Today we went from Irkutsk Oblast to Buryatia Republic. In Listvyanka, we had another glance over mighty Baikal. Then we were taken by surprise by the winding road from Irkutsk to Kultuk as we had to cross the Sayan mountains yet again. We witnessed an near-miss accident where one idiot (sorry, I have no other words) decided to pass by several slow moving cars just before the turning going uphill. As he/she was on the opposite lane, another car appeared on the road heading down on the same lane - they actually had to move off the road to avoid collision!
After Kultuk (Southern tip of Baikal) we turned in the Western direction into the Tunkinskaya Valley - a large valley surrounded by some impressive mountains. We had cows not wanting to let us pass, but that was quickly resolved. There was one place where the road surface got really wavy and the camera fell down twice as we didn’t fix it properly.
We took a quick detour to visit Zhemchug (Pearl in English) which is famous for its warm springs of mineral water. I wanted to bathe there, but the amenities were so basic and not visually appealing that I decided to skip it for now. Then we went to Arshan - our home for the next couple of nights located at the foot of the mountains that we will climb tomorrow.
Well, my (Anna) impressions of this part of Buryatia: on the one hand beautiful nature, clean air and mineral springs. On the other hand, conditions for tourists are very basic and I would say bad. I read reviews of the local “spas” and they are terrible. Our hotel was rated as one of the best for the area, but our room was dirty, bed linen had blood stains on it and the pipework in the toilet is making much noise - and all this not even cheap! Even the mineral water is not very appealing in look and taste - Pablo refused to swallow it. All-in-all, I would stay away from recommending friends to visit this place unless you really want to explore Russia and go hiking mountains or suffer from conditions that can be cured only by this miraculous water (not sure what it cures, but ok). These people need to learn to respect guests. When I compare it to Altai, Tunkinskaya Valley is really substandard for tourists. Those who come here come in search of miraculous water and can put up with much, but it does not mean that they don’t deserve good living conditions and services.
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