Day 6 - Chita to Lake Biakal (nearly)

If you have ever wonder which side of the road you drive on in Russia, the answer is whichever side has the smaller potholes.

It's 5:30 or so and I'm writing this sitting in a roadside cafe drinking sweet black tea and eating pancakes. The pancakes came with condensed milk. I'm getting to hate condensed milk.

Today has been slow. No real problems but the road has been poor and awful in places. If its as bad as this for the rest of the way, I don't think I'll have an Imp by Moscow.

Near lake Baikal 23:16

The second part of the day was better. Perhaps more downhill and the bumps didn't seem to be damaging the car. After Chita I decided to miss Ulan Use and head straight down to Lake Baikal. Ulan Use is sprawled along the banks of a wide shallow (I think) river. It seemed to go for miles. On the outskirts I stopped at a large supermarket. It was much more like one at home than most that I've seen. I was even able to buy a picnic set of 4 bowls,beakers and spoons. Now I can have the cereal that I bought in Vlad.

I stopped up to an hour short of the lake which was a bit disappointing but the sun was low and it was hard to see the bumps. The lake will still be there in the morning. There should be about 11 days driving to go by my reconning. So I think k I will take the day off tomorrow and enjoy the worlds largest fresh water lake.

The road seems to have been winding down wide river valleys or the mountain passes between them all day. There is a mix of farming and forestry. The locals have a much more Mongolian look about them than even in Chita. Mongolia is only about  180km to the south.

I'm hoping to bypass Ulan Ued and get down lake Baikal tonight.