facebook
twitter
pinterest
expert@trans-siberian.co.uk UK: +44 (0)345 521 2910 USA: 1 8665 224308
  • Journeys
    • Trans-Siberian Classic
      • Journey Planning Guide
      • Trans-Siberian Classic – departing St. Petersburg
      • Trans-Siberian Classic – departing Moscow
      • Trans-Siberian Classic – departing Beijing
      • Trans-Siberian Classic – departing Vladivostok
    • Trans-Siberian Rail Cruises
    • Luxury Trans-Siberian Rail Cruises
    • China Trips
  • Destinations
    • Russia
      • Ekaterinburg
      • Irkutsk & Lake Baikal
      • Moscow
      • Novosibirsk
      • Perm
      • St Petersburg
      • Ulan-Uday & Buryatia
      • Vladivostok
    • Mongolia
      • Bayan-Gobi
      • Elstei
      • Erlian
      • Huhehot
      • Naadam Festival
      • Terelj National Park
    • China
      • Beijing
      • Guangzhou
      • Guilin
      • Harbin
      • Hong Kong
    • Interactive Map
  • Expert Help
    • About
      • No Ordinary Travel Company
      • Our People
      • Our Small Print
    • Responsible Travel
    • Flights
    • Visa Info
    • Trains to Russia
    • Life on board Classic Trans-Siberian
    • Traveller’s Checklist
    • Booking
    • FAQ
    • Hints & Tips
  • Gallery
  • Blog
  • Contact

Blog Post

Trips and Tales #83: Buryatia: In and out of Ulan Uday

14 Sep 2012
Comment are off
Bernard H. Wood
Ulan Uday

Trips and Tales (Part 83)

Ivolginsk Monastery in Buryatia showing Buddhist influence

As with most cities, Ulan Uday – Buryatia’s capital – formed out of a convergence of favourable coincidences: the presence of the Uda river, an area suitable for the establishment of a Cossack Ostrog (fort) and ideal positioning amidst trade-routes between Russia, Mongolia and China. That was back in 1666 – whilst here in the UK, destructive and purifying fire burned the heart out of plague-ridden, fire-trap London. Through trade, Ulan Uday quickly grew and from 1735 saw several name-changes from the original Udinskoye, through Udinsk and Verkhneudinsk to Ulan Uday from 1934 onwards, meaning “Red Uda”; the title rubber-stamping the city’s Communist embrace. Incidentally, in keeping with Ekaterinberg, the city was also closed to outsiders (it “opened” in 1991).

Ulan Uday is located south of central Baikal by approx 100 km, at the foot of both the Khrebet Ulan-Burgasy and Khamar-Daban mountain ranges but still 600m above sea level. Today, it has a population of over 400,000, though like Buryatia generally; the Buryats themselves represent only a sizeable minority. Over 70 per cent are Russian; the Buryats break 20 per cent, with the remaining few percentiles (and micro-percentiles) comprising Ukrainians and others.

Scanning through still and moving images of the city on and above ground, it becomes apparent that Ulan Uday is itself assembled from a distinct mix of styles. The squat, domed Byzantine cross-over is represented in the traditional Russian churches of the Old Believers. The main streets cast a nod towards the Italian Renaissance style favoured and imported by Peter the Great. Outlying rectangular block tenements are the spoor of Soviet expansion and, with a distinctly Decemberist feel, more beautiful ornate wooden structures signify milestones of burgeoning trade. Whilst before, I’ve only studied these as relics of Decemberist revolt and exile, here paradoxically they are symbols of mainstream acceptance and success: wealthy merchants houses complete with attractive river-side prospects.

It’s a perspective thing: I think they are beautiful but as ‘L’ who interpreted and assisted me over the net told me: the ones still in use (in Irkutsk at least) are viewed as old, dilapidated dwellings for people who can’t afford better, shoe-horned with central heating so that the current residents don’t die during winter. Either that or they are relegated to the status of non-functional museum pieces. All a pity, really.

At any rate the whole city-package is spread across the landscape in a rambling, spacious style. Modernity seems to have gone wide rather than high and blocks are modestly piled by general Westernised-city standards. Mercifully enough, with skies this bright-blue, frankly who’d want to obscure them?

The multifaceted architecture is perhaps no surprise too, when considering Ulan Uday’s collision of Asian, Buryat and European-Russian cultures. I read that the overall tone of the place is quite positive and light, perhaps bright even, buoyed up by Buddhist influence perhaps (?) and a welcoming curiosity towards strangers. It wouldn’t surprise me: Buddhists have markedly been the nicest people that I have met by far.

In support of this, the crime figures are said to be extremely low. I suppose that – as with most places – you’ll find it if you go looking; so best not to look then. Avoiding drunks for instance (as with anywhere) is considered good policy. Tell me about it; I can only speculate as to what the average Buddhist Buryat might think if transposed to Anytown UK when our late-night bar owners are “throwing out the trash”. Our own “cultural cringe”, I think.

More next time.

Next time: Trips and Tales (Part 84) Buryatia: In and out of Ulan Uday (Part 2)


[Photo by mikeemesser]

About the Author

Social Share

  • google-share
Ready to Book? Speak to an Expert
Feefo logo

Travellers Checklist

Visa Info » Flights » Trains to Russia » The Checklist »

Hints, Tips & Fun Facts...

Don’t take a suitcase. Take a soft bag with wheels and a pulling handle.
2018 certificate of excellence tripadvisor

Your payment is protected: everything is held in a trust account until you've completed your trip.

Explore the blog

  • Celebrations and Events
  • ▼Destinations
    • China
    • Hong Kong
    • Mongolia
    • Moscow
    • Russia
    • St Petersburg
  • ►Life
    • ►Arts & Culture
      • Food and Drink
      • Stories – Folklore -Superstition
    • History
    • Life in Russia
  • News
  • Russian Language
  • ▼Series
    • (Moderately) Superstitious
    • A and L in Irkutsk
    • A Few Choice Words
    • Alien Visitors
    • All About The Bottom Line
    • All In The Game
    • All In The Preparation
    • All Quiet on the Eastern Front
    • Almost Medieval
    • Ancient Traces Revisited
    • Animated Russia
    • Anomalous Zones
    • Arrival: Beijing
    • Baba Yaga Revisited
    • Backwards and Forwards
    • Baikal at Last!
    • Business in the City of Extremes
    • By the time you read this
    • Captured Fragments
    • Chasing the spirit
    • Cheaper – Better – Easier
    • Christmas Leftovers
    • Doomed Utopias
    • Dreams Made Concrete
    • Easter Variations
    • Eastwards To Novosibirsk
    • Feline Exhibits
    • Fragmentary Views
    • Free Knowledge for the Proletariat
    • Free Russian Cinema
    • Gobi and Steppe Wanderings
    • Good Advices
    • Good Traditions
    • Grandfather Frost
    • Here Seeking Knowledge
    • Hiking – Cooking – Tick Picking
    • How Cold?
    • How Hot?
    • Igor the Shaman
    • In and Out of Ulaanbaatar
    • In and Out of Ulan Uday
    • International Womens Day in Russia
    • Irkutsk Now
    • Is It Safe?
    • Joanna Lumley’s Trans-Siberian Adventure
    • Kizhi: Scattered Memories
    • Kvas – The Good Stuff
    • Language and literature 2016
    • Last stop: Vladivostok
    • Life On Rails
    • Loveless
    • Low Season Traveler
    • March Of The Immortals
    • Maslenitsa
    • Matilda: A Russian Scandal
    • Minefields of the soul #1
    • Mongolia By Proxy
    • More on Krasnoyarsk
    • Mythological?
    • Nightmare Fuel
    • Non-Verbal Confusion
    • Opposing Worlds
    • Over The Border
    • Pagans On Ice
    • Pronunciations and Tribulations
    • Random Freezings
    • Remembrance Day
    • Russia Sells Alaska
    • Russian Language: Ways and Means
    • Russian things to see and do
    • Scam-Tastic
    • Scrapbooks and Backpacks
    • Sculpting the National Character
    • See You In The Bunker
    • Shadow Man in Circumspect
    • Shot By Both Sides
    • Siege Fatigue
    • Something about Cossacks
    • Sort Your Life Out
    • Stretching the Ruble
    • Survivalist
    • Sweeping generalisations
    • Systems of Control
    • Taking Care
    • The Bear Thing -and Other Interlopers
    • The Ghost at Your Shoulder
    • The Other 10%
    • The roll of the egg
    • The Silent Anniversary
    • The Snow Maiden
    • The Spirits of Winter
    • The Temple at the Border
    • There’s a Russian in my House
    • These Four Walls
    • Thespian Pursuits
    • This Word “Defective”
    • Trans-Siberian Offshoots
    • Trips and Tales
    • Unknown Territories
    • Unseen Unheard
    • Visitations
    • Vodka
    • Voices of Experience
    • Welcome to Magnitogorsk
    • When a lobster whistles on top of a mountain
    • Words are Hard
    • X-rays and space ships
    • Yes They Mean Us
    • Your Cash In St.Petersburg Now!
    • Zaryadye Park
  • Tourist Tips
  • Uncategorized

Quick Links

Ready to Book
Speak to an Expert
FAQs

Destinations

Russia
Mongolia
China
Interactive Map

Journeys

Trans-Siberian Classic
Trans-Siberian Rail Cruise
Luxury Trans-Siberian Rail Cruise
China Trips

Contact Us

E: expert@trans-siberian.co.uk
T: +44 (0)345 521 2910

facebook twitter
© 2018 Russia Experience - All rights reserved