Trip to a Heavenly Place of Arshan

V. A. Korotkoruchko

We start our journey early in the morning in order to get through the first and most difficult part of the trip from Irkutsk to the Kultuk village taking advantage of a chilly morning air. The so-called Kultuk road is one of the most arduous and perilous roads, but it is very beautiful in all seasons. However, only passengers can admire the taiga amenities. The driver has to manage the variable relief of the mountain road, which seems extremely narrow and, what is more, has not only smooth, but also almost 180-degree turns. Each of such turns might conceal the danger of meeting with an absent-minded driver attentively counting the number of cones on the top a cedar.

The 98 km-long journey to Kultuk usually takes one and a half or two hours; it includes a necessary stop at a spring with ice-cold water. The last ten kilometers of a long descent lead to a lacet, from which one can observe a grand panorama of the Baikal southern borderline. Here on the fish market, natives offer fresh, corned, dried, and smoked omuls to starving travellers. Depending on the season, one can also find here taiga delicacies, such as berries, mushrooms, cedar nuts…

More information on these and other subjects you can find in the printed version of our journal.