We've been staying on Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal for a few days. The book said it was a place of subtle beauty, but we felt it was more like over-the-top, slap-you-around-until-you're-dizzy-from-it beauty. In fact this might be a short article because I've got loads of photos to upload.
We stayed at Nikita's Homestead, which was a great hostel, and they looked after us unbelievably well, even coping with my odd diet for 3 meals a day, and producing kittens and new books to read on demand!
We went to the North Cape and saw nerpa, and we saw the shaman rocks on the island, and went to the mainland to a shamanic sacred spring, and met some of the local Buryat people. We also tried riding some of the local horses, and I hired a bike for a bit and had a look at some of the island. We met some great people (you all know who you are!) and generally had such a fabulous time we didn't want to leave, but we have our train tickets to Ulan Ude....
Don't forget to look at the flora and fauna photos!