Irkutsk

Finally I am in Irkutsk! The trip was long, though between Beijing and Irkutsk there is only 2,5hours flight. I left Wuhan on Monday, by train. I spent a day in Beijing and half of the night in the airport.
The check-in was too tiring - russians buy everything they can in China, they have thousands of bags of different shape and size. When everybody was on board, the stewardess announced that a group of 12 people have problems at the Customs. 30 minutes later was announced that these 12 people can't fly back to Russia, but as their luggage was checked-in and was already on the plane, they had to look for their bags, and we had to wait. The plane took off from Beijing only at 7.a.m (instead of 4.15 a.m.), At this time it was supposed to be in Irkutsk already... In Irkutsk airport no explanations were given about the flight delay, so my parents were quite stressed.
And the story about these 12 people is the following: If Russians fly to China in groups, they don't have to pay or wait for visas, they just get Group Visa automatically in the airport. So, one girl of these 12 people lost her passport. All 11 passengers checked-in but couldn't not go further than the Customs, because they have Group Visa. They had to stay in China because of this one poor girl!!! I just don't want to imagine what may become of this girl if she meets these 11 angry russian people........

Irkutsk met me with blue sky, sun, frost and snow. I haven't gone out yet, so I don't know how much the city's changed. Now I am enjoying my time with sisters and parents. It's a pity they have to work and study every day... But weekends are coming and the trip to datcha and banya too!!!
See you!
OreLENA.