Bayandai is a Buryat village of just under three thousand people on the dry, open land west of Baikal, a region of rolling steppe where the Irkutsk basin begins to fold into the hills before the lake. This is the homeland of the Ust-Orda Buryats, a branch of the Mongol-speaking peoples who have herded cattle and horses here for centuries, and the district takes its name from the village. You notice it in the details: the signs written in two scripts, the sacred groves on the hills, and the little posts decorated with coloured ribbons where people leave offerings for the spirits of the place.
On a ride from Irkutsk towards the Olkhon ferry, Bayandai is one of the useful markers along the way. The road here is open and fast, with long straights and gentle rises through grassland and scattered pines. Traffic is moderate but includes lorries and the occasional tourist minibus, and the surface can be rough in places where heavy vehicles have worn grooves into the asphalt. Summer is dry and often windy, and the sunsets across the steppe are some of the best you will find in this part of Siberia. Spring can bring bare, brown hills before the grass turns green in late May.
With a population in the thousands, the village has shops, simple cafes and a petrol station or two, though you should not count on late opening hours or on every pump being in use. Larger towns in the area are far away, so it is wise to fill up here rather than trust that the next village will have something. Try buuz, the steamed Buryat dumplings filled with meat, and the milk tea that comes with salt and sometimes butter, a taste that surprises visitors but suits the climate.
There is also history in the ground. The steppe here is dotted with ancient burial mounds and stone circles from peoples who lived long before the Buryats arrived, and the wider Baikal region has been a crossroads for centuries. A short walk beyond the last houses is often enough to find a quiet knoll with a view across a landscape that feels both very large and very old. Then it is back on the bike, with the ferry and the island still ahead.