Trying to Catch Me Riding Dirty

It Pays to Plan

The morning started off right! Woke up hours before breakfast was being served. But fear not! We had done some Nostradamus level planning the night before and ordered some blinchki (pancakes in Mercian) to go.

So this morning when the tummy rumblies started we simply retrieved our treats from the fridge and had a pre-breakfast.

Breakfast

We made it to breakfast. Grits, omelette and homemade croissant. Pretty solid food all around.

Coffee was interesting. We asked for cappuccino but we were told they didn’t have any today. So we opted for the americano (the only other option). Our coffee showed up. Interestingly, it was coffee with milk.

We also found out that all of the restaurant staff had started the day before. I suspect this may be connected to the lack of cappuccino.

The highlight is still the view from the restaurant though.

Get in the Car

After breakfast we hit the road. Heading south to Irkutsk and then north. Unfortunately we didn’t have a sweet road trip playlist. Lack of playlist is probably going to be the greatest failure of this trip.

Buza Wow

The first stop of the day was for lunch at a road side cafe.

Besides making an awesome time lapse, we had some delicious buza[^I’m reasonably sure they call them by different names to allow each different place the ability to claim it as their creation] (a.k.a. monte, kinkali).

Then once we were wowed and filled by the buza, we hit the road again...

On the Road Again

...still no incredible road trip playlist

A Lasting Impact

Our next[^we aren’t counting the gas station...even though it did have an impressive ice sculpture of a seal] stop was to some 2000 - 3000 year old rock drawings.

Incredible. I really find it to be such a fascinating thing. It makes me wonder so many things about the people who were living here back then and what their lives were like. Why did they decide to create these drawings?

It’s incredible to think that before we had math, money, etc; We had art! I find that incredible. It also makes me wonder how anyone could question that art is a necessity.

Another thing that that it really made me think about...these nameless people from 2000 - 3000 years ago have made something that is still around today. Something that we see. Something that we can appreciate. Something that makes us think. It makes me think...what have I done that would do the same for people 2000 - 3000 years from now?!?!?

To the Lake

After that, we were on the road again. Headed to Olkhon island.

We had to cross the ice by car...well by vaz...it is a van in the loosest sense of the word.

Off we went hurtling across the frozen lake. Question my poor life choices as my life flashed before my eyes we ramped over bumps that formed at the joining of massive ice sheets.

We arrived at our hotel which has horrendous WiFi and Edge[^ partying like 1999] cellular signal.

Dinner

We grabbed dinner at a local cafe. An interesting mix of people dining there. The menu was hand written on graph paper and many items were no longer available.

The food was heavy but good.

Wild Ride

After dinner we had a vaz taxi back to the hotel. Only worth mentioning because it was crazy. It felt like there was only one speed...and it was fast...and I’m pretty sure 50% of the ride was on two wheel.