Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world, at over 1600m deep. Two thirds of its flora and fauna are found nowhere else on Earth, including a freshwater seal. It was formed in a rift and so is not particularly wide and only has one island, which we did not visit. The water is famed for its purity and I can say that it was very clear. The water was a strange deep blue-green that hinted at its normal occupation as being ice several feet thick. The vegetation I could see was rather sparse, and again looked like it spent a large part of its time being very very cold. The water, even now, is exceptionally chilly. I dipped a toe in, which was enough, and some brave Russian went for a brief swim, although he had the several layers of blubber I lack.

The lake is surrounded by steep hills covered in coniferous woods and the odd house of wood. There are a few boats ferrying people around. In winter you can just drive across the lake but in the summer, you need a boat.

Mum and I wandered up and down the thin stretch of pebble beach. We looked at the lake. Then we wondered what to do for the next 4 hours. The lake was very pretty but, as with the Great Wall being just a big wall, this was, really, just a big lake. I was only wearing a t-shirt and although it was warm, when there was a breeze it was a tad chilly. I lay down on the beach under the breeze and had a snooze. After a bit we wandered around and found a war memorial. Using my Ipod, which speaks Russian as well as Chinese, I tried to find out which war. One bit was definitely WW1 and another WW2 but one was dated 2010 and was about the Fatherland War. I couldn’t remember a war in Russia in 2010 so was, and remain, a bit confused.

We had dinner overlooking the lake before catching the bus back. It was very pretty.