This vast area, lying east of the Urals, hides a multitude of secrets which are only now becoming viable with the advent of better communications and accommodation. In Igarka, there is the museum of Permafrost where you travel down through the earth seeing the different levels in a kaleidoscope of colours. In Irkutsk, once the St Petersburg of the east, 19th century wooden houses sit beside their modern counterparts and, in the beautifully restored house of Prince Volkonsky, the Decembrist, you can sit and listen to a concert played on a grand piano which belonged to his wife now immortalised in the book A Princess of Siberia. Around Ulan Ude, both Buddhism and Shamanism flourish side by side and merge at the edges, while the brightly painted houses of the Old Believers are chocolate box pretty in their rural landscape.

In between these two cities lies Lake Baikal which, at over 400 miles in length, a mile deep and holding one fifth of the worlds fresh water, makes it bigger than all North Americas five Great Lakes put together. It has a unique ecosystem of both fauna and flora and is spiritually important to all three religions. In winter there are dog sleigh rides, skidoo expeditions and ice surfing to be had while in summer there are boat trips, trekking and wildlife excursions.