Wandering Fractal

Sunset over the Baikal. View from Listvyanka. My first stop on my trans-siberian journey was around the lake Baikal. I first went to Ulan-Ude and hiked the east shore of the lake. Then I went to Irkutsk and hiked the west side of the lake. The Baikal is impressive. It's so huge that when you look at the longest side you can't see the end. My first impression when seeing it, was that it looked like an ocean. It's a beautiful place with nice hikes. The east side is more flat and sandy whereas the west side is more steep and has a Mediterranean vibe. If you are there don't miss the Omul. It's a fish found only in the Baikal and it's delicious. You can eat it smoked, baked or fried, but my favorite dish was the Omul Sugudai. Raw fish with onions and lemon (it's similar to ceviche). The water of the Baikal is so pure you can drink it without filtering. Snowy mountains on the east side of the lake. Autumn colors were starting to pai...

Fish pond in the Forbidden city. We stayed a week in Beijing, capital of China. We went to see the Forbidden city. The number of entries per day is limited. You can buy the tickets on the spot, but we wanted to be sure to have a ticket, so we booked them. The issue is that the web site is only in Chinese and only accept Chinese credit cards. We had to go trough an agency for a small fee. It did save use the queue at the entrance. The palace is impressive and you could spend a whole day walking inside the massive compound. On another day we went to the National Museum of China. It's close to the Forbidden City on the Tian'anmen square. The gigantic communist style building host artifacts from all over the country and from all its periods, from the prehistoric age to today. It's one of the most impressive museum I have seen and it's completely free ! If you stay in Beijing, don't miss the Hutongs. They are traditional quarter of small brick houses. ...

Surfers From Sydney I took the night bus to Byron Bay. This part of the east coast has only one bus option and it's the night one. Prepare some warm clothes because the air conditioning can be quite strong. After 12:45 hours I arrived in this small town near the sea. It has amazing beaches and a hippie vibe. The main activities are swimming, surfing and strolling along the beach. One good walk is to go all the way up to the lighthouse. I stayed in a hostel called Arts Factory Lodge . It's a bite outside of town and looks like a small hippie village (even more than Byron Bay itself). Don't expect a nice and quiet place. It's raucous, dirty and crowded, but it's a worthwhile experience. Tip: avoid the kitchen. It's more a battlefield than a cooking place. View from the lighthouse. Water pool at low tide. Cormorant

Kegon waterfall near Nikko. After the thrill of the big city, we moved to the quiet mountains. We went north of Tokyo to the small village of Nikko. There we enjoyed walks in the snowy forest and hot bathes in Onsen. Walk in the snowy forest near Nikko. After Nikko we went to the west coast with a one day stop in Matsumoto to visit the castle. On the coast, we stayed in the city of Kanazawa. There lies one of the most beautiful garden of Japan, the Kenroku-en. It was still half covered in snow, but it didn't lose of its magnificence. Kenroku-en in Kanazawa. From Kanazawa, we made a one day trip to the Shirakawa-go village. There the villager perpetuates the tradition of thatched houses famous in the region. Traditional thatched house in Shirakawa-go. Shirakawa-go. Trout living in the canals of the Shirakawa-go village. Roughly the path we took from Tokyo.