Irkutsk - Travel Prejudice and New Possibilities

Photo by Ales Krivec on Unsplash

My first thought was – just like Kenting! To all you uncivilized people, Kenting is a small city or a big town in the Southern tip of Taiwan. Irkutsk (and Kenting) is characterized by long distances despite the town's small size, low buildings, a lot of Asian looking people, and Chinese writing.

Teal Swan (she's my idol if you didn't know) does this thing that I really like. She travels around the world and writes blog posts on places where she has been. Being an extrasensory, she sees everything – the past, the future, what's inside people, their collective trauma et cetera. Then she writes about the energy of the place where she goes. The history, the people, the emotions, the thoughts, the resistance. It's really cool. (I love Teal's blog and warmly recommend it.)

I can't do that and I'm a little sad about that. I'm working on it.

But I still sense energy, especially when I concentrate. So I suppose that's something.

The energy of Irkutsk feels like South and nature and earth. It's culturally diverse and conservative at the same time. It's in Russia, but it's so far from St. Petersburg and Moscow that it almost feels like a different country. St. Petersburg – being in the West – is more technologically driven, more individualistic, more food focused. In short, more western. Irkutsk, on the other hand, is more agriculture driven, more communitarian and more materialistic in a sense that tangible things matter more than ideas (education, too).

It's also the first place where we've stopped for longer than three days. We are here for about a week. (And at Lake Baikal for another week. It's nearby.)

Irkutsk is also the place where we got sick with flu. Technically I fell ill before we went to Baikal, so I was ill during our hike (oh joy!). Aapo was a little ill during the hike and a lot ill after. We had a roof over our heads, and with a place to stay it's not difficult to be ill abroad. We went to the pharmacy and got the same medication that we would have at home (and paid half the price). We made tea. We slept.

Before we left for our jouney I thought there were closeminded people only in Finland. I thought that as soon as we got out and went abroad, we would be greeted with tolerance, openness and wisdom everywhere. The whole wide world would be full of amazing worldly people who would inspire us to travel even more!

Not to say that I was completely wrong, but I was still surprised how apparently not all closeminded people are Finnish. In fact, closeminded people seem to be living all over the world, to my astonishment. And not specifically closeminded but also just ignorant. People who have never travelled anywhere besides the nearest city. People who believe that abroad is dangerous. People who have all kinds of false beliefs about travel – for example that travel is only for people who are rich and lazy. You pay a lot of money and everything is brought to you on a silver platter as you lie on your antique sofa eating grapes and complaning about the weather. (I don't know where that image came from.)

Rich and lazy people can travel too, but so can the poor and the hardworking. (You can travel inside your country or abroad if your passport allows it. Chinese people travel a lot inside China as it is a very big country and there's a lot to see.) It doesn't take a lot of money to travel. Low-budget is very in right now and you can find all kinds of tips and instructions on how to do that. Of course it costs a lot to take a direct flight to Tokyo and spend a week living in a city centre hotel and eating first class Miso in newest design restaurants. But it's silly to think that that is the only kind of travel that is in any way great or pleasant or safe.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

I used to travel like that and live only in hotels. When I heard about Couchsurfing I thought it was for people who didn't mind dirt or danger. My prejudice of Couchsurfing was that it's only for people who like loud parties, never sleep and take stupid risks wherever they go. Boy, was I wrong! After our experiences with Couchsurfing I never want to sleep in a hotel ever again! Hotels are so overpriced, cold, lifeless, soulless and uncaring! There will be a time when I'm going to stay in a hotel again, of course. But right now I'm just amazed how much options there are outside my previous travelling style.

Travelling abroad you realize how many options there are for life in general as well. It was so easy to get used to the same safe ways of doing things when I lived at home and saw the same kind of people and lifestyles all around me. I sort of became accustomed to thinking that it was all there was – all my options were right there in front of me – and I was forced to pick my lifestyle from the few options presented there.

But after just a few days abroad my eyes opened drastically to how wrong I had been. Truth is, there is so much to do, to be and to see in the world! What I previously thought was impossible I found out to be possible. What I didn't think I would ever see, I suddenly saw everywhere. Things I had been afraid of turned out to be great once I had the courage to face them.

Motivational speakers say, ”you can do anything in your life!” but who actually believes them? I know I didn't. When I lived at home, that is. Now I know what they mean. Now I know that it is true. I literally can do anyting I want. Which has opened up a sea of new possibilities for my future, and I love it.

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We have a travel vlog and a channel on YouTube called Know Your Nature. Here's our first Irkutsk video: