Aug 18

Aug 18 They Eat... Lake Baikal and Olkhon Island

Lake Baikal is the world’s largest freshwater lake in terms of volume. It is also the deepest lake in the world. Olkhon Island is surrounded by Lake Baikal and is the third largest lake island in the world.

The Good, The Bad, and the WTF

There was a great deal of anticipation before going to Olkhon Island. Most people visit Lake Baikal by taking a two hour bus ride to Listvankya. It is much more urban and we wanted to go where most travelers won’t take the time. It is a six hour bus ride to Olkhon Island, which has only 1500 inhabitants (mostly Buryats - the aboriginal people of this island). We had heard it is worth the detour and so booked ourselves three nights.

Inspired by one of my favorite podcasts (They Call Us Bruce), I thought I would share what the best, the worst, and the “we still don’t understand” about Lake Baikal and Olkhon Island. Please enjoy!

The Good

We stayed at Nikita’s Homestead where you walk 2 minutes down a little path right to the lake. What we saw next left us breathless. Honestly, I stood there feeling like it must be fake. Was this the Truman Show (you know, that movie where Jim Carrey realizes he is actually the star of a tv series)? The mountains in the distance looked like a postcard, the water was intensely clear and blue. It took a while for it to sink in that this was real and it is nature at its best.

Ian’s favorite part of Olkhon Island was when he bought a beer in a big plastic bottle (like those soda bottles) and it was warm. So he put it into Lake Baikal and within 15-20 minutes, it was at the perfect cold temperature for drinking! He was very proud and I was happy to have the drink.

That first night, we sat out until sunset and it was also worth the wait.

The Bad

While Olkhon Island was definitely worth the six hour bus ride, we would be crazy to say we enjoyed it. The van was nicer than we expected, but it was still very tightly spaced inside. We drove for about 4 hours and then waited for a ferry to take the car onto Olkhon Island (this part of the ride was gorgeous and our first experience with the cold, windy weather). During the final hour driving on the island, we had to close all the windows due to the wind and sand. The driver was great, but the roads were still rough with many turns.

Ian and I really enjoy bike riding and had read there would be plenty of bike rentals on the island. Our homestead rents bicycles via the cafe except it doesn’t open till 5:30PM… so we wandered into the main square (15 minute walk) and found a bike rental. When we got on the bikes, we were quickly reminded of the drive through the island the day before.. Everywhere had several feet deep of sand which meant you would skid in a random direction even if you were going straight. It was impossible to control the bikes. We kept going anyways and made it to one end of the island where the clouds became dark and it started to pour… 30 minutes later we returned the bikes. We were wet and cold - luckily we had booked ourselves the private Banya (Russian Bathhouse) and used that to warm ourselves up. Sorry no photos of this - you get fully naked into a hot steam room!

The WTF

The bike ride was a great example of the unpredictable weather on Olkhon Island. Even though it was incredibly sunny, it would also be windy and freezing cold. Suddenly, the clouds would darken and it would start to rain. Our first day was beautiful, but the next day was dark and gloomy. If you head to Olkhon Island, wrap yourself up. It will still be worth it in the end!