We occupied ourselves this morning doing some chores in the truck and then some grocery shopping at the famous Irkutsk market while waiting for 3:00pm and our Mongolian visas to roll around. This is the third time I have been to the markets in Irkutsk and it still facinates me. There is a large indoor food market selling all kinds of vegetables, meats, fish, nuts and almost what ever you could think of as well as a wide range of prepared food ready to eat. Now that the weather is warm there is an outside extension selling vegetables and plants.

We got our visas at 3:00pm as promised and within 30 minutes were back at the truck ready to tackle the road to Listvyanka (the village on the western shore of Lake Baikal). Connecting to the Baikal road from our downtown parking lot was a bit of a challenge but again was accomplished thanks to our Garmin and the OSM maps.

Traffic to the lake was pretty heavy, and as always in Russia in a big hurry and hence driving was more than a little nerve racking.


At the point where the lake merges with the Angara River (the only river that flows out of the lake), maybe 3 km from Listvyanka, there is a small pullout, a large sign for the Baikal Hotel, and a spectacular view across and down the lake. That is where we parked for the night.