Chasing the Lake Baikal Sunrise in Listvyanka
Yesterday, we ate a meager lunch but spent money like kings, so we just threw something together for dinner. I was completely exhausted from hiking up to Chersky Peak (a local viewpoint). I ended up falling asleep around 8 PM on an empty stomach, but still managed to set an alarm to shoot today's sunrise.
One of the things I wanted to capture on this trip was a timelapse of the sunrise or sunset at every new place we visited. But as a beginner, calculating the late sunset times based on location and geography was a tough problem. After failing day after day, it took me three days to finally figure out the right spot and exact time to shoot. Unfortunately, I only figured out this precise calculation the day before we had to leave, leaving today's sunrise as my one and only chance.
I checked the sunrise time and woke up at 3:30 AM. Determined to get at least one great shot before leaving, I stepped out onto the balcony only to find the ground completely white. The dew had frozen solid, making it look like it had snowed, and the freezing cold pierced right through my skin to the top of my head. I only had this one last chance, but heavy clouds of white steam kept pouring from my mouth. My ambitious plan to shoot from Chersky Peak was on the verge of collapsing in the face of an overwhelming force of nature.
"Should I go, or should I stay?"
I've had my share of meetings in life, but rarely one as answerless as today's. After an internal meeting between just the two of us, we decided to bundle up as much as possible and give it a try. While getting ready, we paced back and forth through the lobby a few times. The security guard on duty must have thought, "What crazy stunt are these guys trying to pull now?" as his sleepy eyes doubled in size with shock.
Once we finished getting ready and stepped outside the hotel, the cold was actually more bearable than expected. However, it was so pitch black that I couldn't see a single thing in front of me—a true definition of total darkness. I brought a small flashlight, but it was absolutely no help. Even the light was swallowed by the dark, leaving nothing visible ahead. To make matters worse, it was a cloudy day, so we couldn't even rely on the moonlight. Still, thanks to the many times we had walked to the mart, we safely made it to that area which was only 500m away anyway.
From here on out, it was a mountain path. I couldn't see anything, but I already knew the path lay ahead, along with a cliff where falling wouldn't kill you, but wouldn't leave you laughing either. After an internal debate over "Should I just give up here?", I turned around and went back to the room. Looking at the time, all this agony and decision-making took exactly 10 minutes. I just got scared and ran back to the hotel in 10 minutes.
In the end, I came back to the room we had paid an extra 100 rubles for and shot a timelapse of Lake Baikal changing as the sun came up (even if it wasn't a proper sunrise shot), and compensated for waking up early for nothing by sleeping in. Still, the timelapse I got this time was somewhat satisfying.
Expenses (per person)
- Room change extra fee 50R
- Bus 150R
- Lunch 150R
Lenin coffee 108R (my brother paid)- Water 61R, bread 17R = 88R
Dinner unknown (my brother paid)- Train 6,922R
- Shower 100R
Total expenses 7,460R
Total trip expenses 525,936 KRW + 11,956R + $53.16