By Dave Burbach, October 2001

To show you what another city in Russia looks like, here are some photos
from Irkutsk, the city near Baikal in Siberia. Felt more familiar that European
cities I've visited -- big rivers and big forests; main industries are hydropower,
timber, aluminum, aircraft manufacturing. Bit like the Northwest thirty years ago, and like Saratov, much poorer than Moscow.

Bus in downtown Irkutsk. Compare to the bus with the big Kenwood ad in Moscow....

Workmen in what is to be Irkutsk's pedestrian shopping street

Scenes outside of the Central Market. Irkutsk actually does have a recently-built indoor market. Looks like a mid-size US shopping mall from the outside (if in 1980s vintage pink and green pastel), quite excellent selections of produce, meats, baked goods, etc. So these sad looking outdoor cucumber vendors aren't really representative, but without a flash I couldn't get good shots in the modern indoor market.

Finally, a Lake Baikal shot I forgot: remains of a prison labor camp, a fish processing camp to be precise. Oxhon Island was settled in the 1930s as part of the GULAG system.

Here are some photos from my "side trip" (not all that small a trip, actually -- nearly 3000 miles from Moscow, meaning I'd gone 3/5 of the way around the world from Boston) to Lake Baikal, in south-eastern Siberia, just north of Mongolia. The lake is a few hundred miles long by 50+ miles wide, and 5,000 feet deep.

Me overlooking an arm of the lake; Oxhon Island visible across the channel

The school in the town of Xuzhir, where I stayed on Oxhon Island.

The Burkhan Stone, holiest spot there is in Central Asia's shamanist
traditions. Ghengis Khan was supposedly born near here; his mother
definitely was from this area.

Close-up of the Burkhan Stone