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Published: August 2nd 2018
We arrived in Ulan Ude at 9-30am We were taken straight to a local hotel and allowed an hour there to have a shower and be ready for the day. Then it was off on a city tour. Ulan Ude is the capital of the Buryat Republic of Russia. It is one of three mainly Buddhist Republics and was originally settled by nomadic Mongols. So this has an Asian flavour but overdressed with Russian influence. This was clearly seen in our first stop at the city square. This square is dominated by a huge head of Lenin, the largest in the world. Surrounding the square are various public buildings, all built in the soviet style. It is a large space and quite attractive.
We walked from there to another smaller plaza which had a dancing fountain in the middle.This was in front of an imposing Opera House. Outside of this was a statue of two dancers and we were told by our guide that they were performing a dance choreographed, locally reenacting a local legend about the two rivers which flow near here. We then entered an attractive Pedestrian Mall. This was, in the 19th Century, the home of rich
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Fletcher and I in front of Leninmerchants and many of the beautiful buildings date from that time. They are all now shops or cafes.At the head of the Mall is a statue symbolising the city with a cadeuceus, topped by the round symbol of the place and at the foot a cornucopia symbolising prosperity. Along the way there was a seated statue of Chekhov as he had visited the city and at the end another statue containing two birds.
We then drove out of the city, past a statue of a woman offering a scarf, the symbol of greeting here and stopped at Sleeping Lion mountain to gain a panoramic view over the river and the valley. It was worth the climb to the top to see the amazing vista stretched out below us. At Tarbegatay village we were welcomed warmly. This is an area where the "Old Believers" have settled and maintain their own version of Russian Orthodoxy. They practice the religion as it was befoe Peter the Great instituted reforms. We were taken into a pretty wooden complex of rooms and given a traditional lunch while our host, Boris, told us about their way of life. We had three toasts during the meal
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Buildings in the square with their version of "moonshine" which certainly had a kick to it. The food was simple but tasty and there was plenty of it. After lunch we went outside for a concert of their polyharmonic singing. They were fantastic and evidently go to choir competitions all over the world. Then they showed us the waa a young girl would be dressed in their national costume, using one of our Argentinian companions. Many layers of clothing were used. They then had a mock wedding ceremony with another of our Spanish speaking fellow travellers acting as the groom. Informative and entertaining.
After that delightful interlude we were taken to the small church in the village where the local priest explained some of the differences between their practices and those of the modern church. This included using only two fingers instead of three when they bless themselves. It seems rather a trite change to me! Across the road there was a local museum which contained a bundle of artefacts used by these farming people over the centuries.One of the reasons that these people were sent here was that Catherine the Great wanted to introduce farming to this region which was mainly occupied
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Dancing fountain by nomadic herdsmen. The room was jam packed with many displays and upstairs there was a recreation of a room in a farmhouse. All interesting but too much to take in. Having bought a small souvenir, we went back to the bus but having time to kill before we could reboard the train we looked for a cafe, but the only one in the village was closed. We drove on to a service atation and stopped as some wanted a loo stop. Fletcher came back and informed me it was only a long drop so Elizabeth and I decided to wait till we returned to the train. We were driven to a small siding to wait and soon the train arrived. There was a scramble to get aboard and we were greeted warmly by Natalia and Elena and brought a cup of coffee once on.
That night was our last on the train and so we had a farewell dinner with the best meal so far. How they manage to produce great dishes in those tiny kitchens for so many people is amazing. Our train manager came and farewelled us and thanked us for coming and we drank toasts
in good vodka. We then had to stay up till late as we were due to cross the border about 11-30pm. The Russian border guards, both women, were friendly enough and came on board and checked our passports and visas. Then we moved on to the Mongolian side. I was asleep by the time they came on board but Fletcher stayed up and said they merely glanced at the visas and went on. So farewell Russia and hello Mongolia!
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