Irkutsk is home to Sukhoi and Mig jets but were not allowed to visit;obviously. So the next best thing for tourists is the lake. Everything is just about the lake. We stopped by a historical compound called The Museum of Wooden Architecture .the place was established when Rusian army came to conquer Siberia. Elena, our gorgeous guide, explained in detail about Siberia, Rusia and USSR. The world suddenly became bigger than I thought. She unfolded the history that I never knew and has never been taught in our history classes. Even at the university when I took the subject of world history, Rusian context was kept to the minimum. Consequently, it deems irrelevant and unimportant to the world despite of the fact that these people have their own unique cultures and traditions.
The words that shocked me was “ they came to conquer and colonize Siberia”. How come you conquer your own people? Isn’t this is part of Russia and the people are Russians? The answer is NO! and Elena explained in detail about that and what happened during the expansion of Russian Empire. So where was the origin of this empire? Moscow ? nope it was in Kiev, Ukraine. Hmmmm Is that why they are fighting in a war today? Elena smiled and did not elaborate further. So I leave it at that.
Once the Russian empire was established the king converted the whole kingdom to Orthodox Christian. And that remained until today. The detail of that piece of history were presented by Elena at the Museum
We stopped by a fish market to meet nice Russian ladies selling fish.Although fresh water fish isn’t my favorite; bought one just to try. Had lunch at a restaurant there and by 2 pm we were off for a lake cruise. After that taking a chair lift to a stunning view of Lake Baikal.
