Irkutsk

Monday 25th August

On a warm  sunny day in August, Irkutsk is a delightful city to walk round. It doesn't have the post communist feel of Ulaan Baatar and could easily be a western European city, apart from the Cyrillic signs. Bits of it are run down, but no more so than many places in England. It has retained its historic buildings well, with many Siberian style wooden buildings still standing or in some cases sinking. Guess the foundations aren't too sound. Fascinating to see some new buildings are being  constructed using whole tree trunks in the traditional manner. There are many beautifully restored churches and 19th century buildings. The tourist information service does a great job of  identifying major places of interest in a map they give me. 

 

Epiphany Cathedral

Another Beautiful Church whose name I forget

Next to the tourist information centre is a small museum of city life showing the home of a affluent merchant of the mid to late 19th century. Geographically Irkutsk may be in Asia but culturally it is 100% European. The rooms in the museum, with a few minor exceptions could have been from Britain, Germany or even the American mid West. Right down to the Singer sewing machine. The American mid West may be the best analogy because these were people who were pioneers in a place far away from home. Just as I crossed a land use border between intensively cultivated SE Asia and central China on the one hand, with almost empty Mongolia and Siberia on the other so I have crossed over the cultural boundary  a few days later between Asia and Europe. Not only do the buildings and the people look European but traffic stops at red lights and gives way to pedestrians on crossings! For the first time I am not instantly recognised as a foreigner, so long as  keep silent. Noticeable that there are very few non European faces here.

Traditional Wooden Building

Traditional Wooden Building

 

Traditional Wooden Building

 

Couldn't resist another one.

Originally a Cinema

Lenin in his Square

Summer Flowers

Had a late lunch in the Cafe Kino where I could sit outside and watch the world go by. The only other place with tables outside was Subway. Guess it doesn't make much sense to have tables outside if you  can only use them two months a year. Explored more of Irkutsk, visiting  three churches all of which are beautifully restored. Went overboard taking lots of photos of wooden Siberian style buildings. There are just so many of them. Some are in obviously poor condition, some beautifully restored but most are just functioning homes and small businesses. From what I have seen the city planners have done a great job.

There is a new area, the 130 quarter,  constructed in semi traditional style with lots of bars and restaurants, the Covent Garden of Irkutsk, which is obviously popular in the evening and is  a very manageable walk from the hotel. For dinner I went to Rassolnik restaurant in this area, which got a good write up on Trip Advisor. It does Soviet Union nostalgia and traditional Russian food. The borscht was good, as were the filled dumplings,  but I thought it was expensive for what it is. It had Soviet era comedy films showing which reminded me so much of Singapore TV5 comedy. No subtlety and poor acting, with over-exaggerated gestures and behaviour. Having said that a lot of popular English comedy is over the top and unsubtle, the Carry On films or Black Adder, for example,but we think they are funny.  Maybe comedy just doesn't  travel well. Among the nostalgic music was "Are you going to San Francisco?" One point of contact where their nostalgia coincides with mine. It was noticeable that there are no signs of any purging of the Soviet past. Karl Marx Street is now the main shopping street and there is still a plaque to Lenin in his square.

Beer in Rassolnik restaurant

Tuesday 26th August

Brilliant sunshine this morning pouring in through the windows. Breakfast is  in a restaurant hung with crystal chandeliers and with ornate Italianate plaster work on walls and ceiling, and faux classical statues holding up lights in alcoves on the wall. The designer also had a thing for Audrey  Hepburn since all the flat pieces of wall are covered with black and white prints of her in various film roles. It was the famous "Breakfast at Tiffany's" photo that initially grabbed  my attention. The food is as retro as last night. Sausages, cold fish, dumplings, thick brown bread. There is a coffee machine almost identical to the one we had in our staff lounge at work. You press a button and it provides the coffee of your choice espresso, latte, cappuccino. Except that it doesn't,  despite the waiter tipping it in various directions. So its Nescafe Gold instant. One of the waitresses reminds me of Yvette in "Allo Allo".  Black skirt, white blouse, dark hair,  an air of intrigue and seduction. The other has the stereotypical Russian bleached blond hair contrasting with dark eyebrows and lashes on an incredibly pale face. Almost ghost like.

After breakfast, walk down to  the Central Market to get the minibus to Listvyanka on the shore of Lake Baikal. It's almost full so I don't have long to wait before it leaves. Young woman sitting next to me looks very severe and serious but I feel I should make an effort at communication and it turns out she is an artist from Irkutsk who speaks some English; it's infinitely better than my Russian. She waxes lyrical about Lake Baikal and her smile turns her face from severe to friendly with incredibly blue eyes, or contact lenses. She tells me she is coming on the bus for work.  Sadly she gets off the bus in the middle of the birch forest which we have been travelling through for the past 20 minutes. Was it something I said?

As we arrive in Listvyanka, I realise there is another English guy on the bus, Sam from London, who is taking the train in the opposite direction from me,  heading to the Beijing campus of Copenhagen University to pursue a masters degree in environmental sciences. He is obviously knowledgeable about Lake Baikal and tells me that there is a project to create a pathway round the whole of the circumference of the lake about 2000 km. So we decide to set off to explore, at least a little bit of it, and start walking along what we assume must be the path. Not quite the nicely constructed coastal board walk I would have expected in Singapore but at least its walkable. For a while,  then it turns into a track suitable only for mountain goats. Not only is it narrow, just wide enough for two feet,  and steep but there is a long drop on one side  into Lake Baikal. 

Lake Baikal: The Path Peters Out

So we decide that this probably isn't the pathway he has heard about and return to the civilisation of Listvysnka for a beer and some barbecued pork. Sam came all the way from Moscow to Irkutsk in one journey, 3rd class which sounds like a test of endurance. In particular he was telling me that the food on the train, and being sold at the stations,  was awful and extortionate. (Reminder to buy more muesli bars) Sam was keen to go on a boat trip, which I wasn't, so we parted company and I continued to explore the village of Listvyanka.

It's a bit cold for paddling

 Nothing much to see along the lake side but turned up a small road away from the shore where there were lots of quaint wooden cottages, and after about 1 km the road turned into a track through the forest.

Pretty House in Listvyanka

Pretty House in Listvyanka

It was incredibly quiet, not like a tropical forest where the insect make a din. The only sound was the breeze rustling the leaves and the occasional bird. I am guessing it isn't primary forest but it looks totally natural and unmanaged with occasional small sunlit clearings. After another km or so, I realised the path wasn't going anywhere and so returned the way I came. The path was very clear, either tractors or 4 wheel drives must use it but the thought did dawn on me that you could get seriously lost here! 

Into the Woods

Thousand of miles of emptiness in all directions.  The minibus back to Irkutsk is packed but we come into Irkutsk past the hotel so I save a walk or a bus ride.

In the evening, I went out to a restaurant/bar called "Design Bar", also   recommended by Trip Advisor,  whose address is 40 Karl Marx Street. There is another restaurant recommended by  Trip Advisor at No 28, an Italian place I have passed, so I assume they are only 12 doors apart, not far. But the numbers refer to blocks rather than individual entrances so 40 turns out to be at the very far end of Karl Marx Street; good exercise before dinner. Design Bar scores well on, guess what,  design but it must be one of the few bars in the world that has no beer. I order the sea bass and a ratatouille both of which are OK but hardly exciting. In the absence of beer I order a glass of unspecified  red French wine which costs exactly 1 rouble per ml. 

One too many? 

Think there were a couple of other people in the place when I came in but I seem to be the last to leave. Can't understand how it scored so highly on Trio Advisor. Too lazy to walk the whole length of Karl Marx Street so take trolley buses back to the hotel.

Wednesday 27th August

Another bright sunny day. This morning the coffee machine is working so I get some real coffee.

My train to Ekaterinburg leaves at 0140 on Friday morning which will leave me with a lot of time from checking out of the hotel. So I went down to the station on the No 1 tram  to see if there any cheap hotels, preferably which rent rooms by the hour like Hotel 81 in Singapore. Immediately opposite the station is a small hotel, Vitim, where I manage to book a room for 12 hours for 1000 roubles. Hardly a bargain but better than hanging around the station for all that time. From there I walk back over the river and get a trolley bus to Znamenskii Monastery which is beautiful. 

Znamenskii Monastery

Side Chapel in Znamenskii Monastery

Only a few worshippers inside when I enter so it has a real atmosphere of peace and reverence which makes me  reluctant to take photos, but then a group of tourists come in and start clicking away so all my inhibitions are lost and I do the same. Many icons on the wall, like the multiple gods in the Shanghai temple and multiple Buddhas in Ulaan Baatar monastery. Guess just one God really isn't enough. Interesting that  most of the beautiful buildings I have seen since leaving Singapore are inspired by religion. Does belief in a higher being automatically lead to the desire to create a building that reflects his power and glory? Or do political rulers use the power of religion and the resources to build stunning temples as a means to show off their power and subdue potential adversaries?

From there I walk to the Moscow Gate, an archway which was originally the main port of entry for people coming across the river from the East, although the original was demolished in the 1920s and it was only rebuilt sometime after 2000. From here there is a river trip at 1400 and I am a bit early so buy an ice cream to eat in the warm sunshine. The trend of young lovers to show their affection by locking a padlock onto the railings has obviously caught on here. Good business for makers of padlocks!

The boat trip was less than I hoped for. Some cities, London, Paris and  even Singapore look great from the river but Irkutsk isn't one of them. I am given a pre recorded commentary in English on an MP3 player but it isn't about the river at all but all about Lake Baikal with numerous plugs for various resorts.

In the evening, walk down to the 130 quarter and have a quick look in the large shopping mall that has been quite cleverly concealed in the hillside, before checking out the various restaurants. Eventually settle on one that looks busy and makes its own beer. Pivovarnya if I worked out the Cyrillic right. They have a menu in English from which I order the fish soup and pork with fried potato. Also a half litre of their dark beer which proves to be interesting if a little sweet to my taste. The waitresses all look like models and the one who serves me speaks a little English but I am surprised that so very few people do. The fish soup is not very exciting and the main dish is a lot of fried potato and only a little pork. Best part of the meal was definitely the beer.

Thursday 28th August.

After breakfast,  have a lazy morning before checking out and getting the tram down to the station. Have to wait 40  minutes for a No 1 tram. Check into the Vitim hotel which is a budget place,  and then take the tram back to the other side of the river, hoping to find somewhere that will change my Mongolian currency into roubles. Find a bank with a foreign exchange till but they turn their nose up at my Mongolian money. Almost next door is the Fullers, a restaurant which serves real Fullers beer brewed in Chiswick! I order the Baikal fish soup which is supposed to be a local speciality but proves to be boiled fish and a lot of potato. Baikal fish tastes much like any other white fish and come with lots of small bones. But the Fullers London Pride beer is good.

Later in the day, it is cool wet and miserable so decide to have dinner near the hotel in the Station restaurant which looks as good as any of the others nearby.  It's self service so I can point to what I want and I recognise and say "Borscht". She spoons out the red soup and puts it in the microwave. Similarly the chicken and mushroom filled dumplings. Not a great sign. The food is filling but think the microwave was on economy setting as it is only luke warm. What  picked up believing to be a cling film wrapped bread roll turns out to be a sweet cake with creamy filling. The cafe decor is definitely retro or have they just not changed it in the last 40 years? Wonder sadly if I left tasty and reasonably priced food behind at the Chinese border.

Station Restaurant