Adventures at Lake Baikal

We jumped into the car and drove back down the road we had come up yesterday to visit the town Turka. We found a good spot to get some pictures of the lake and ended up spending some time here clambering over the snow, indulging in a snow fight, breaking off icicles and testing the ice. We had wanted to walk across the lake to another big snow drift further out but after testing the ice we didn’t think it would be very safe, much to our chagrin. Mike and Kyria ventured out a bit further Heidi had a great time slipping and sliding in the snow.

We all felt like a hot drink to warm us up but they don’t seem to have cafes round here - just canteens so we continued our drive down to Gremyachinsk. We wanted to check out a resort located here as we were keen to experience the hot springs. The resort was not as impressive as expected - I guess having done the hot springs in NZ I’m a bit spoilt but the rooms weren’t amazing, except for the extra fancy one which was $400 per night and you had to pay extra for the facilities. We like where we’re staying so we thought we might just come back to the resort during the day and use the banya (hot baths / cod baths / sauna etc).

We couldn’t find much for lunch so we ended up stopping at a canteen and having lunch there. Then we drove round a bit, exploring a few back roads and stopping to take photos of the scenery. At one point Kyria was hanging out the car window getting photos! We were hopeful of seeing a bear in the forests but no Iuck! Perhaps they’re still hibernating!!

We then drove back the the guest house for Heidi to have her nap.Read more