In winter the surface of the lake freezes to a depth of about a metre. Enough, it is said, for a car to drive across it. It might sound like a myth but the story goes that at the time of the Russo-Japanese war, the Russian army placed railway tracks over Baikal in order to reach the front more quickly and efficiently, sending a total of 65 locomotives and 2,000 wagons over the lake. Fishing flourishes on the lake, but two thirds of the fish caught are omul. They are sold everywhere. After gazing on Lake Baikal for a day, my thoughts were distilled into the idea that the lake embodied some infinitely deep existence. (from "Against the Wind" - Poolbeg Press)