Lake Baikal and Olkhon Island

When I booked my room for my time on Olkhon Island, I thought "come on Silke, treat yourself and get a single room". There weren't many dorm rooms anyway. So I was looking forward to a bit more privacy than before. In the morning, the bus from the luxury hostel picks me up, as well as the Bambergers and Julia, a half American/English girl. It's supposed to take 5 hours. I sit during the ride at the height of the rear wheel and end up riding for 7.5 hours with bent legs. Break? After 3 hours... Either the driver doesn't drink any fluids or he has a big bladder!!

Arriving in Khuzhir, I am taken to my guesthouse. Suddenly, the idea of treating myself quickly passes by with the rough Baikal wind...!!! Single room? Yes. Privacy? Uh, no... The house or room, made with a few pieces of wood, is noisy, the "bathroom", also put together with a few pieces of wood, is in the garden across the street and I share it with a few Chinese tourists.

But hey..., it looks nice. 😉 I think of the bus driver, who brought us to the island, and now I prefer not to drink anything anymore... The stairs are too steep to stumble to the toilet at night when half-asleep 😉

For dinner, I meet Julia. Maddin and Marina join afterwards. There is soup, fish and rice, salads and tea. Tastes good! After dinner, we take a trip to Shaman Rock. Olkhon Island is known for it. Every year, shamans from Central Asia gather here and perform their rituals. You can also find wooden beams, stones or trees covered in colorful fabric scraps all over the island. These are the spiritual, sacred sites of the shamans where they seek luck, health, etc. Many say the place is magical.

When I return to the guesthouse around midnight, I fall into bed.

The next morning, we want to take a trip to the northern tip. Igor, our driver, picks me up at 9:45 am, and then the others. There are no paved roads here, so we'll be bouncing around for the next few hours. Breathtaking views, beautiful natural landscapes, great stories and exciting overtakes by Igor, good atmosphere, nice people and lots of fun characterize the trip. For lunch, Igor cooks fish soup at a small rest stop in nature. Fish soup with crayfish. And potatoes. After a few bites, I know how it works. Just bite hard enough and swallow quickly! 😉

After more stops, dipping our feet cautiously into the currently 13-degree "warm" lake and taking great landscapes, we drive back to Khuzhir in the evening with our machine (that's what they call a car in Russian) over the sand-stone-root tracks. With good music and mood, the 1.5-hour bumpy ride flies by. It feels like flying at times too.

In the evening, after having dinner together with the Bamberg crew and Julia, we go to the banya (Russian sauna). At well over 90 degrees, we follow the Russian ritual and "hit" ourselves with cedar branches soaked in water. It's funny and makes us even more tired... But we still have enough energy for the beer afterwards on Shaman Rock. We end the great eventful day after sunset at the front of the rock, overlooking the "little sea" (the western side of Lake Baikal) and the mainland...