned that she has already been to the Shaman and he told her something similar. It seems like the Buryats have the same approach as the Tuvans: Buddhism and Shamanism can without any problems coexist.
The next day we caught the overnight train to Chita. We arrived at 7am, stored our luggage at the train station and started walking around the city in the company of a beautiful sunrise. After a not-so-relaxing night in the train, 2h of walking already tired us, so we tried to find a café to have some breakfast
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Sunrise in Chita – easier said than done 😊 Most of the places in Russia don’t open before noon and the only more or less European looking place decided to be exceptionally closed on that day. Eventually, after probably like 30 – 45min walking around we found a place who would sell us some coffee and breakfast 😉
Chita at first was a silver mining city before it became a major place to send people to exile to. It’s known to be one of the roughest cities to live in in Russia . The city started prospering thanks to the efforts of the Decembrists wives. They followed many of their husbands & lovers who were sent to Chita to support them and fight for their freedom. Now Chita is a city of approximately 400’000 inhabitants – the city center is nice, but rather small. So Danny and I decided to use the afternoon for buying stamps, going to the hairdresser, relaxing in the park …
Around 5pm we met Anton, our ‘host’ in Chita. He a musician in the army and he loves Irish music [he always seems to have at least one instrument in this bag
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Anton and me – the first sample we got was with his German flute]. So he immediately liked Danny 😊 Since Anton’s couch is currently occupied by his brother – Anton , Anton’s friend was ready to host us. He was supposed to join us in an hour, so we decided to go for a beer – an hour became a few, so did the beer. Time is a relative term in Russia ! Anton originally is a history teacher, however teaching in Russia is extremely badly paid, that’s why he does the job he does even though he doesn’t seem to love the army very much. Judging from the expression in his eyes, it’s not a place that is very good for him . Once Anton picked us up with his car we drove up some hill on the other side of the river from where you have a beautiful view over the city – after that we enjoyed an absolutely delicious dinner. Back at Anton ’s apartment I was very much looking forward to
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Enjoying the view: Dima and Jerik a shower
– after a couple of cities with no hot water, in Krasnoyarsk no cold water, Chita won the competition with no water at all 😊 oh well…
The next day, we packed a tent and our sleeping bags and left for Alkhanai –a village, a national park, a mountain and a place of energy for Buddhists/Shamanists – Danny and I weren’t quite sure what to expect, but judging from both Antons’ excitement we assumed it must be amazing there 😊 Outside of Chita, Jerik and Masha joined us for the trip. Apart from the beautiful nature two things caught my attention on the way there: Firstly, a street sign indicating the distances to the next big cities – to the east 2165km to Khabarovsk 😊 Secondly, Anton was driving quite quickly, so we got stopped by the police – he was 40km/h over the speed limit . For like 5 to 10min he was outside talking with the policeman – he came back, apparently he paid 300 roubles [roughly Photo 30
The big gate... 10CHF] and that’s it – I didn’t know that bribing the police was that cheap in Russia 😉
Once we arrived in the Alkhanai National Park – we built up the tent. Before going for the big walk we, however, needed to have a little snack and apparently a little shot . Arrived at the foot of the Alkhanai mountain we made another stop to eat По́зы, a traditional Buryat dish. We definitely didn’t lack in food, especially По́зы, those two days 😉 Then we actually started walking up the hill along the Buddhist trail. On the first peak we enjoyed the first amazing panorama from Alkhanai and Danny realized that he should have spent more time in the gym this summer 😉 The track led us to different points of energy, springs, and other important places for Buddhists. I mostly enjoyed the beauty of nature. Anton is Buddhist himself, so for him this trip had also a spiritual
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enjoy... purpose – he seemed to recharge his batteries to cope with everyday life in the army. Clearly he wanted to show Danny and myself Alkhanai, but this trip was probably more important for him – have a break from life somehow. I also asked the others whether they were Buddhists – their answer was “well, a little bit” – in the sense that they aren’t really Buddhists, but they acknowledge that they live on their soil, so they have to accept and respect their philosophies. If only everyone had the same approach on this earth… After roughly 5 hours up and down the hills , we got back to the main valley where we all enjoyed a quick dive in what is called Arzhaan before heading back to our tent and another По́зы dinner. Arzhaan is a mineral spring – originally it means holy or healing water. So in summer, Buryats, but also Tuvans for example, try to spend their holidays at an Arzhaan in order to remain healthy and strong for the upcoming year.
The next morning we woke up with raindrops falling on our tent. We were extremely happy to have done the trail already. We packed
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Birds giving away Lenin's true identity? our stuff together and on the way back to Chita, we passed by Aginskoe where we visited another Buddhist Datsan. Sunday was leaving day: Danny left at 9am to go back to Irkutsk to catch the plane to Switzerland; I left at 6pm direction Blagoveshchensk.
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Lee
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Ulan Ude (That is one big Lenin head)
I loved Ulan Ude but maybe because I got off the 3rd class train from Moscow happy to feel the ground again. My former English student helped me at the hotel. I was splurging after the long train ride (I stayed at hostels all the rest of the my month-long trip). 1200 rubles. No way, I told my friend, tell her 900. I went to the travel agency in the lobby to ask about cheaper quarters. She said 1000, my friend told me. I must have taken too long because it went up to 1100 when I got back to the front desk. Okay, I said, since my friend was trying to pay the 100. I wanted to stay a second day so I went to the desk. Tell the lady I won't stay unless I get a reduced rate. The woman (a different one) said "What about no phone - no TV?" "That's fine," I said. 700. Okay! They made a big deal about moving me to a different room which was exactly the same with a phone and TV in the room. It made no sense but came out to 900 a night. I slept well.