Ulan-Ude is a Siberian city with a distinctly Asian face. It is the capital of Buryatia, a republic of Mongolic people who follow Tibetan Buddhism, and it sits at the junction of the Selenga and Uda rivers, east of Lake Baikal, with a population of about three hundred and sixty thousand. The Trans-Siberian railway runs through, and the Trans-Mongolian line branches off here to Ulaanbaatar and Beijing, so the station is busy with travellers. Soviet blocks and wooden merchants' houses stand side by side, and in the main square stands the largest head of Lenin in the world, a bronze giant about seven metres high.
Buddhism is part of the city's identity. The Ivolginsky Datsan, a monastery about thirty kilometres away, is the centre of Buddhism in Russia, with colourful temples, prayer wheels and monks in maroon robes. It is also home to the preserved body of the lama Itigilov, who died in 1927 in a meditation posture and whose body is said not to have decayed. Visitors should dress modestly, walk clockwise around the temples and ask before taking photographs. The Old Believers, Orthodox families who fled religious reforms in the seventeenth century, also settled here, and their villages keep a distinct culture, with elaborate costumes and songs.
For a rider, the roads from Ulan-Ude lead toward Baikal, whose eastern shore is quiet and wide, with long sandy beaches and low forested hills. The route to Goryachinsk passes through the Selenga delta region, with farmland, birch woods and steppe, and the village is known for hot mineral springs near the lake. Further north the road to Ust-Barguzin leads along the Barguzin Valley, with views of the snow-capped Barguzin range across the plain. Surfaces vary from good tarmac to rough sections with potholes, and trucks and local drivers are fast. Mosquitoes and midges in the wetlands can be fierce, and summer storms arrive quickly.
Ulan-Ude has everything: stations, shops and repair shops. Zarechny and Sotnikovo, near the city, add a few services. On the road to Baikal, villages have small stations that are not always open or stocked, so fill the tank here. Try buuzy, steamed dumplings filled with meat and broth, a Buryat staple, and salted milk tea.
Summers are short and warm, winters long and bitterly cold, and the best season to ride is June through September. A morning at the datsan, quiet and incense-scented, is worth the detour.