Lake Placid

Some factoids on Lake Baikal:

- largest body of fresh water in the world
- many endemic species including the Nerpa seal
- zooplankton keep the lake clean and it is said that they can knock off a
corpse (toe nails and all) in a day
- Silicon is used in place of calcium in some lake species

Add to this strange ecology, the juxtaposition of Siberian nouveau riche Barbie Castle new builds (they seem to love turrets and pastel colours) with the original one room wooden shacks along the shore as well as the utter calm of the water and you have a pretty strange place.

I spent at least 40 minutes trying to get that perfect skimmer, where the stone keeps bouncing into the distance until it disappears over the horizon. I nearly succeeded.

We are staying in a swank alpine cabin with hearty big food, clean air and even hot showers. A welcome change from the Keito 'Squaddie wash'.

Sounds too damn good to be true I know, that's why we commissioned the Rumble Strips to put together a virtual siberian lake for your delectation. Click on the play below to go there.