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Travels in Siberia 4 -- cont

Amazing glass beach in Vladivostok--Eastern side of Siberia.  "Drinking" beach, bottles thrown down, waves work their magic, gorgeous . . . flight out never takes off . . . no refund, no reschedule . . . driving across Lake Baikal . . . "driving up from the lake into the regular streets of a city was an abrupt, peculiar experience." Page 380-81  Strange story of two flamingos falling from the sky into Siberia . . . rescued by boys and then given to strange Winter Garden . . . Yakutsk, at the latitude of Nome (p. 3500) has over 200,000 residents.  Wendell Wilkie visited (!) and said it reminded him of Elwood, Indiana . . . Today Yakutsk has The Gap, 31 Flavors, and many more American chains while Elwood, Indiana (a dying, manufacturing town) has NONE.

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