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1997

Route in China (SIBERIA - Irkutsk)

Bec
2004-09-19 16:34:45

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buying. I wondered why... Times are hard, particularly for the retired whose pensions have not followed inflation.

Listvianka
There was a lot of produce on the stalls outside but I noticed that people looked and compared very carefully before buying. Their way of shopping spoke volumes. Russia's gross national product per capita is 50% higher than China's, (1996 numbers in terms of purchasing power), but as far as I could see, Chinese shoppers had a lot more choice and appeared more affluent than the Russians.

Bolshoi Luk
I got back to Irkutsk on Friday and Andrew invited me to spend the weekend at his family datcha in Bolshoi Luk some 50 kms east along the trans Siberian railway line. This rail car was full with people crowding in the aisle when it left Irkutsk early Saturday morning.

I was astonished that so many could afford to have a datcha. When I expressed my surprise and told Andrew that owning a second house is considered a luxury in Canada he replied that in Siberia it is not a luxury but a necessity to have a plot of land to grow food during the summer. We got off at km 51 and walked three km to his family's datcha.

I enjoyed immensely being useful for a change. I used expertise gained pruning the vineyard I once had, to prune the rose bushes in the foreground so as to maximize their production of flowers. I was quite pleased with myself as we all were at the end of the day. It was really a beautiful place with the Olxa river flowing by at the end of the garden, where Olga is going in this picture. After supper we chatted a while about life in Russia and went early to bed.

The Sunday dinner was a festive gathering. Neighbours Georgiy and Ludmila, Andrew's father, Olga's daughter Irina, Andrew's mother Vera with grandson Andrei, the three Savchuks and I all crowded around this small table and ate for hours. They all spoke English and had more than average education but they all worked hard for very little money.

Vera was better off than anyone else having been elected member of the Duma for the Irkutsk region. She invited me to visit her flat in town to have one for the road before taking the train for Ulan-Ude. It was nice but definitely more modest than what a member of parliament would enjoy in the West. I considered myself lucky to have met this family and wondered if I would get to meet one of the fabulous new rich to understand the new social structure of this country.

I kept the image of happy Vanya and Andrei with the wild rolling Siberian taiga in the background for the last of the Irkutsk flashes as a good omen to conjure fate so that their future would be better than that which is foreseeable presently.

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