DAY 27

---

Another beautiful day in Listvyanka, unfortunately we were leaving. After breakfast we were back on the bus heading back to Irkutsk and we were stopping off at the Open Air Wood Museum which was a re-creation of the typical houses and villages from the early Evenks (similar to the North American Indians) through to the Buryats from Mongolia and the Russians during the 1800’s - 1900’s. They made their houses from solid logs as you would expect and in later years some of the woodwork was quite ornate and intricate. They were also into glassworks both for windows and to make bottles to carry their vodka. Once again Sergay talked at length about all the exhibits. Back on the bus and back to Hotel Irkutsk where we checked in and took our bags to our rooms. We very soon discovered that the flash and modern lobby of Hotel Irkutsk bore no resemblance to the hallways and rooms upstairs! Suffice to say the hotel was badly in need of further renovations on the 3rd floor, the room was small, the beds were tiny and the bathroom was one big patch-up job, but at least they were clean. Sergay was now going to take us on a walking tour of the city for the next 2 hours. Now, we have come to enjoy wandering around foreign cities but following a guide, as he talks at length and in great detail, was getting a little monotonous - no offence Sergay but there is not a lot of interesting things in Irkutsk. One thing I did learn was that we have Emperor Alexander II to thank for getting the Trans-Siberian Railway built. Claire pointed out a nice little place for dinner so she and Jac went for a pre-dinner drink while most of the rest of us went searching for the internet café to make contact with home and joined them there afterwards. The food was nice, the beer was good but the service was crap, apparently it’s pretty normal for meals to take ages to arrive and to arrive at different times in Russia. We got back to the hotel at around 10pm and tried to shut out the light at around 11pm to get some sleep.

---

Photos

Eary Russian Mill
Three stage water powered flour mill.

1900's Russian House
Detailed woodwork was all over - post box was a modern addition

Buryat House
These people were of Mongolian desent as can be seen from the similarity to the Gers in Mongolia