We left our hotel for the 2 hour bus ride back to Ulaanbaatar where we rejoined the Gobi guests at the Gobi Cashmere Factory.  We had lunch and entertainment by a throat singer and a contortionist before transferring back to the airport for our flight to Irkutsk, Russia.
Depart: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia 3:00 p.m.
Arrive: Irkutsk, Russia 4:15 p.m.
Elapsed Time: 1 hour, 15 min.
Upon arrival, we proceeded through immigration and customs  which took forever! Finally we’re on the buses for a brief driving tour of Irkutsk. There is a stark contrast to the landscape here compare to Mongolia.  Soviet architecture melds with churches and houses many of which are sinking due to poor structural support.  We visited the Znamenskaya Monastery.   It houses the graves of the Decembrist revolutionaries who launched the 1825 uprising against Tsar Nicholas I, and later sought refuge in Siberia.
We then drove to the old quarter where the ornate homes of the exiled Decembrists stand in poor repair.  The city’s cathedrals are built in traditional Russian style with colorful roofs and towering spires.  Most of the buildings here are in decline and in need of repair.   Wade gave a great lecture at the Memorial Eternal Flame which honors the Fallen men of Irkutsk from World War Two.  It is a beautiful memorial sitting behind the House of Soviets which showcases the classic USSR architecture. We caught a wedding couple coming to pay their respects at the Memorial.   We snapped a photo of them as they were posing for their own photographer.
Finally we arrived at our hotel for check-in–a huge step down from the hotels we’ve been staying in thus far on the trip, but it’s the best they have to offer here.  Things are rather stark and decrepit here.  As Ján said in his lecture this evening, we didn’t travel far (only about an hour by plane) but we’ve been catapulted into another realm!  After Jan’s lecture this evening (Russian Identity in Geopolitical Context), we went to a local restaurant, Nzhny Bulldog,  for dinner.  We ate outside on an upstairs veranda and enjoyed delightful musical entertainment by The Baikal Quartet, a Russian folk music group and a local singer.  During the performance I was pulled up by the singer to do a little dancing with her.  Quite fun!  We had LOTS of vodka shots tonight!!  GREAT vodka here!   Nah zda-rovh-yeh (“cheers” in Russian).
Overnight: Courtyard by Marriott, room 201 (crummy room-hot & faces busy bus stop)     1 USD = 55 Russian Rubles

This photo of the Courtyard is very deceiving!  It doesn’t look nearly this nice in real life!

IRKUTSK is the de facto capital of Eastern Siberia is located on the banks of the Angara river and is the 6th largest town in Russia.  It was founded in 1661 as a gold and fur trade center.  From the beginning of the 19th century, Siberia in general and Irkutsk in particular became the place where many Russian officers and nobles were exiled for taking part in the Decembrist uprising.  The city is in decline these days.  The population has decreased  by 10,000 people just in the past year, many have moved into larger more prosperous cities.

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