The appealing capital of Buryatia, Ulan Ude (Oelan-Oede), is 456km east of Irkutsk by rail and makes a sensible staging post for visiting Mongolia or eastern Lake Baikal. Founded as Verkhneudinsk in 1775, the city prospered as a major stop on the tea-caravan route from China via Troitskosavsk (now Kyakhta). Ulan means ‘Red’ in Buryat,…