Si c'est si bien, Baikal les voir!

A place like lake Baikal deserved a good French pun as a title for my short section about it. Enough poems, songs and legends have already been written about Lake Baikal and there is no need for one more stylish account of how nice that is. So I'll get to the point: The lake is nice and big, and there is a shitload of beautiful sceneries of landscape not yet spoiled by man.

During the 4 days we spent there, our HQ was located on Olkhone island, where we (we=my parents and me) had all the comfort we needed: a room for three, a bania at 2km for our daily session of sweating and exfoliating, and ecological restrooms across the potato field. We lived like kings. Food mainly consisted of omoul, the infamous fish from the lake: so we had raw omoul salads, steamed omoul, grilled omoul, smoked omoul, dry omoul, fried omoul with potatoes and finally, omoul soup. When omouls are not on a table or in someone's stomach, they roam freely in the lake where they serve as food for the "nerpa", the freshwater seal from the lake Baikal. Nerpas have it easier than the omouls: There is no dish based on nerpa, whose goal in life is mainly to serve as an attraction for tourists like me who cross half the lake to see him behaving like a regular seal, except that it's a big deal because it is the only seal leaving in fresh water.

Well, I have tried to be very down to earth with my post, but I need to be honest... I still have very vivid images of the lake in my mind, because it is such a wonderful place. Here is a small movie that should convey better how great it is there... (I recommend to pump up the volume)


By the way, if you want to go there, I recommend you to contact the agency "Baikal Nature". They are cool, young, knowledgeable and flexible...and they also speak French...what else can you ask?