Almost there-so close!

At 4377 km, the train stopped in the small city of Ilanskaya. Here there were street venders selling everything from chocolate to dry smoked fish. The next stop was Tayshet at 4515 km. Jay sprinted across the tracks to get us some soda. I was so worried that he was going to get left, because our book says this stop only merits 5 minutes. Luckily, Jay had a little bit more time. At 5185 km, we reach the Irkutsk river and 3 km later we arrive at Irkutsk station. The 77 hour, 5180 km train ride was such a breeze!
Irkutsk use to be nicknamed the "Paris of Siberia."(That's a far stretch). As soon as we stepped off the station, we realized that this town was not going to be like a charming, beautiful city. The city was filled with smog and cars hustling and bustling down the streets. The pollution smelt so horrible that it burned the inside of your nose hairs. We walked down the streets attempting to find the bus station. After about an hour, we arrive to the station and to our luck there are no buses leaving today to Olkhon Island. We don't want to stay in this dirty town.
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