We arrived at our hostel to find out it did not have a kitchen, so we had no excuse for not trying the local dining options. There was a night market nearby that sold fruit and veg, fish (live or dead), sweets and lots of choice of street food, which we really enjoyed. We had sugar coated crab apples stuffed with walnuts, various filled breads, vegetarian egg fried noodles and there was far more besides.

We had missed out on seeing caves in Perm, so the water caves here were something that we really wanted to see. Our first attempt was thwarted by someone who shall remain nameless (but it begins with a C) forgetting their passport, meaning we couldn't get our train. After a half hour train journey, we were taken in a very different direction to the one our map suggested, but all turned out fine and we got to the right place. The underground river is the longest open to the public and the sheer scale of the caves reminded us of Lord of the Rings. The stalactites are all lit up in bright neon and it sometimes felt more like a theme park than a nature reserve.

We also spent a bit of time in the imperial palace, which we got to using the incredibly straightforward metro system. Chinese history is something that I never covered at school and I therefore couldn't really place things. I came away feeling quite ignorant and unable to fully comprehend the context of a lot that I had just seen, hoping that a good book would sort me out.