Compared with the cities in southeastern China that Cheng Yu is accustomed to, Irkutsk can be considered a very small city.
The entire city is only more than 200 square kilometers and is home to more than 600,000 people. Considering that Russia is the largest country in the world, such a city size is really a bit shabby.
What's more, Irkutsk is one of the most important cities in Russia, at least the largest industrial hub city in Siberia. Such an area and population are indeed not worth mentioning.
Of course, this refers to the urban size of Irkutsk, which is not at the same level as China's first- and second-tier cities, but it is still almost consistent with the urban size of third- and fourth-tier cities.
On the plane, Cheng Yu inquired a lot about Irkutsk. In addition, on the plane flying here, there were many local leaflets, which were stuffed in the back pocket of the front seat for those traveling to Irkutsk.
Travelers to Kutsk browse freely.
Through those promotional pages, Cheng Yu learned that Irkutsk is a city with a history of more than 300 years, which is considered to have a long history in Siberia.
Therefore, this is also one of the most famous historical cities in terms of architecture. There are more than a thousand historical architectural and cultural heritage sites in the entire city, and the number of national-level and state-level (roughly equivalent to China's provincial-level) cultural relics heritage has reached 500.
Therefore, in addition to being an industrial hub, this place has always been a tourist destination.
Of course, in addition to these cultural relics and ancient buildings, the more important point is that this place is close to Lake Baikal and is the city closest to Lake Baikal in Russia.
Sixty kilometers east of the city is Lake Baikal, which can be reached by car in an hour.
The entire city is divided into four districts by three rivers. The largest river is the Angara River flowing from Lake Baikal. This river also runs through the entire city of Irkutsk. Looking at the photos on the promotional page, it is quite interesting.
It's a bit like the Seine River in Paris. There are many bars, restaurants and cafes with local cultural characteristics on both sides.
If it was purely for tourism, Cheng Yu would probably be very interested in these. He would most likely not be in a hurry to go to Lake Baikal, but would browse all kinds of ancient buildings in the city, and hang out in those bars and cafes.
lingering in between.
But this time, Cheng Yu had no interest in any of this. He had only one goal, and that was the address Sergey gave him, where he needed to wait for someone to deliver Lao Dapeng to his door.
Because he held a U.S. study visa, Cheng Yu got out of customs very smoothly. Without any luggage, he walked out of the airport relaxed and happy.
Following the directions of the road signs, Cheng Yu found a place where he could take a taxi.
There was an exchange office for rubles right next to the entrance, so Cheng Yu went there and exchanged 50,000 rubles by swiping his card.
One yuan of soft sister coins is roughly equivalent to nine rubles, and consumption in Russia is slightly higher than that in China. Cheng Yu has no intention of spending a lot, so he feels that fifty thousand rubles should be enough.
After getting into the taxi, Cheng Yu discovered that the residents here were not like other Russian cities. He had heard before that most Russians were not familiar with English, so he was worried about communication problems.
But obviously, Irkutsk is a city where tourism accounts for an important proportion, and the residents here still know some English. At least, daily communication is not a problem.
And Cheng Yu was prepared for this. When he was on the plane, he asked the flight attendant to translate the address Sergey gave him into Russian and wrote it on paper.
So after he got in the car, he briefly communicated and handed the note to the driver.
After the driver looked at it, he muttered a few words, as if he disliked the fact that this place was too close to the airport, and felt a little sorry for the customers he had queued up here for so long.
After all, most foreign tourists who come to Irkutsk go to the city center or even directly to the shores of Lake Baikal. That is the reason why these taxi drivers are willing to wait in line here.
What's more important is that the airport is not far from the city center, and a taxi only costs three or four hundred rubles. But where Cheng Yu wants to go, the whole trip is only a little higher than the starting price, less than two hundred rubles.
.
Although Cheng Yu couldn't understand Russian, he could roughly tell this from the driver's behavior.
So, he took out the rubles he had just exchanged, took out a thousand dollar note, and handed it directly to the driver.
"This is a tip for you. I'll pay the fare later."
At this time, the driver was happy. He immediately said in English with a heavy accent: "There is no need to pay extra fare. There are already many here. I will send you to where you want to go right away."
Cheng Yu smiled, leaned back in his chair, and looked out the car window.
The driver reminded Cheng Yu to fasten his seat belt and then drove off.
It was really close. In about ten minutes, the driver told Cheng Yu that he had arrived where he wanted to go.
Because the driver said there was no need to pay an additional fare, and Cheng Yu saw that the meter was only one hundred and sixty rubles, and the starting price was already one hundred and fifty rubles. He immediately understood why the driver said there was no need to pay an additional fare. Because he
The one thousand rubles given was already too much.
The parking area was on a small street without any tall buildings, which was quite refreshing and there were no pedestrians on the road.
After Cheng Yu got off the car, he faced a very simple-looking building.
Although it is along the street, since less than half of it is below the ground, it seems that it cannot be used as a front house.
The key is that this street looks too deserted. Even if it can be used as a storefront house, it probably won't be sold at a good price.
The taxi driver shouted to Cheng Yu: "This is the edge of the city. There are few people and there is nothing worth doing. If you don't have to stay here, I suggest you go to the city. I can take you there.
But you need to pay the fare again."
Cheng Yu looked back at the driver, smiled slightly, and said, "Thank you, but no, I'm here to visit a friend, and my friend lives here."
The driver took one look at the simple building. The exterior walls didn't even have ceramic tiles. He couldn't help curling his lips, mumbling a few words in Russian that Cheng Yu couldn't understand, and then drove away.
There are only two broken-looking windows along the street, and there is no door, so naturally you can't see the house number.
However, from the door number next door, Cheng Yu could tell that this was indeed the place he wanted to go.
The street names match and the house numbers are very different. The taxi driver probably saw the house number next door and said he was here.
Cheng Yu saw a very narrow alley to the west of the house, so he walked towards the alley.
You can see it from the alley. The door of this house opens in the alley, and there are stairs going down there.
Walking over, Cheng Yu stood in front of the stairs and saw an iron gate below. Inside were two old doors with the upper half made of glass and the lower half made of wood.
After walking down the steps, Cheng Yu saw that the iron gate was locked and rusty, giving the impression that no one had opened the door for a long time.
Squatting down, Cheng Yu picked up the iron lock. Even though it was rusty, he couldn't break it open with manpower.
Taking out his cell phone and lighting up its flashlight as a flashlight, Cheng Yu reached through the iron gate and pushed open the two dilapidated wooden doors.
Using the light from his mobile phone, Cheng Yu could see that the interior of the house was also very simple, but it looked relatively clean.
Cheng Yu was a little surprised. The broken door didn't look like it could block dust, and the rusty lock on the iron gate clearly showed that no one had opened the door for a long time. So, why could the room still be open?
How to keep it so clean?
Just when Cheng Yu felt strange, a voice came over.
"Hey, that tourist, this is a residential building, don't be so curious."
Cheng Yu turned around and saw that a middle-aged Russian woman with a red nose was talking to him.
Compared to the taxi driver just now, this woman's English is at least relatively standard.
Cheng Yu walked up the steps and said with a smile: "Sorry, it's not because I'm curious. I'm Sergey's friend. He once left me this address. I came to Irkutsk this time and wanted to take a look.
he."
The middle-aged woman walked towards Cheng Yu, looked him up and down, and said with some confusion: "You look less than twenty years old, how could you know that bastard Sergey? That guy hasn't been here for at least five years."
Passed here."
Cheng Yu smiled and said: "Maybe it's because we Chinese look relatively young. I'm actually thirty years old. I met Sergey when I was a university student in the UK. It seems like we are really young now."
It’s been eight years.”
"That guy used to always brag to us. He had been to many countries and met many people. We always thought he was bragging. Unexpectedly, someone who had studied in college actually knew him."
Cheng Yu smiled and said: "Mr. Sergey is a very helpful person. At that time, my friend and I were robbed by a black man. It was Mr. Sergey who helped us snatch our backpacks back and also took the black man's back."
He was beaten severely."
"This is quite in line with Sergey's characteristics. That guy has no other abilities, but when it comes to fighting, there is absolutely no one here who can be his opponent. He is so tall and big...haha..." The middle-aged man
The woman gestured and laughed herself first.
"So, Sergey hasn't been back here for a long time? I think the lock on the door tells a lot. But I just took a look at the room, and it seems to be very clean."
"Oh, that guy, he hasn't been here for a long time.
But people often come to help him clean this house.
The place where you are standing is not the place to enter. He opened a door here because he said he liked this alley.
Who in their right mind would walk here to enter the house?
He will never come back, so no one will open the door again.
Come on, young man, I will take you to the main entrance. If you are lucky, you will meet someone who comes to clean, and they may have Sergey's contact information."
After saying that, the middle-aged woman waved her hand and asked Cheng Yu to follow her.
Cheng Yu smiled and followed, letting the woman lead him deeper into the alley.
"It's right in front. Well, it's just in front. You can see the main entrance of this house when you turn to the left."
The middle-aged woman chattered and continued walking forward.
Cheng Yu followed calmly and heard footsteps behind him.
