Baikal winter (3 days, 2 nights)

Tour
 Baikal winter

Day 

Program

In pleasurable anticipation of the events

Day 1














*A perfect addition to the tour:

Meeting at airport / RW station

Transfer to hotel / homestay

Breakfast in hotel / at homestay *

Tour to Ivolginsky Buddhist monastery (35 km away from Ulan-Ude). You'll be shown the way at the monastery by khuvarak (a student monk) **

City tour ***

Lunch at the Ger-restaurant «Baataray Urge» (from Buryat language — «Stop of Geser»****). National buryat cuisine: salamat, buuza (dumplings made on steam), bukhulyor (mutton soup), green tea with milk, shangy (buryat bred)

а.Excursion to Oriental Medicine Center *****
b.Museum of Buddhism ******

* Breakfast at a family is an opportunity not-to-be-missed to chat with friendly people while drinking tea with home cooked baking!

** The Ivolginsky Monastery — the center of Buddhism in Russia. It is a beautiful temple opened for the visitors. Nowadays it also includes a famous Buddhist University «Dashi Choikhorling» (the name derives from the Tibetan language and means «the land of Happy teaching». Here Buddhist monks scientists, specialists in Tibetan and Old Mongolian languages and orientalists are taught.

*** The historical center of the old Verkhneudinsk (nowadays — Ulan-Ude), the merchants' houses of the XVIII-XIXth centuries, churches and the biggest Lenin's head in the world!

**** Geser — the hero of a Buryat national legends (uliger) which is called «The tale of Geser-khan, the sovereign of ten countries of the world». The heroic epos was finally finished in XVI-XVII and it has a Kalmyk, Buryat, Tibetan and Mongolian variants. In 1995 there was a 1000th anniversary of the epos «Geser» in Buryatia.

***** The doctors of Tibetan medicine will give you a precise diagnosis according to your pulse. You will see with your own eyes the non-traditional treatment, for example: acupuncture; treatment with leeches; phototherapy and soon. The theoretical basic of all the methods of treatment is the Atlas of Tibetan Medicine (which is exhibited). There you can also find a phytotherapy drug-store. An excursion is conducted by a specialist from the center.

****** Exhibitions — «Buddhist Art», «The Atlas of Tibetan Medicine», «The Chronograph of Buryatia».

Day 2

Breakfast in hotel / at homestay

Tour to Ethnographical museum of Transbaikal tributes *

Lunch at Old Believers **

Dinner (independently)

Overnight in hotel / at homestay

* An open-air museum in the park area in the suburban part of Ulan-Ude. It includes: The Evenk, the Buryat, the Cossack, the Old Believers complexes. Authentic houses, gers, tepees, different household utensils, ancient furniture, national clothes.

** Old Believers of Buryatia are a colorful branch of Orthodox Russians exiled in Siberia in the XVIIIth century after the church reform carried out by Patriarch Nikon. They managed to save their culture, singing art, religion as they were two centuries ago. Lunch at a family, ritual funny game, Old Believers polyphonic songs and a lot of fun!

Day 3

Breakfast at hotel / homestay

Transfer Ulan-Ude — Enkhaluk* (2 hours of driving, 170 km from Ulan-Ude)

Driving by the sledge, harnessed by a horse or troika along the Baikal coast

Banya

Lunch at restaurant «Enkhaluk»: Baikal cuisine: fish soup with omul**, Siberian berries juice, pickled mushrooms, sweet pies.

Sledding on the ice hills. Transfer Enkhaluk- Ulan-Ude Dinner (independently)

Departure

* The tourist complex «Enkhaluk» is situated 170 km from Ulan-Ude in Enkhaluk village (population 250 people) on the shore of Lake Baikal. On the way to Enkhaluk we cross the Selenga river on ice road. Enkhaluk is one of the best tourist bases at lake Baikal, very well equipped with modern facilities. Great banya and perfect opportunities for troika riding. Much snow and pretty warm in comparison to Ulan-Ude because of the Lake.

** Omul — one of the Baikal Endemics. It is famous all over Russia for its mild taste. There are four species of omul: Severobaikalski, Selenginsky, Posolsky and Chivirkuisky. The northerly a place of destination is, the fatter omul is. Baikal is the motherlake for omul.