Some Buryiat Culture

Our next stop off the train was Ulan Ude, our last stop in Russia. Ulan Ude is situated in the Republic of Buryiat, an autonomous region of the Russian Federation. I wasn't sure what to expect and whether there would be much to see. The city itself had a massive statue of the head of Lenin. We ended up having probably our famourite home stay of the trip in Ulan Ude. Our hosts Andrei and Olga (I think) had a lovely home (an almost spotless bathroom with running water!), spoke very good english, fed us delicious meals (I must have had 4th helpings!) and were our tour guides as well! Andrei was an interesting man, involved in projects in improving and building walking trains around Lake Baikal, amongst other things.

On our first day there we went out to see a local Buddhist temple where a monk said a prayer for us. Then we visited a typical Buryiat village for lunch. Apparently the road to the village was unusually tarred (most Russian roads are rubbish) because Princess Anne once visited the village. The Buryiats are from the same culture as the Mongolian nomads, except that they are no longer nomads. This ended up being one of my favourite experiences for the trip. We were greeted by a young lady (around 20 years old) dressed in traditional Buryiat costume, who treated us to a delectable meal with many courses, including dumplings that we had a hand at making ourselves, and a gorgeous locally made liquor with a rich honey flavour. After lunch we had a go at dressing up in the traditional Buryiat clothing and then played some traditional games with the knucklebones of sheep and goats. Such a unique experience and one I will remember fondly.

The next day we visited the Ivolgsky Datsan, the centre of Buddhism in Russia and one of the few monastaries to remain standing during Soviet rule. Not knowing much about Buddhism, it was interesting to see how the Buddhist temples differed to the many Russian Orthodox cathedrals we had seen. WE also visited an 'Old Believers' church and village, a groupd who split from the Russian Orthodox church a long time ago in order to "pursue the old ways". Having been mislead to believe the 'Old Believers' were like the Amish, we were plesantly surprised to find the Priest amost accomodating. Unlike the other Russian Orthodox churches, the women didn't have to wear skirts, we were able to take photso inside the church, and he showed us some old bookds from the bible. He also asked us for some Australian coins to add to his personal collection of all odds and sods which he'd turned into a museum. Unfortunately we didn't have any.

So that was the end of our time in Russia. While it has been interesting and we have seen some wonderful things, I found Russia to be much like a lot of Europe (big generalisation, I know), so I was squite ready to move onto Mongolia.