Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal has got to be one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Its like duh, of course, but what I mean is that the beauty is on a titanic scale.(as in titans, not the ship)

Like all things in Russia its huge. Supposedly it contains one fifth of the earths fresh water, and its crystal clear to boot. Unfortunately its also freezing cold, as I experienced first hand. I had to try it even though the Russians laughed at me.

I stayed on a small island in the lake called Oklhon or something. Its said to be one of the last places where shamanism is still a living religion. Even the bus drivers etc.. While they cross themselves passing Christian sites will stop to lay a coin on the "sacred stones" after landing on the island. It seems the general consensus is that while Siberia belongs to the Christians the lake and the island still belong to the old gods, whoever they might be. The funny thing about it is that the people here really seem to believe this, its not just some show for the tourists, as I had the misfortune to discover, but more on that later.

This is the pier where we had to wait for the ferry to the island. They only have one ferry that leisurely makes its way back and forth. The interesting thing about this picture is that the truck waiting there still has Fuji Pan all over it. That really tickled me. People are always going on about the influence of American culture, well what about the influence of Japanese trucks? I mean, this is in the absolute middle of nowhere, and yet we still have little Fuji Pan trucks parked everywhere. I saw this kind of weirdness all over Russia.

These are exmilitary vessels that are now used for fishing. I was treated to the sight of several mega macho rugged siberians cleaning their nets while rocking out to nsync and the backstreet boys. Heavy stuff.

Went swimming here, and nearly died. The water was so cold that my head still hurts just thinking about it. Furthermore I was in constant terror of getting a toe or two bitten of by a giant sturgeon or something. Those fish get to be huge, and a seriously freaky looking.


Masumi had the brilliant idea to borrow our hosts boat and row out to a distant island.(see right side) This proved to be rather perilous as we nearly tipped our boat and froze to death on several occasions, due to the extreme instability of the boat, waves, and hordes of angry gulls. It doesn't sound dangerous now, but I would dare anyone to try to swim to the shore (200-400 meters) in that water. Above is Masumi's contribution to the expedition. Below is mine.

This photo is self explanatory.

Lost on part of the island. Well sort of. Rented a bike but it kept getting stuck in the sand so I left it in the forest, then of course couldn't find it. While I was stumbling around on these endless dunes I was accosted by this strange woman shouting, "You American boy, move your lazy butt, come take my picture." (said with a thick Russian accent) I got here to take mine as well. I ended up hanging out with her for the next few days. She is easily the funniest girl I've ever met.

Place where we ate and hung out on the island.

attempting to cut a dramatic pose while raising one of these shaman flag things on top of a mountain. Riding bikes up there was extremly tiring, and riding them down was painful.

I later learnt that I probably shouldn't have messed with that flag thing. A shaman was kind enough to pay a visit to my window that night and start singing some kind of curse or something. He sat outside my window on some firewood that was piled against it and muttered something while looking in at me for about 30 minutes. Every dog in the village went completely wild and was barking as if possessed. I had no idea what to do. It was around 3 am, pich dark and I was in this isolated cabin (this place had no electricity or water etc...) and my curtains wouldn't close. I could see this freak about a foot from the window, moonlight gleaming off his painted face, as he mumbles and chants staring right at my bed. ARGG. This guy wasn't Russian either. He like half of the people in the area was 'Buriat'.(Mongolian looking) The next night I slept with a club sized piece of firewood within arms reach.

There were these very peaceful cows roaming all over the island. Note the sky, it was almost always like that there, which is something I never saw in Japan.

The rock furthest back is "Shamanika". That strange girl told me that legend has it there is a cave in it that leads to a hidden pool, but that all those who enter the cave have nightmares for a month after. I climbed all over that thing(its huge) and after almost deciding that she was full of it, found a small entrance to what appeared to be a cave. I managed to squeeze into it and sure enough it went deep into the rock finely ending at a small pool. That was cool, but I still waiting for the nightmares.

Sunset in the village.

I have loads of other cool pictures (thanks to my unpered photography skills) but its very difficult to upload them. I may add more later, but for now this is it.