Day 40: Massive glowering Lenin head gazes of Ulan-Ude

"Well, today is the 40th day of the XPD Beyond Asia-Trans Siberian 2019 Coimbatore to St Petersburg trip. Every day different routes, different city, different hotel and food, everything was so unique", Meenakshi fondly recalls. 

They started at 8 am from the hotel and headed towards Ulan Ude from Chita on the Baikal Highway R 258 (P258) of the Trans-Siberian Highway and of the AH6 route of the Asian Highway Network. 

"Pretty much same roads, less foliage and more expanse. The road stretches into the horizon and it feels like we are on top of the world, its an illusion. For a moment it felt like we are back in Tibet. 

There is quite a bit of unpaved roads on this stretch, but do not fall in the category of 'bad roads', though", describes Meenakshi. 

The team reached Ulan Ude by 5.30, after a small detour by Google maps. 

To their surprise, there were this whole bunch of cars, as it was the Finish day for the Mongol Rally.

"We set out to explore Ulan Ude by about 6 pm. Ulan Ude has a real interesting history. It was known during Soviet times as the Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. 

In the 1650s, as a result of a split in the Russian Orthodox Church, a group of people called the "Old Believers" were forced to flee their homes and escape to Siberia in order to freely practice their religion.

I remember seeing an “Old Believers “ settlement when I was on the shores of Lake Peipus in East-Estonia, last year", detailed Mennakshi. 

With wooden houses and a different architecture, the whole town had a whole new vibe, she added. 

The World's Largest Lenin Head is in Ploshchad Sovietov, the main city square. The head is 7.7m tall and weighs 42 tons. Odigitrievsky Cathedral, built in 1741 in honor of the Madonna of the Odigitria. The first stone building in the town, indeed a very charming building.