Transportation to Olkhon

Irkutsk – Olkhon (Khuzhir)

From the central market place:
Minivans leave at 9:00 and 10:00 (500 rbls).

From the central bus station:
Public bus leaves at 8:10 (395 rbls + 100 rbls for luggage).
Minivans leave at 10:00 (500 rbls).

Olkhon (Khuzhir) – Irkutsk

Public bus:
8:00 Baikalskaya street 44. (395 rbls + 100 rbls for luggage).

Microbuses:
8:30 from Nikita's Homestead (530 rbls).
8:10 from the village hostel (500 rbls).
9:30 in front of the school (500 rbls).

The price of a bus ticket in 2010 (including booking and ticket delivery) is 800 rubles.

Timetable for Krugobaikalka 2010

Wednesdays at 08:16 from Irkutsk railway station, return in Irkutsk around 21:00-22:00

Thursdays at 09:00/09:30 from the Irkutsk Drama Theatre, address: Karl Marx str.14, return in Irkutsk around 22:00

Fridays at 06:55 from the Irkutsk railway station, return in Irkutsk around 20:00

Saturdays at 08:16 from the Irkutsk railway station, return in Irkutsk around 21:00-22:00

Sundays at 09:00/09:30 from the Irkutsk Drama Theatre, address: Karl Marx str.14, return in Irkutsk around 22:00

Dry Frogs

Recently met my friend Benjamin in Irkutsk. We got aquainted on Olkhon Island. And he told me that they recorded a song and a music video with a company of Irkutyanins. I really liked this video. Music is very energetic!

Travelers saved a man on lake Baikal ice

The ice is very tricky this days. It is very dangerous to walk on it, especially in the end of may. :)

Two french travelers saved a man from a floating piece of ice on the lake. They decided to go for a short hicking trip, and saw a man on the ice. Asked for help from local people who could understand what they are trying to say. Finally this man was saved, by an international team. What a surprise :)

Here is their blog about their eurasian trip.



Thanks to foreign travelers! :) Ура!

Thanks to Baikal

But Irkutsk is an exception. On first sight, it seems like just another flat Siberian city, undistinguished in orientation or architecture, having the usual Lenin and Marx streets, the Musical and Drama Theatres, the Philharmonic Hall, Orthodox Churches and the Eternal Flame dedicated to those who died fighting the Second World War. But if you dive a little deeper, the city is littered with backpacker- hostels serviced by friendly English speaking staff - a concept alien to the rest of Russia! This little ecosystem of hostels is no accident because even at 70 km away, Irkutsk is the closest city to the worldґs deepest lake, Baikal that sustains this ecosystem by attracting travellers from all over the world.

Thanks to Baikal, Irkutsk became an exception for yet another reason. I was no longer alone on the Trans-Siberian; I had made 5 new friends. It was Ryan and Tom in the compartment next to mine, who were speaking in English. They along with their friends Katy, Lizzie and Gary were going to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia for 6 weeks as volunteers from the University of Edinburgh to work with children on protection and development. But before heading to Ulaanbaatar, they too were going to spend a couple of days exploring Irkutsk and Baikal...

The easiest way to get to Baikal from Irkutsk is through mini-buses that run on the hour. So off we went; the 6 of us cramped together in one of these to Listvyanka, a tiny village on the shore of Baikal. Baikal - the "Pearl of Siberia"; the deepest lake in the world; an ocean in the making that with the rift in the tectonic plates over millions of years will split the Asian continent into two! The phrase "crystal clear" must have been coined by someone standing at Baikalґs shoreline. Even from a distance, we could see the plants and rocks below. Baikal seemed like a thin sheet of silvery mirror placed delicately between the tree-covered rocky cliffs around and their undisturbed upside-down reflections!

A quotation from here.