Siberia: Arshan Valley!

June 12: Whenever I go to a distant place, I try and go to a still more distant place, because that is where you have the most beautiful landscapes. Like walking to a beach, and then taking the time and trouble to walk to yet another beach from there. You leave most tourists behind, and nature is at its most pristine.

From Irkustk in far-off Siberia, very few tourists made it to Arshan Valley, another 220 km, and a four-hour bus journey away.

Sayan Mountains in the distance

My roommate Asia Pieczka, a very vibrant Polish Girl. I met her and Luminita Nitoi, a Romanian girl at Arshan, and we immediately became friends. Luna and Asia shared their meal (salad) with me, and the room. Luna was the most humourous woman I had met in a long time, and we spent a large part of the night chatting about Romania, Poland, Russia and I don't know what else. 

I suppose you could call this a Dacha (country house) and it was a homestay. Our host gave out the rooms at INR 350 per night.

The climb up to Love Peak, Arshan Valley.

The ascent was supposed to be only 3.5 kilometers but it  was gruelling uphill and at places almost a scramble of 60 degrees!

It was getting very late in the afternoon and I didn't want to chance it alone to the peak because the trail wasn't easy and there was no one around if I got lost. These two girls are Russian schoolteachers who came to my help, as they were the only two human beings I met in almost two hours, on their way down. I decided to trek down with them. While we didn't know each other's language, we communicated through signs, universal human emotion and of course, Google Translate.

Arshan Valley  -  A view from Love Mountain.

Arshan Valley - Waterfall.

I like the odd placement of the feet, half-balanced, as she tried to take a selfie.  I am grateful for the selfie-age, because people move in slow motion and make most interesting figures!

A glade of thick pine trees in Arshan Valley.

At night, most probably, these birch trees would be looming over people from all sides, shifting craftily, and all sense of direction would be gone. I felt this image represented the wilderness of Siberia and this photograph would have looked the same decades ago.


Sayan Mountains and Love Peak seen from Arshan Valley.

Sunset over Arshan Valley turns the landscape to gold.

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