russia: ulan ude, ivolginsk, and babushkin

The last stop of our May holidays was a city called Ulan Ude. It's the capital city of the Republic of Buryatia, on the eastern side of Lake Baikal. (The republic surrounds the lake.)

Ulan Ude has just over 400,000 people, according to Wikipedia and the 2010 census in Russia.

Ulan Ude was settled the same way much of Siberian and Eastern Russia were settled: as a fort, by the Cossacks. They did this in 1666, and called the fort Udinskoye. The arrival of the Trans Siberian Railway is what caused/helped most of the growth of the city.

Our train arrived on time (of course,) the next morning in Ulan Ude. The sun had already come up, so we didn't need to hang out in the station. We wanted to take photos with the train station sign, but the back side of the station was under renovation so that didn't happen. Argh.

We knew we wanted to do a day trip that day, and we couldn't check in early, so we put our bags in storage for the day and started walking. About 10 minutes after we walked out of the station it started snowing, hard.

Yes, I know we were in Siberia, which is pretty much legendary for winter, and winter weather, but we were soooo not ready to deal with a blizzard in nearly mid May. 

There was no shelter nearby, so we just kept walking.

Our first team photo was in the snow, at the world's largest Lenin head. I have no idea why anyone would think to make his head this big, but they did. It's 7.7 meters tall, or 25 feet!

More walking brought us under a Victory Arch. This one crossed the street, painted beige. Not as photogenic as other arches we've seen around the country. Since it crossed a busy street there was no way to take a centered photo, which is usually what I prefer.

As it was May, the fountains of the city had been turned on. Since it was also blowing snow, this made for an amusing contrast, at least for us. I tried to take a photo, but the snow didn't show up well, oh well.

This particular fountain was right in front of the theater, which was gorgeous as usual. One of these days I'm going to plan a trip well enough that I book myself tickets to a performance in one of the theatres I see. (Probably in the warmer months, so I can wear appropriate shoes with nice clothing.)

We found a small cafe for breakfast. It wasn't amazing, but it was warm, which was much appreciated at that point. 

Trying to order was confusing, though I don't know why. Language issues, I think. We thought we were ordering off the menu, but it seemed as if the lady put in a basic order then added various items as 'extra.' In the end they forgot to bring Claire's drink, she was disappointed. Sigh.

From there we walked to a mini bus station to catch a marshrutka to a big Buddhist temple complex. We had to wait a bit for the marshrutka to fill up, then we had an hour long ride. The landscape was beautiful, but marred by the rubbish caught in the bushes all over. Plastic bags, ribbons, etc... 

So sad that people can't seem to put rubbish where they should. Or better yet, use less so there is less rubbish to begin with.

The temple complex in Ivolginsk is beautiful. Colourful, and quiet. There are rows of prayer wheels all over, as well as several different temples. As far as we could tell, not all the temples were open, but that was okay. There were small cabins on one side of the property, I think you can rent them for a day or two, as if you're a pilgrim. It would certainly be a calm place to stay, though I'm pretty sure that even I would be bored. 

I kinda led us clockwise around the property, as much as I could. We went inside two of the temples, which were awesome. We spun most of the prayer wheels we saw as well, always following those clockwise. There was one spot with several large stupas, though I didn't see anyone praying near those. I'm not sure of the difference between what is inside a temple and a stupa. There was another large temple under construction on the property, I wonder how long that will take to finish. And what it will look like, and how it will be different from the other temples that already exist, and who is paying for it.

We left because the wind and snow were picking up, and we were cold. Angela went off to the toilet and just a minute later the bus to go back pulled up. We yelled her name, hoping she would hurry, because we didn't know how long it would be until the next bus came. Thankfully she came quickly enough, and I think the driver understood we needed our friend, so all three of us were able to take the bus.

We got off the marshrutka as it went back through the city, not too far from the Lenin head, instead of waiting to get all the way to the mini bus station. 

It was a lot easier to walk back to the train station from that point to grab our bags, then check into our flat for the next couple nights.

As our flat was located right near a whole bunch of restaurants, we didn't have to go far to get food for dinner, yay.

The next morning we got up early so we could do another day trip, this one to a small lakeside town called Babushkin. We'd all loved our visit to Lake Baikal in March, and were hoping to see it again, but from the other side of the lake. During part of the train ride we got glimpses of the lake and realized that some of it was still frozen!

The train station in Babushkin was really modern and new. The rest of the town, not so much. Half the roads we followed to get to the lakeshores were dirt, or at least unsealed. The walk to the lake shore went through town, and wasn't the least bit interesting.

Then we got to the lake, and it was all worth it, all over again. Despite the cold, it was beautiful weather, and we were on a 'beach.' Our initial views had all of us just standing there taking it all in. So pretty. I need to come back to this lake in summer and fall, because I bet it is just as gorgeous.

Babushkin is not where people come to see Lake Baikal. There is no tourist infrastructure, at all. We walked along the beach, not seeing a single other soul, except for the guys out fishing. They were out in the water, all wearing waders.

One of the guys was sitting in a rubber raft, the others were standing in the water. I imagine they were all cold.

Further along the beach we founded a couple abandoned train cars that are probably used as shelters or homes at various times. We also found a lighthouse, totally covered in graffiti. I wonder if it is still used at all, or when it was last used.

Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous every time we looked at the water. The beach was not sand, it was small rocks, most of which were pretty smooth. Even though we thought everything was beautiful, I don't think locals hang out on this beach in the summer.

Eventually we went back into town, and go figure, another snowstorm rolled in, fast. It only last about 15 minutes, but whoa, it was fast.

The map showed a museum in town, but it was closed. It wasn't a Monday, so we figured it was for the holiday weekend. Or maybe locals just open it wheneva they want? It's not as if keeping it closed was going to miss a lot of foot traffic.

We found a 'cafe' with basic Russian food. I was okay with that, because I can always have solyanka, which is basically a kitchen sink meat soup. Then we went next door for boozy, because we were all still hungry.

Obviously we had nothing left to do at that point but kill time until the train back to Ulan Ude. We looked into at least three different stores, but there was nothing of interest. Really cheap Russian ice cream bars are not tasty.

We found one memorial on the way back to the train station, I think it was a general war memorial.

By the time we got back to the train station we only had another hour to wait. All three of us had our phones, so it was no problem to pass the time.

We got back to Ulan Ude too late to get dinner, so we had to make do with the snacks we hadn't yet eaten. Oops.

The next morning we got up and walked back to the train station to cross the tracks and find a bus stop. We didn't have to wait long for the bus we wanted, which took us up a hill to a Buddhist temple sitting on top. The views over the city and surrounding area were great from up there. There were a couple big gold stupas right at the entrance; one of them was a museum and the other was filled with small Buddhas inside.

There is a 'tunnel' of prayer flags around the entire back side of the temple, while walking through it we saw people adding more flags. So many prayers, I hope most of them came true.

Claire and I went into the temple, though Angela wasn't interested. There was a small sign that said photos were allowed with a small donation, so I put money in the box. 

I took photos, trying not to get in anyone's way, and following the respect rules I know. I hope I remembered them all. It was a nice temple, with a giant Buddha in front, and small cushions the monks sit on while praying.

We took the bus back down the hill, mostly because it was a steep hill, which would've wrecked our legs, not because it was all that far. Near the train station we tried to find the railroad history museum, but that didn't seem to exist anymore. There was a spot with a locomotive on display, looking the same as other Soviet trains.

While trying to find this museum we stumbled upon another Lenin statue. This one was full body, but not nearly as big as the head in the city center.

After resting up in the flat for a while we went back to the city center to find more to see. We found the city history museum, which wasn't big. Just three small rooms, all on the same floor. Even so, we liked the photos, items, and descriptions exhibited. It's always neat to see what people used in daily life 100 years ago.

We walked all the way to the end of the main street, as we could see a church down there. 

Only the bottom half of the church was open, I wonder what the 'main' sanctuary looks like, or if it is used at all now.

A couple blocks away from the church we found the memorial to the victims of repression. It's a dramatic memorial, including barbed wire, and a wall with names. To get there we passed the original 'mansions' of many of the city's merchants. They had historical/informational signs in front, but weren't open for visitors.

More walking brought us to the central market. Set up like the central markets of a lot of towns, there was a meat section, dairy section, produce section, pickled food section, etc... 

I got some dried fruit, and wanted kimchi but couldn't figure out whether I'd be able to take it with me on the plane or not.

Park Pobedy was the main park of the city, and there were heaps of people out having fun with friends and family. There was a giant fountain in the middle, also running. Of the fountain we'd seen in the snow and this one, one of them is called the musical fountain, but we didn't hear music around either of them.

At the back side of the park there was a giant set of stairs, at the top of which was a WW2 memorial, complete with tanks, wreaths, and plaques with 3D profiles of soldiers. There was also an eternal flame, one level above the whole thing.

We had dinner at a random restaurant in town. We got to look at menus in both English and Russian, it was interesting to compare the two. Not all items were listed on both items, and the English translations were entertaining at times.

On the way back to our flat we picked up Subway sandwiches for breakfast the next day, since our flight left in early morning. 

I used this walk to find a moment of no traffic near the Victory Arch, and stand in the middle of the street to take the photo I wanted.

We'd twice checked with our landlady about leaving early in the morning, as we knew she had to travel an hour to get there. We wrote the time in 24 hour time, so there was no question about when we were leaving. Despite this, she didn't show up when she said she would. We called over and over again, waking her up, argh. We used texting to figure out where we could leave the key; she returned our deposit by bank card, so it wasn't a huge issue but it was still annoying.

Fortunately it only took about 20 minutes to get to the airport, the rest of our journey was easy enough. We were on a budget airline, and boarding started an hour early because they checked the carryon bags of everyone. If your bag didn't fit, you had to check it, and they were on it. Since we'd paid for checking a bag, we were happy to see this happening.

I can't wait to get back to the eastern half of Russia.