Most of us are going for an excursion today, thanks to the minibus that the municipality has loaned us. The mayor, accompanied this time by his son, is still present with us. Even though we don't communicate so much with him (except the Russian-speaking people among us), he appears to be a very nice guy. Later on in the day, we got sourly disillusioned: the mayor is in fact not the mayor, but simply an employee of the municipality. Probably one of us started to call him 'mayor' because of his nice outfits, and this 'truth' was never questioned later on. A lesson for documentary making. To tell the truth, we were wondering why the mayor – even of a small city – was spending so much time with us.
Anyway, we all head to an area in the south of Sludianka on the way to Mongolia, mostly populated by Bouriat people, an ethnic minority which shares a lot with Mongols. The landscape is dramatically different from what we have seen until now. Very large, flat and fertile plains, surrounded by high snowed mountains, many cows. We now feel that we are crossing one border. More exactly, we are in between two spheres of influence, in a zone which delimits two empires, the Russian and the Chinese ones. Eventually, we find ourselves not more than 100 kilometers from the border of Mongolia.
In the middle of nowhere, we found ourselves in a thermal resort but of a very special kind. All the wooden houses have a function: one for toilets, one for massages, one for the bath. And the hot sulphured water of the 'banya' is actually spread in a pool, which appears to be aimed at the kettle and not really to human beings. Still the experience appears funny enough.
When we return in Sludianka in the night, we experience a last sauna – a real one this time with swimming in the Lake Baikal, and return to the editing of the films by night; this 4th of September has been a day-off for most of us.
Anyway, we all head to an area in the south of Sludianka on the way to Mongolia, mostly populated by Bouriat people, an ethnic minority which shares a lot with Mongols. The landscape is dramatically different from what we have seen until now. Very large, flat and fertile plains, surrounded by high snowed mountains, many cows. We now feel that we are crossing one border. More exactly, we are in between two spheres of influence, in a zone which delimits two empires, the Russian and the Chinese ones. Eventually, we find ourselves not more than 100 kilometers from the border of Mongolia.
In the middle of nowhere, we found ourselves in a thermal resort but of a very special kind. All the wooden houses have a function: one for toilets, one for massages, one for the bath. And the hot sulphured water of the 'banya' is actually spread in a pool, which appears to be aimed at the kettle and not really to human beings. Still the experience appears funny enough.
When we return in Sludianka in the night, we experience a last sauna – a real one this time with swimming in the Lake Baikal, and return to the editing of the films by night; this 4th of September has been a day-off for most of us.
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2 comments:
hehehe
I guess one should not always trust the power of perception..."suits create the man" but does the man "fill-out" the suit?
Mongolia must be amazing, a friend went there recently....amazing photographs...
Speaking of which: will you guys be posting images soon as well?
Loving the photo's!
(^_^)
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