Last but not least on this tour was a one night stop over in Irkutsk and then the same in Moscow. On the way back we had a quick stop over in a Ethnographic museum in UstOrda (apparantly this place is the centre of Shamanisn), which took maybe half an hour but it was pretty interesting and well worth it. It was all about the history of the region, and in particular the Buryat culture and how they used to live before "civilisation" arrived. They were not unlike the North American Indians, living off the land and respecting everything that supplied their way of life. After the museum we were out of Buryat country, and we had a final sprinkle on the region border.

What struck us most on arrival in Irkutsk was how many of the buildings were sinking into the ground. The outskirts of Russian cities can be very grim, and this was the same for Irkutsk, but when we reached the centre, it turned out to be pretty and cosmopolitan. We all ran straight to our rooms and jumped into the shower or bath, it had been over a week since we last had one. Next it was off for a quick city tour with Andrei, who had also had a shower, washed his hair and came back looking like a totally different person. It was his girlfriends birthday, but he was leaving her behind to take us out to dinner. Lorraine was so ill by this stage that she went straight to bed. Again, she got the best room, with a balcony and dining area. How did she do it? We walked down the main street, past the theatre and the library and came to the river which ran into the lake. It was partly frozen over, but thats only to be expected in sub zero temperatures. The main street was called Karl Marx street, one in every town and city in Russia. It was also snowing in Irkutsk, and the temperature was much lower here than on the lake. We had dinner in a hotel restautant and then headed back to the hotel. Next morning we all tried to get a bit of souvenir shopping done as we hadn't been able to buy presents for anyone at all, but Irkutsk isn't really touristy and in the limited time we had it wasn't possible to get anything much. We didn't have much time here at all, so we can't really make any recommendations about where to go or what to do.

Moscow

Sadly, this was our last stop on our trip. It was a great one, I think we all will remember it and feel like we acheived something. Not everyone would choose to go to Siberia on holiday, in fact we were all asked at one time or another by one of our friends, "why??". Well, why not? It's interesting, non touristy and different. I would go back tomorrow if I could. Moscow was a real contrast to Lake Baikal. No longer stuck in the past, it's a thriving, cosmopolitan city, coming down with tourists and chic coffee shops. We were met at the airport by Genadi, who had met us on our first night. The four of us looked a lot less groomed when we fell off the plane this time round! We were taken straight to Red Square and the Kremlim for a brief but interesting trip around the 2. The sun was high in the sky, and the snow was completely gone from the whole city, it felt almost summery. No-one could fail to feel impressed by the view of St Basils cathedral as you come up to Red Square, with the Kremlin on the right and the huge department store on the left. If you are hungry, there is a great little cafe up on the top floor of the GUM stores, they do Pizza, Pasta and Salads to eat in or take away. You must have the correct change though, or you will be given the frosty Russian stare!

We took the underground back to our hotel, the Ismaylova hotel, built for the olympics. The Moscow underground is world famous for its grandeur, statues and frescos, and it didn't disappoint. But again, it was a very quick tour so we were off as soon as we had got on. This last night was nice, we all went to dinner unaccompanied, and there were tears, laughter and yawns. In fact, Haydn was the only one of us who didn't cry at some stage or other during the holiday.

All that was left was to fly out of Russia and back to the UK. All of our flights were on time and went smoothly. There was time to do a bit of duty free shopping, and if you ever find yourself flying out of the airport in Moscow, look out for the thriving sparrow population there. It was great to get back to real life again, but we were all sad to be leaving it all behind too.

Back to top