This is becoming a great way to travel. I don’t know if I should admit this on a post about such intrepid travelers, 😀 but I love the idea of exploration and travel more than the actual travel itself. I’ve never heard of Lake Baikal and this was fascinating!
That’s so interesting. I have a tendency to get really obsessive about places I read about so am basically in just a permanent state of longing for faraway places. I think it’s a sickness!
Thank you. I came to your 'Stack via Intrinsic Perspective 'Subscriber Writing'. I too submitted a piece..... which will hopefully appear in his next tranche.
Great post! Kate Mardsen's rugged journey makes me think twice about ever complaining about a long bus ride again haha. Sorry to hear she never found the magical cure tho. The photographs are incredible as well, a nice mix of different seasons and angles. The moment I saw "Lake Baikal" on Notes, I thought of Sophy Robert's descriptions of it in her fantastic book "The Lost Pianos of Siberia", so I was delighted to see a quote from her at the end (she also has a new podcast which is great too). I think I remember her talking about pink dolphins being trapped there during its formation millions of years ago...not sure tho, either way, it seems like a magical lake
Everyone has been mentioning Kate Marsden, perhaps I need to do a longer post on her! I’ve been thinking of doing a series on explorers anyway, maybe I could start with her story
I'm with Andrew Eberlin ... Kate Marsden sounds intriguing. I shall be trying to find a book about her. I really enjoyed Trubchenko's images. The contemporary writings of Sylvain Tesson (Consolations of the Forest) are well worth a read for people beguiled by the vastness of the lake and the savageness of its existence. Another great piece, Mikey. Really love these.
You know Russian?! Michael you are a constant curiosity cabinet of impressive surprises! How good are you? I’ve often thought about learning the language just so I can read Dostoyevsky in the original. Need to be able to go full time on substack so I have the bandwidth to pursue such frivolous hobbies!
"Know" is awfully strong. I studied it for eight years starting in middle school, four years of high school, and two years of uni. I was okay some thirty years ago, but didn't ever get to use it again until living in Bulgaria in 2018. And even then only a little bit. I am nowhere NEAR fluent but can read Cyrillic letters just fine, which is very handy when navigating Eastern European countries. But I ain't holding any conversations with folks.
Thank you for another enlightening read. I particularly liked the story about Kate Marsden.
What a woman!
This is becoming a great way to travel. I don’t know if I should admit this on a post about such intrepid travelers, 😀 but I love the idea of exploration and travel more than the actual travel itself. I’ve never heard of Lake Baikal and this was fascinating!
That’s so interesting. I have a tendency to get really obsessive about places I read about so am basically in just a permanent state of longing for faraway places. I think it’s a sickness!
'Siberia Dreaming' is a long poem I published recently that is part set at Lake Baikal: https://impspired.com/2023/02/01/graham-cunningham/
A brief extract:
.....We somnolent archaeologists now head north,
feeling a kind of vertigo to be so high in space.
Scratching now and labouring for bones and ancient pots
for what has fallen, what has stood here beside this frozen lake.
On a sudden gust of wind a tusk sticks out from the snow.
We dig with shovels, sun in our eyes, and an eye gleams back at us.
It sticks to my finger (I just had to touch).
“Would you say we were the first?” says my comrade with a nervous grin. Who knows?
Who knows what came from the stars and walked in the snow by Lake Baikal?
We headed south and trekked long......
That’s lovely, thanks for sharing Graham
Thank you. I came to your 'Stack via Intrinsic Perspective 'Subscriber Writing'. I too submitted a piece..... which will hopefully appear in his next tranche.
I shall look out for it!
Great post! Kate Mardsen's rugged journey makes me think twice about ever complaining about a long bus ride again haha. Sorry to hear she never found the magical cure tho. The photographs are incredible as well, a nice mix of different seasons and angles. The moment I saw "Lake Baikal" on Notes, I thought of Sophy Robert's descriptions of it in her fantastic book "The Lost Pianos of Siberia", so I was delighted to see a quote from her at the end (she also has a new podcast which is great too). I think I remember her talking about pink dolphins being trapped there during its formation millions of years ago...not sure tho, either way, it seems like a magical lake
Yes I love that book of Sophy’s! And her podcast too! Always listen to it the day it comes out. Find her literary knowledge of travel so inspiring
Wow, the pictures of the ice fractals took my breath away. Also, a ferry transported entire trains across the lake?Did I read that right?!
Crazy, right!
Those paintings from Vladimir Tomilovsky are enchanting.
As a winter lover I am fascinated by Siberia.
Same. Would love to see the taiga, Lake Baikal, Yakutsk, Kamchatka, and the East Siberian Sea one day
This gave me so much travel-longing. Especially Kate Marsden.
Everyone has been mentioning Kate Marsden, perhaps I need to do a longer post on her! I’ve been thinking of doing a series on explorers anyway, maybe I could start with her story
I'm with Andrew Eberlin ... Kate Marsden sounds intriguing. I shall be trying to find a book about her. I really enjoyed Trubchenko's images. The contemporary writings of Sylvain Tesson (Consolations of the Forest) are well worth a read for people beguiled by the vastness of the lake and the savageness of its existence. Another great piece, Mikey. Really love these.
Thanks, as always!
Those pictures are gorgeous. I studied Russian for years, which is where I first learned about the amazing Lake Baikal.
You know Russian?! Michael you are a constant curiosity cabinet of impressive surprises! How good are you? I’ve often thought about learning the language just so I can read Dostoyevsky in the original. Need to be able to go full time on substack so I have the bandwidth to pursue such frivolous hobbies!
"Know" is awfully strong. I studied it for eight years starting in middle school, four years of high school, and two years of uni. I was okay some thirty years ago, but didn't ever get to use it again until living in Bulgaria in 2018. And even then only a little bit. I am nowhere NEAR fluent but can read Cyrillic letters just fine, which is very handy when navigating Eastern European countries. But I ain't holding any conversations with folks.
That is still mightily impressive. Think I have please and thank you in French and German rattling around from school but that’s it
I think I have please, thank you, and hello, in about ten different languages now.