After another two nights in the train, followed by three kilometre walk, followed by six hours of bumpy bus drive, we finally arrived at our last proper Russian point of interest: The island of Ольхон (Olkhon), located in the middle of Lake Baikal. With no real references on the map, it is easy to underestimate the distances involved. Roughly 650km from top to bottom, and about 60km wide at the central point, the lake is just unbelievably massive. The island itself is 70km long, which made our plans of "just walking around the island a little" look a bit stupid.

The island had an eerie sense of emptiness, the main town of Хужир felt like a little like a deserted Western style town. But over the five days of our stay on the island, we slowly got a feeling of the relaxed life on the island.

Nowadays, tourism is a growing source of income for the local population, with people of all over the world coming, but the main languages on the sign above the shops are still Russian and Chinese. Our little guest house was a half hour walk outside of town (again, distances...), but we had everything we needed, from a luxurious outside toilet (with a seat!), and an actual shower for 100 rubels extra, if needed. The island has no system of canalisation, and has only been connected to the mains about ten years ago, so this is by no means ordinary.

We explored the island with our new found friends from Germany, who are travelling a similar route as us, and so we will be travelling together (at least) until Mongolia. One day of biking with another Russian holidaymaker, who already new the island by heart, and two hikes to the North and to the heart of island were our main activities, with a little local cuisine and local vodka tasting in between.