Smoked Fish on the Great Baikal Trail

Ever since we arrived in Irkutsk we’ve been operating on fast mode. Time is of the essence. It’s crazy to think that in less than two weeks, we’ll be back in Tanzania, that seven months of backpacking is coming to an end.

We’re camped about an hour and a half minute walk from Lisvyanka, a town on the south east shore of Lake Baikal. After a fitful night of camping on the beach, we left Olkhon Island at 8:30 am on a six-hour minibus ride back to Irkutsk. We shared the vehicle with three Montreal-ans, another backpacker couple, and a couple of Russians. We had a short pit stop at a café and Scott and I got the closest thing to our first Russian meal (we’ve mainly been cooking for ourselves and eating picnic food) – a small plate containing, perhaps, the best pork chop I’ve ever eaten paired with some of the worst rice I’ve ever eaten. Overall, it was a delight. The rest of the ride was a mixture of dreaming and half-sleep.

We arrived back in Irkutsk before 2:30 pm, made a quick trip back to Nerpa’s Hostel on the tram to switch out some clothing, came back to downtown, did some food shopping in Central Market (Irkutsk has quite a lively outdoor market scene), and hopped on a minivan for Lisvyanka.

An hour later we were buying two smoked omul fish at the Lisvyanka market and looking for the start of the Great Baikal Trail. Readily available smoked fish has been one of my favorite things about Russia. That and the cheap loaves of fresh baked bread.

The challenging thing about the trail so far is not always knowing which path to take. We’ve stayed high to avoid any sketchy rocky parts near the water, which has been fine. But we took a path down, closer to the lake, to set up camp. The utterly glorious thing about the trail so far is the abundance of colorful, beautiful wildflowers – Russian thistles (my new favorite flower), big yellow lilies, Dr. Seuss-y looking flowers, red flowers, purple and blue ones, so many. In some parts, they create a carpet amid the green grass. It’s the perfect time of the year for wildflowers around Lake Baikal.

It’s likely past 10:30 pm and it’s still not totally dark yet. It’s been like that since we’ve reached this area, which has made for some late nights. It’s quite amazing to start out on a hike after 6 pm and know you still have some hours of daylight left to find a proper camping spot.

We ate a dinner of smoked omul fish, cheese and tomato sandwiches, and sliced cucumber on a pebbly shore of the lake a little below our camp spot. We washed it down with a liter and a half of Russian beer and finished the meal with a dark chocolate bar.

Now I can hear the water gently lapping ashore. The boat traffic seems to have finally died.