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Published: July 23rd 2008
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We made it to Ulan Ude promtly at 06.15am and were met on the platform by a man called Andre who we assumed was our driver. Turns out he is actually also our host at our next homestay along with his wife Svelta who was also to be our guide. We ate an early breakfast and had a nap and a shower and had to be ready for 1030 for our visits.
Ulan Ude was closed to foreigners up until 1991. Its so close to the Mongolian border that a lot of radar and military posts are based in the surrounding hills. It is also famed for having the largest Lenin bust in existence. The city has a pretty extreme temperature range from -40C in winter to +35C in summer. During the winter, the homes are heated by hot water pumped from one of 4 coal powered heating stations. This service means that you dont need to install and service your own central heating which is great for the less well off people. Although its been known for the heating stations to malfunction during winter and houses to become leathally cold. Ulan-Ude is more ethnically diverse as it is the
capital of Buryatia. The Buryat people being a nomadic ethnic group from the area with their own language, culture, music and style of dress.
On our first morning we were picked up by our driver and guide and taken to a monastery which was in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by mountains and sparse dry land. We were shown around the monastery and its museum. As was becoming a recurrent theme through our trip, the monastery had been destroyed during the Soviet era and had been rebuilt as a replica. Legend has it that the founding Lama of the monastery walked to Tibet and back bringing back artifacts with which to start the monastery.
After the monastery we were taken to a local Buryat village. We were quite surprised to be met by a beautifully dressed girl in traditional costume holding out a blue scarf and a bowl of green tea with milk which is a traditional Buryat custom. Dave received the welcome tea on behalf of the the group and we were shown to the rear of the house which had a typical Ger tent set up.
We were shown into the Ger and had
to seperate men and women with men to the left and woman on the right. It is Buryat custom to always serve the men first. As Dave had received the traditional greeting, he was also served first among the men and sat at the head of the ger! We were given some typical Buryat foods including a salad of cucumber and tomatoes, cabbage salad, unyeasted bread with a sour cream curd and then a noodle soup. We then all had a go at making our own meat dumplings which were later steamed and we had to eat them by in the traditional manner by slurping the meat juice out of the hole left in the top then eating in one. Desert was a type of dougnut dough dipped in a berry compote. During out time with the family we also had the chance to try on the traditional Buryat costumes which was pretty cool and we had lots of pictures taken inside and outside the Ger. We also played some traitional games with ankle bones. These games are still popular today as the young boy from the family eagerly joined us to play too.
We were driven back to
Inside the monastery
includes a waxwork figure of the Dali Lama the city and had some free time to have a look around before joining our family for dinner again that evening. We went to the main square and saw the giant Lenin Head and wandered down the main streets to the market.
Ulan Ude is the centre of Tibetan Bhuddism in Russia and so no vist would be complete without seeing the Ivolginsky Datsan Monastery 23km outside of the city. On our second day we drove here. There were many temples some of which are still being built and we spent some time walking around them clockwise and spinning the prayer wheels as we passed. We then went to the main temple and sat through part of a real ceremony with the monks doing their chanting ceremony, which normally lasts for hours. The chanting was also broadcast over the whole temple by loudspeaker which gave the place a really spiritual feel.
Our last afternoon involved a wander around Ulan Ude and a nice cold beer before our final meal with our host family as we were departing first thing for our Ulaan Baator (Mongolia) bound train.
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