Day 41: Team XPD Beyond Asia revel in the beauy of Siberia as they cover 572 km from Ulan Ude - Irkutsk

The team left the hotel around 9 am on Day 41 after being held up in an interesting chat with some Mongol Rally guys. Even as the team researched on what to explore in Ulan Ude, they found that the 'Old Believers,' lived quite close to Ulan Ude.

'Old Believers' villages are of a specific wooden architecture. Tarbagatay, Russia, is one of the largest surviving communities of Old Believers who are religious dissenters who were violently repressed and twice exiled by the Czars. They finally found refuge amidst the wilds of Siberia, 250 years ago. They survived by keeping to themselves, stubbornly maintaining their faith–which, to an outsider may not look too different from the standard Russian Orthodoxy. 

"We had not realised yesterday that we had passed through this village though we were wondering why the houses looked different from what we had already seen in Russia. 

We retracted about 50 Kms to this village Tarbagatay which had such pretty wooden houses with colourfully painted windows and doors. Unfortunately, we could not spot any of the Old Believers, though we asked around a bit. The really tiny church was locked as well. The drive around the village was very pretty. The houses have brightly painted gables and fences, the gardens are laid out in military-straight rows and everything looks freshly repaired. It is noticeably different from nearby communities of cattle-breeding, mostly Buddhist ethnic Buryats who were a bright ethnic branch of Old Believers exiled to Siberia in XVIII century, after the reform of the church by Patriarch Nikon," details Meenakshi, the team Captain. 

After trying for almost an hour to meet the Old Believers, the team gave up and decided to drive on to Irkutsk on the Russian route M55 (R 258, Baikal Highway) that runs 1,113 km Chita to Ulan Ude. Lots of road work and the steady downpour of rain slowed down their journey.

The highlight of Day 41 for the team was drive along the magnificent Lake Baikal, one of the world's oldest geographical feature that was formed 25 to 30 million years ago. According to legends, Eastern Siberia's Lake Baikal is said to have miraculous properties and a swim in the lake is supposed to give one five extra years of life. "I for one was in no mood to even think of it, as it was freezing cold and a dip in the Lake Baikal would feel more like taking away more than five years of my life," joked Meenakshi.

The team reached Irkutsk at 8 pm, tired but intent on seeing more of Lake Baikal and Irkutsk when Day 42 dawns.