Next Stop on the Trans-Mongolian Trip – Irkutsk, Russia at Lake Baikal

Next stop on the Trans-Mongolian Trip… Arrival in Irkutsk, Russia, population 587,000. As I mentioned before, Irkutsk is one of the most popular stops for travelers on the Trans-Siberian. The main reason for this is Lake Baikal which is only about a forty five minute drive from the city and is the oldest and deepest
freshwater lake in the world.

Overlooking part of Irkutsk from the bridge

Some opt to stay at the lake but I was staying with someone I’d met
through Couchsurfing who lived in the city of Irkutsk. I was set to
take the bus but just like all cities in Russia, local transportation
can get a bit confusing for any foreigner that doesn’t speak Russian.
I ended up missing my stop and ended up sitting up front in a seat next to the
bus driver. He spoke maybe two words in English, I spoke maybe three
words of Russian. We obviously got along great.

You can tell by the look on his face… we were getting along great, just like two peas in a pod…

He took me back to
where I was supposed to get off and told me not to worry about paying
the fare. This had now redeemed the cabbie that ripped me off in St.
Petersburg a few weeks earlier…. things are looking up in Irkutsk.
It was Friday when I arrived so I was able to get a weekend look into
the lives of those in this city. Traffic here is just as crazy as it is
in Moscow and it seems they must import half their cars with the
steering wheel on the opposite side of the car. The first night there
my friend took me to the top of the city’s overlook point and the following day , I was headed off to Lake Baikal for the afternoon.
As I mentioned before, Lake Baikal is the deepest freshwater lake in the world with an average depth of almost 800 meters and its deepest section at almost 5,400 feet. It’s also the oldest at 30 million years old and has over 1700 different species of plants and animals of which, two thirds of them can be found nowhere else in the world.  It was about an hour or so from the city of Irkutsk and unfortunately it was raining, cold and extremely windy the entire time I was there. I think that kept me from a quick swim but I did test the waters for a split second and just as I thought, the water was just above freezing. About five
minutes later, I heard two people jump in futher down the shore. Crazy
Russians….

Along the harbor…

Since they weren’t running any boats that day, a friend and I managed
a small hike to overlook the lake from the mountains that surrounded
it before heading back to Irkutsk.

Overlooking Lake Baikal

Most of the rest of the next day was spent in the city just walking
the streets. The buildings here were extremely varied. Some were very new
and modern while others seemed to be the original buildings that
stood before the Trans-Siberian railway ever reached Irkutsk.

One of the main pedestrian streets in downtown Irkutsk

And surprisingly, things seemed just as expensive here in Irkutsk as it was in Moscow and St. Petersburg. It just doesn’t add up. I was told a Russians average
salary is only about $500 per month (USD) but yet, things are just
slightly less expensive as you would find in Scandinavia. It’s
especially expensive to buy a car with prices about twice what other
countries might expect to pay. Later that night, I was headed back to the train station continuing my journey onward to Mongolia. But after a weekend here in Irkutsk, you could tell people enjoyed a much more relaxed lifestyle than that
found in the larger cities. Maybe Lake Baikal has a lot to do with that.

Tatiana and I right before I left for the train station. She was my Russian translator, Irkutsk tour guide, and host. Hope to see you in Thailand!

And since this weekend was my first time ‘Couchsurfing’ I would say that it was definitely a great experience. My host was absolutely great (and a great cook I might add). It’s always a plus too when you can spend time with a local that can show you around town to the places you’d never find in any guide books.