Siberia...After traveling in Mongolia, we went to Ulan Ude, Siberia, Russia. In Ulan Ude we experienced the grandeur of Ivolginsky Datsan, a Buddhist Monastery. Though I have seen a number of Buddhist Monasteries in my travels, I always find them fun to photograph. Then we went to an Old Believers Village. The Old Believers were a religious sect that split in the 1600s from the changing beliefs of the time in Moscow and took their fundamental beliefs and migrated to Siberia. This gave them the freedom to pursue their own doctrine. What an interesting group of people. We were served a great ethnic dinner and experienced a mock wedding. From there we took the Trans-Siberian Railway around the southeastern foot of Lake Baikal to Irkutsk. Irkutsk was glorious, beautiful flowers, people in shorts, and great onion domed churches. Unfortunately, when we went to see Lake Baikal it was all socked in with fog. But Listvyanka, a Baikal resort was interesting. The Baikal fish was awesome.
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