Despite my distain for Lake Baikal, I loved Irkutsk! It wasn’t a large city by any means and was very easy to find your way around. I’m really glad I had the opportunity to visit. The Regional Museum was quirky but then I guess I should have worked that out when I discovered that it cost R200 (£4) to enter and an extra R300 (£6) to take photos. Great place though. I’m yet to work out what some of the exhibits were.

Monument to Nicholas III celebrating the Trans Siberian Railway

One of the things that stands out about Irkutsk is the local fashion sense. I saw outfits that covered everywhere from the 60’s through to current fashion in the space of a minute. It seemed that the locals had suddenly discovered that clothes have colour and wanted to wear as much of it as possible… all at once. We are talking pastel floral dresses with leopard skin belts here. In no way can I or have I ever claimed to be a fashion guru but even I knew that was wrong.

Irkutsk was much more multicultural than I expected for a city of 500.000 people. There were international restaurants including an English pub, sushi restaurants and Italian restaurants. Can’t say I expected that in Siberia!

What amused me most though was the mall leading up to Department Store. It was done up like a beach prominade in pastel colours and people were eating ice-creams as it was a nice sunny day. My vision of Siberia has always been cold and bleak but that wasnt the case at all. Irkutsk is definitely worth a visit.

The Mall in Irkutsk