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| Welcome |
6,256 Miles GMT +9 hours Temp
–13
The Buryats are an indigenous people, related to the
Mongols. They have their own republic, on the other side of the lake, but on
this side of the lake they have a community a little north of us on Olkhon
Island, which is considered one of the five global poles of shamanic energy by
the Buryat people.
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| Public transport |
We caught the hovercraft up to Olkhon Island this
morning and met some of the Buryat community. No hovercraft stops, you just
start walking on the ice and then flag it down. The island has a long history
of human habitation. The original indigenous people were the Kurykans,
forefathers of two ethnic groups: the Buryats and Yakuts. The indigenous
Buryats believe the island to be a spiritual place, and on the western coast is
Baikal's most famous landmark, the Shamanka, or Shaman's Rock. Natives believe
that Burkhan lives in the cave on this rock. The rock is one of nine Asian most
Sacred Places.
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| The Shamanka Rock |
The people were very friendly and welcoming and
greeted us with traditional scarves, to tie on the rock as we leave. They have
usually made their living from fishing, fur hunting and livestock. However some
of them are now embracing the tourist industry in different ways, from arts and
crafts to accommodation and fishing trips. They took us around their farm in a
very informal manner, there was no special show put on, it is very much take
things as you find them. We witnessed the slaughter of two goats, and the
subsequent butchering, which was very interesting as they were very careful not
to spill any blood, and waste none of the animal. We met two people making
woodcarvings and furniture and another preparing furs. We were introduced to
the Shaman, who talked to us about various things. Some of them were a bit
uncanny/spooky, still trying to process what went on there. You can read about
an outline of their beliefs here.
We walked back some of the way and had bit of a
scamble round in the ice field that is created by the currents pushing the ice
against rock and the shore, as the ice forms. From a distance it looks quite
tame, but up close is very different with huge chunks of ice lifted and twisted
out of the surface, some bigger than Lean and I. We also found some ice caves
and had a good crawl around with icy stalactites and stalagmites, it was just
like I’d imagine prehistoric times.
We eventually caught the hovercraft back down to
Lystvyanka, as Lena really wanted to try her hand at kite skiing, which is one
of the adrenalin adventures on offer here in the winter. I’m adventurous, but I
like snow to fall on and the prospect of being dragged across the ice at around
30mph on a pair of skis, so Anya and I decided to spectate.
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| Not quite mad enough to try this |
We’ve been down to the bar to buy our friends a
drink and say goodbye, then we’re heading out on the lake to see if we can
capture the night sky. I’ve not done much astro-photography, so it will be a
night of trial and error. We’ve warned Sergei and Alina that if they see lights
it’s not UFO’s or the lake spirits, it will just be us with head torches,
probably dancing round the tripods to keep warm. If Tiny was still with us she
would whistle with glee at the very prospect of it all.
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| but this was great fun |
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