S i b e r i a n D e a l / r e p o r t p a g e

Thursday - October 5

Central Siberia!

N 52š 17š 00 latitude

E 104š 24š 23 longitude

We are now very, very cyber, indeed. It was -3 degrees Centigrade when we arrived early Wednesday morning in Irkutsk. Our local maps says that it is the Paris of Siberia. A traditional Siberian song locates Irkutsk in the middle of the world. We feel at the edge. We have come here alone, Tatiana was unable to travel with us at the last minute, and her absence will affect how we transact Siberian Deals.

Irkutsk has no neon, no McDonalds, and little commercial Western influence. There are approximately 750,000 inhabitants, and the urban center is connected to the residential district by stands of natural birch forests, giving a kind of resort feeling to the area. But Irkutsk also has its share of factories, pouring out black smoke, and the blue fumes that hang over the traffic is flavored with petroleum fumes. There are an overabundance of dirty, green 18-wheelers, caravans, jeeps and all varieties of military vehicles. Through the polluted haze, it has an old world flavor with many 19th Century wooden houses trimmed with carved details around the windows and eves.



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