Day 14

We awoke to heavy rain. Cab ride to airport was nice.  Irkutsk International Airport is strange. First of all, it is much older, smaller and not as nice as their domestic airport. They scanned bags on entry.  We had to ask 3 times where departure was. There were no signs and they only way out of ticketing was through either Green (nothing to declare) or red (customs) doors. We didn’t think these applied to departing passengers, but they did. Our bags were scanned again upon entry to departure area. Then they were scanned yet again upon entry to waiting area.  We saw a small sign for “high comfort lounge”. Upon entry we asked if it was business class lounge. A woman at the buffet said no, but made a call.  An official woman appeared with a list and checked our boarding passes against the names on the list.  We passed so she gave us a coupon good for $5 worth of goods at the counter.  Bo got tea and they took her card. S7 airline planes are a fluorescent green. The flight was right on time but we had to climb stairs in the rain to get in — together with a crowd of very pushy people. The food on the plane was inedible. Seoul airport is big and nice. The Asiana flight was good. Airbus A350 (their newest) is really nice, and the seat configuration is excellent. We got out of LAX in no time. The worst part was the drive home  — over 1.5 hrs in Friday afternoon rush.

Day 13

Early morning breakfast (6:30) with the hordes.  Easy bus ride to train station. The Baikal excursion train was packed. We were in the Russian car. The other cars were full of Chinese. We got lucky.  There were four seats around a table, and a young gentleman across from Al was an electrical engineer from St. Petersburg. He not only spoke good English, but also had great stories to tell. One of his ancestors was a forestry specialist and in early 1900s he discovered a new plant species on Olhon island. He later emigrated to the US and became a professor of forestry at Berkeley. The train was uneventful from Irkutsk to Sludyanka. A Russian group from Angarst sitting at a table/seats across from us took out all kinds of food supplies as soon as the train started moving and they continued to eat until almost the final stop. They had enough food to feed at least 50 people. After Sludyanka, the train rode very slowly along the lake and made several stops. Most stops were short ~ 25 minutes and one was 50 minutes. We got off and had to fight hoards of Chinese taking selfies and pictures everywhere. At 1:30 pm they served us lunch at our table- soup, bread, chicken, potatoes, salad, dessert, and tea.  It was pretty good. Our destination was Port Baikal and a quick ferry to Listvyanka.  The choice was immediate ferry or one 45 minutes later. We opted for the later so we could explore port Baikal. What a mistake. There was nothing there but rusted out ship wrecks. Quick ferry to Listvyanka, then an hour bus to Irkutsk. We did dinner in the London Pub in our hotel and it was good.

Day 12

After breakfast we did a trial run to train station. Our train tomorrow is 7:40 and we don’t want to miss it. The station is large and pretty. We entered in the main entrance but were told we should go in entrance #4 so we did, and found out that the train number will be shown on the status board to tell us which track it will depart from. We then took minibus #20 to the Decembrists museum, but the bus driver was an idiot who couldn’t even read a city map and did not know anything so he told us to get off at a wrong place.  It was a 10 minute walk to the museum. The museum actually has two parts – it consists of two “mansions” of the two most famous Decembrists (members of a secret society who plotted a rebellion against the tsar and were sentenced to exile to Siberia in 1825) the Trubetskoy and the Volkonskis. Both of them were wealthy aristocrats (princes), but they had to do hard labor in a mine near Irkutsk and then live in the area for many years. Their wives followed them and both households became the center of Irkutsk intellectual life. The museums are very interesting and well done, with explanations in English. After the museum we took the #20 bus back to our headquarters in Kirov square to have a little rest before further activities. Our next outing was for an afternoon meal.  We had several recommendations for the best restaurant. We walked 20 minutes to fifth army street to the restaurant (trapeznikov}.  It was the best food we have had here. Then we walked – total 8 miles.  Evening meal (8pm) at English Pub in our hotel.  The food was good.

Day 11

Breakfast in the Russian hotel was not too different from Marriott; the food tasted just as good but the presentation was not as sophisticated.  Our plan for today was to go to Listvyanka, on Lake Baikal because on Sunday we only had 1.5 hours there and could not explore it properly. We took a bus to the central market, then a minibus to Listvyanka.  It was a picturesque 1 hour ride.  We got off the bus before the town at a maritime museum. The museum was excellent, showing  the geological historical formation of the lake.  Unfortunately, most of the explanations were in Russian. They had a video simulation in English of a submersible dive to the bottom of the lake, which was very interesting. At the deepest point it is 1 mile deep. From the museum we took a cab into town. The town was totally different from Sunday. It was empty compared to the crowds on Sunday.  The weather was beautiful, 72 degrees. We walked along and across the village. There are many old wooden houses there, and the village could be lovely if people cared more about their surroundings. Many places look neglected even though many if not most houses offer accommodations for tourists (often with the traditional Russian banyas =sauna-like baths). We had 2 omul fish, one hot and one cold-smoked and bread for lunch. We definitely prefer the hot omul to the cold. There were quite a few people on Listvyanka beach, boat operators were offering boat rides along the coast and people were just enjoying a beautiful summer-like day. In the afternoon, we took the marshrutka (little bus) back to Irkutsk and found our way back to the hotel (via the central market and a lot of fur hats).

For dinner we went to the Chinese restaurant  in our hotel. It was terrible. We ordered two dishes but they only brought one. We walked to Travelers Coffee and had nice dessert. Then back to our hotel English Pub for Armenian brandy. Pub is nice.

 

Day 10

Since the Marriott was booked we had to move.  We packed, checked out and took a taxi to Angara hotel.  It is walking distance from Marriott, in the central Kirov square.  It is a Russian hotel and all bilingual is Russian and Chinese.  There is an overwhelming number of Chinese tourists here.  After checking in, we walked around Irkutsk’s two main streets – Lenin Street and Karl Marx Street taking pictures of (Bo) of beautiful historic buildings. We had lunch in a nice restaurant (Travelers café) and walked back to the Marriott. There we met with a friend of a friend of a friend, a chemistry scientist  who lives in Irkutsk.  He was supposed to give us suggestions of things to see in Irkutsk and vicinity.  But he was an absent minded professor who did not impart any knowledge.  We spent two hours with him talking about his travels, about Poland and mutual friends. After rest we embarked on an evening stroll.  We walked to the embankment and the statue of Alexander III, the tsar who ordered the construction of transsiberian railway. Since we weren’t hungry enough to go out to dinner, we just bought a box of wine, a loaf of bread, and a hunk of cheese. We needed ice to cool the wine so we asked our floor concierge (as in big communist hotels, this hotel has a concierge on every floor) who first directed us to a restaurant on 3rd floor (no ice); they directed us to a bar on 1st floor (no ice); and the directed us to a Chinese restaurant also on 1st floor where we got a lot of ice and a lot of smiles.

Day 9

After breakfast we took the #16 bus to the ferry terminal.  Bo had purchased tickets online from Irkutsk to Listvyanka (which is on lake Baikal). It turned out to be an excursion. There were 12 of us in the group, and we were the only non-Russians.  First stop was Taltsi, an open-air museum that contains collection of historical wooden buildings. At least 50 buildings all of wood from 18th and 19th century. Not surprisingly, like everywhere else, there were lots of Chinese tourists there.  From there we took a bus to a chair lift that went to a peak called the Czerski Rock, above Listvyanka. It has the best view of the river Angara flowing into Lake Baikal. The chair lift moved very slowly and had lovely views of the taiga with colorful leaves, but next to it was a zip line with people zooming through very fast. Then on by bus to Listvyanka.  What a madhouse.  A beach resort jammed with people and cars. And many vendors selling warm Omul, a local white fish from the lake.  We ate 2 and they were delicious.  We bought one at the fish market and liked it so when we saw a whole street where in front of each house people were smoking omul, we wanted to buy one more. They were selling out very fast because people were stopping their cars to buy they and take them to Irkutsk. We did get one fresh from the smoker, but when we asked for bread, people just laughed and said that even all the stores were out of bread because all Irkutsk came to Listvanka over the weekend due to gorgeous weather. From Listvyanka, we took the ferry back to Irkutsk (1 hour), and Bus # 16 back to the hotel.