After yesterday’s hike, I woke up today not nearly hurting as much as I thought. However, the most surprising was how stiff/sore my neck was (from staring at the ground yesterday). I slept pretty great, in any case. The day before, I knew I needed to extend my stay, but I needed to change rooms for tonight. So, I hopped out of bed around 11, showered, and moved my stuff into the corridor. Today, I planned to recover, work on this blog, and edit some photos. First, however, I needed to run to the store. After going to the store around the corner and grabbing some breakfast, my new bed was ready. I moved my stuff over there and sat down in the lounge area.

I want to give a massive shout-out to this hostel, Rolling Stones. This hostel is centrally located in Irkutsk and is one of the cheapest. Not only that, but the amenities included are hard to find elsewhere. On top of that, the staff are all super friendly and speak both English and Russian (at the least). After spending some time working, I finally decided I wanted to walk around the city a bit and grab some late lunch. I asked the girl at the front desk about where I should eat. She recommended many places, but I was most interested in trying out the Korean restaurant, Kimchi. As you can imagine, the further east you travel into Russia, the more people of Eastern ethnicities (mainly Asians and Native peoples) live and travel here. Nearly all the signage here in Irkutsk was in Russian, English, and Chinese. You’d even seen other Asian languages (Korean being the next most popular).

With a lunch spot in mind, I walked about the city. I didn’t venture too far, but this city is relatively small, so it didn’t matter anyway. I got to see and admire several Eastern Orthodox Churches, a Roman Catholic Church, several buildings, and a few monuments. I stopped by the hostel on my way to Kimchi since I needed to use the bathroom and made my way over there. I pulled on the door, and it didn’t open. The business had remained closed due to the pandemic. Unlike Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk, all restrictions in Irkutsk were lifted a while ago. However, oddly, many restaurants and bars have chosen to remain closed amid fear of being a center of the spread. Striking out with Kimchi, I opted for BaikaLove. There, they sell traditional food from Russia and its far east. I opted for a salad, borsch, and fried vareniki stuffed with cottage cheese. All of the food was outstanding. While I hope to revisit Irkutsk in the future and try out Kimchi, BaikaLove is worth a visit to anyone traveling here. Following my meal, I returned to the hostel to relax and nap. I also needed to do some laundry.

I met up with the guys who saved me yesterday with my laundry done. They had made reservations at a popular Chinese restaurant in town, Harbin. We walked over after meeting near one of the city’s little parks. The restaurant was very beautifully decorated, the prices were reasonable, and the food was phenomenal. While dining, some girls joined us that the guys had met yesterday after I headed back to my hostel. After our meal, we went to a bar to grab a few drinks. While the guys needed to return to their hotel room as they had an early flight back to Moscow, the girls and I didn’t want to turn in for the night. Instead, we headed to a few more bars. At around 4 am, we all headed back to our hostels. I needed to sleep because I would be meeting with Chloe tomorrow!