An early-morning battle over improperly issued train
tickets at the Chita train station threatened to disrupt our travels. But now
that we are sitting in a cozy apartment in Ulan-Ude listening to the swinging sounds of
Frank Sinatra, everything seems just fine. Our host Oleg, an editor at
the "Buryat Youth" newspaper, entertains us by playing samples from
his impressive record collection. John Coltrane, Billie Holiday, Dean Martin, Louis
Armstrong and Tom Jones fill the air, while Oleg's wife Svetlana prepares dinner
and their 12-year-old son Alyosha chases his puppy around the living room.
Our plan is to venture out into the countryside and spend a few days exploring life in a Buryat village.
Oleg generously offered the use of his office at "dome pechati" (publishing
house) where he works so that we could make the necessary arrangements.There, Oleg introduced us to Tsyren-Dulma, a well-known Buryat poet and an editor at the "Buryat Pravda" newspaper.
She suggested we visit a Buryat settlement called Galtai located about 120 kilometers southeast of Ulan-Ude. To get there we will have to travel three hours by bus to the neighboring village of Khoshun-Uzug. There we will meet an old friend of hers who can help us find a way to get to Galtai. Since her friend -- a retired school teacher -- has no telephone, Tsyren-Dulma simply writes a note in Buryat explaining who we are. She tells us to present it upon our arrival. She didn't know her friend's address, but assured us that anyone we meet on the street will know where to find her. And so in the morning we will set off for Galtai, armed with two bus tickets, a note in Buryat, and a half-full bottle of vodka that Oleg gave us to stave off the cold.
