Leaving out of Beijing at 1AM, I was headed for the airport to travel to Irkutsk, Russia. I had actually wanted to take the train to Irkutsk by traveling through Mongolia however, the cost of the train vs. the flight was about the same cost believe it or not. In addition to that, the train would have been about a 2 day journey! And since I was meeting up with my friend in Irkutsk, I decided against traveling through Mongolia with any stopovers, especially since I’d already been there about a year ago. So off I went to travel to Irkutsk with a 3 hour flight into the city from Beijing.
The Irkutsk Theater
And landing in the city by plane was one of the strangest experiences I’d had so far while flying. We did what I can only describe as a very low ‘fly over’ of the entire city. Instead of slowly descending straight to the runway like most descents, the pilot instead flew very low and circled the entire city before landing.
Russians love statues and there are no shortages of them in any city I’ve visited
It was the weirdest thing and not a comfortable feeling since I doubt we were any higher than 3,000-5,000 feet in altitude for more than 10 minutes. Once landed, it was another fun experience. After 25 minutes in line for passport control, when I finally arrived to the window, I guess the officers wanted to pay me some extra special attention. It took them nearly 3 full minutes of staring at me, then my passport, me, then my passport. Everyone else got cut within 20 seconds… what gives!
Snapshot view of downtown Irkutsk. They have buses, trolleys and light rail all buzzing about the city.
And I must say, it was the smallest and oldest ‘international’ airport I’d ever been in. From what my friend told me, it was built during the second world war however it hadn’t been updated or expanded since being built. Somehow, I believed her every word. I was just glad to be on the ground at this point.
Though it looks as if the building is larger on the sides you can’t see, it really isn’t much bigger than this picture portrays…
I soon met my friend and we were off, gallivanting around the city of Irkutsk, population 587,000. For a bit of history for those looking to travel to Irkutsk, the city was founded in the late 1600’s as a result of trading between the Russians and the Buryats (the original natives of Siberia). With its location by Lake Baikal and with its proximity to China, trading here led it to become one of the largest cities in Siberia. It is also one of the top destinations along the Trans-Siberian route from Moscow.
This is the local ‘China’ market near the downtown area – a great place to find bargains
While there visiting, I quickly got acquainted with her friends and family since this was her home turf of which she was showing me around. Somehow I just knew the next 2-3 weeks here would be entirely different from the few days I’d spent here this time last year while taking the Trans-Siberian to Beijing.
So where do I start on this whirlwind Irkutsk adventure?!?
Yes…that’s a bottle of Vodka on the dinner table
During this first week, I got to know not only her friends and family, but more importantly, Russian traditions, customs and of course, FOOD! And boy was I fed. Her mother wouldn’t let me leave the table until she could hear me getting fatter. I wasn’t complaining though, all the food was delicious and I was going for seconds and thirds on almost everything. So what were these traditional Siberian dishes? Well, many were made similar to that of dumplings: Pozi (meat filled dumpling), Sirniki, (cottage cheese pancakes with sour cream) to name a couple.
Russian Smoked Cheese… my favorite
And then there were others… Borsch (the traditional Russian beetroot soup),sausages, potato pancakes, fish, a huge variety of vegetable salads (usually made with either vinegar or sour cream), and my favorite, Russian smoked cheese. If you travel to Irkutsk, try as many of the traditional Russian dishes as you can. They are delicious!
It was all more than I could handle. I had no idea Russian food was so good. Apparently I had missed out on nearly all of it the last time I traveled through here. I blame it all on the fact I could speak only 3 words last time I was traveling through this country. That limitation is apt to keep you from trying some amazing foods in a place that is less known for speaking English than even China.
As this first week for me was coming to a close I now realized I was really just getting settled in as the next couple weeks for me were about to get really, really interesting. Stick with me on here… you’re about to get a slice of Siberian life from a lone American!
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