Today is Chinese New Year.

Unfortunately the weather has turned for the worse. After the fantastic weather we had for the river rafting - it was about 27 degrees - it is now a fresh 6 degrees with wind. We headed to another part of the Li River for another boat ride, this time motor powered. It was just a little cold for most of the group and they huddled together for warmth. The scenery was stunning, these hills seem to go on forever. We started at the place that was used for one of their bank notes. The boats aer made out of giant bamboo. We stopped in the middle o fthe river on a bank for some much needed food. I ate this flat fried potato thing (Taro) and this little fish - fried obviously. We then headed back to Yangshuo and I headed off to try and post off my hiking boots and the saki vases the others had got me for my birthday - this time I had emptied them into another bottle so we can drink it tonight - woo hoo. I then tried a traditional chinese treatment. It is called Cupping. I will upload pictures soon, but for now just have a look on the net. I had wooden cups. Basically they quickly heat the air in a cup and then attache it to your body, the skin then is sucked up into the cup. It is meant to improve circulation and help if you are suffering from a cold etc. It did not hurt having the cups put on, just like a little sting and I could certainly feel my skin being pulled up. I then was very relaxed and napped a little. When she removed them, again only a few gave me a slight sting. I could not see my back but I could feel that my back felt a bit like bubble wrap. When I got back to the hostel - after eating much deserved toffee bananas, I got the girls to have a look, they were very surprised to see my back - I think their exact words where "oh my god!!" When I saw the picture I could not believe it. My whole back was covered in these massive purple circles - about the size of a palm, it looked like an octopus had got me. It did not hurt to touch them - they just looked weird. I am hoping that it will stop me getting this cold that seems to be going around the group.

Today (new years eve) we have spent most of the day learning how to cook a few chinese dishes. The got to go to the market and thankfully the guide did not take us past the Dog meat market (yep you heard that right - surely not a nice thing to see), we did see rat though - gross!! We cooked steam vegetable dumplings, Gong Bao Chicken and Sizzling Beef with vegetables. It was really interesting learning how to blend the different ingredients and when to cook the different parts to the dish. We learnt how to quickly marinate the meat and how to really bring out the flavours. The teacher was very patient with us. No-one managed to chop off a finger. The dumplings were the most fiddly things to make but I did okay. I did try to finely chop the beef, but she did have to 'improve' on a few of the pieces. Of course we got to eat the food afterwards and I must admit mine tasted fantastic - the beef was the favourite dish. COnsidering the whole morning only cost 100 Yuan (about 9 pounds) and we got to eat - it is unbelievably cheap - it usually costs us about 50 Yuan to eat in a resturant!

This afternoon there are a few of us who will head out for a run and will try to get into the hills. Tonight is Chinese New Year and the streets will be packed with people setting off fireworks as the more fireworks you set off the more luck you should have in the year. We have spent about 600 Yuan (54 pounds) and have THE biggest fireworks even I have seen, we have a lot of rockets and a few hundred fire crackers. The evening should be fantastic to experience and we involved in - oh and we will be drinking saki to help keep the cold away.

Happy Chinese New Year Everyone