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Russia, Irkutsk
 Irkutsk is located in south Siberia, it has about 600.000 inhabitants and its very close to the beautiful lake Baikal.
If you are honest, you can´t say, that this city is nice, but you havve to say that it´s very, very interesting. Thats beacause it has a very interesting culture: it is a very multicultural city, because it is like the "border-checkpoint" between ("real")asia and europe. The distance to Mongolia is only about 100 kilometers and you can reach china in a car trip of about one day.
So Irkutsk is one of the last citys, where you can see the "original" Russian mentality but also some influences from china. This russian mentality for me was a bit complicated to handle with at first, because for ex. people do not look each other into their eyes while talking, nearly never smiling at street, normaly do not shake a womans hand, but have very close body contact (for example in bus..) also very intersting is the overwhelming hospitality: to friends this people would give their last bread with a happy smile. And sure, you can´t deny, that alcohol plays a very big role.. not only vodka but beer, beer, beer, every day, every hour.
Also interesting are the many signs left from the communistic administration (like propaganda, military parade, less individuality etc.) and the old wooden houses build in Sibiran style... and, sure, the russian orthodox churches. 
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