Irkutsk

Irkutsk is a city of contradictions. It was founded by the Cossacks in the 17th century and has been an important trading and transport centre ever since. The completion of the Trans-Siberian railway at the beginning of the 20th century further strengthened its position as a transport hub.

Today, the city is the economic heartland of Siberia, heavily industrialised with major oil production, timber, aluminium, uranium, gold and other minerals.

Irkutsk is also a cultural city thanks in part to Decembrists who were exiled to Siberia after an unsuccessful uprising against Tsar Nicholas I in December 1825. Some belonged to wealthy families and towards the end of their exile were able to move to Irkutsk and purchase impressive houses, which are now, preserved as historic monuments. Their legacy can still be seen in the squares, hospitals, universities and churches around the city's centre.

A trip to Irkutsk would not be complete without a visit to Lake Baikal. The massive freshwater lake is some 31,471 square-kilometres in area, and up to 1,637metres deep which contains almost one-fifth of all the freshwater reserves of our planet.

Listvyanka, on the shore of the lake about 60km south-east from Irkutsk, is probably best equipped and provides the easiest access for tourists. Our bus trip took about one hour from Irkutsk.

If you want to enjoy the sheer beauty and isolation of Baikal, a home stay with one of the Buriat families at the tiny village of Bolshoye Goloustne, about three hours east of the capital is a great experience. We spent a week there in early September bushwalking and working with the local people. The weather was in the mid 20s but when the temperature dropped to 5 degrees Celsius and the wind blew in from the north we knew it was time to say goodbye to Siberia.

Ulaanbaatar

"It's Ulaanbaatar where the pickpockets are  - guard the luggage, guard the luggage..." was the call that passed down the carriage as the Trans-Mongolian express rolled into the station.

Local Mongolian boys, showing their appreciation upon recieving their gifts from the travellers.

With the local currency, the Tugrik, trading 1,200 to the Australian dollar, Mongolia is a place where every visitor can be a millionaire. Which might explain the local's fascination with travellers' luggage.

The nomadic herdsmen's traditional tents or 'gers' that we had seen on the horizon as we crossed the dry plains now cluster around the railway line on the outskirts of the city. More and more Mongolians are moving from the country to the rapidly growing tent cities on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar. Each ger stands in the middle of a bare yard surrounded by a high wooden fence marking out each Mongolian family's entitlement to 700 square-metres of free land.

Mongolia has fallen a long way from its glory days in the 13th Century when the Mongol empire founded by Genghis Khan stretched from Korea, China and India to the Middle East and all the way to Hungary in Central Europe. Today Mongolia is a buffer state between two powerful neighbours Russia and China In Ulaanbaatar, the crumbling, soviet-style high-rise apartments are giving way to new office buildings, stores and hotels but their glossy exteriors often belie unfinished interiors and poor workmanship as the country struggles to embrace its new capitalism.

We were not in Ulaanbaatar for the sightseeing. We had arranged to visit an orphanage run by an Australian teacher, Didi Kalika, who since 1993 has been looking after abandoned street children. Today she has 130 children in her care ranging from babies a few weeks old to 18-year-old girls.

We had brought with us knitted scarves, craft items and games and we had the pleasure of spending the day with the children, teaching them games and craft and we were even able to teach the boys to play a rudimentary game of cricket.

Mongolia is better known as an adventure travel destination but even soft tourists like us can experience the magnitude and the solitude of the Steppes at one of the tourist ger camps located within a few hours drive of the capital.

Visiting traditional singers added another dimension to our visit. The folk music of Mongolia has a strong vocal orientation and the throat singers seem to produce two or three notes simultaneously, a low and sustained background note with a series of melodic notes overlaid. The songs are said to be inspired by the natural sounds of the Mongolian landscape, and supposedly mimic noises such as trickling streams and howling winds The end result is a slightly eerie and repetitive but nevertheless a strangely fascinating tune.

On the plains, the nomadic families still live a traditional life herding their sheep, yaks and horses and moving their camps to follow the pasture. A visit to their camp lets us see inside their home, watch the family care for their flocks and even partake in a cup of fermented mare's milk for those who have the stomach for it.