Buriatia is Buddhist – well, there’s a lot of it about and there are two wonderful temples here, one high on a hill overlooking the city, one a few miles away across the completely flat steppe.

Its just like being back in Dharamshala! Absolutely lovely and that wonderful feeling of just peace, tranquility and all is and will be well. The artwork is less intricate than the temples I am used to and the faces depicted are squarer and sort of Mongolian but its Tibetan Buddhism OK and lovely to be among red robed monks.

The one out of town was built in 1945 because the communist regime had destroyed all the Buddhist stuff and they wanted to replace it – there are lots of temples on the site, all for the various sects and lineages, all beautiful, monks chanting, a kora to walk round, glorious sunshine.

One held, instead of the usual effigy of the Buddha or whoever, the body of a lama who died in 1927 but has not decomposed – he is said to be in a state of deep meditation. He sits, a little slumped, with his glasses on, for us to see and pay our respects and wonder.

There was an art gallery on site, here’s a painting, its just called “happines”.