It rained all day on Friday so we hid in our room and read books. Exciting stuff. It was actually really good to do nothing for once...there's always seems to be temples to visit and waterfalls to hike to (it's a hard life this travelling lark!) Yesterday we went to the lake to watch a demonstration of Comorant fishing. Comorants are large birds which have been specially trained by the local fishermen to catch and bring back fish. The fishermen prevent the birds from swallowing the fish by tying string around their necks, which sounds a bit brutal, but the birds didn't seem as if they were in any pain or discomfort (not exactly sure how I know this...) We went out in the fisherman's rowing boat, with all the Comorants sat on the edge of the boat. He then parks up and shoves then off the side into the water, where they dive down and retrieve fish. It was really cool to watch and I didn't realise that we would be so close to the birds (though a bit too close at one point when one went for my camera case!) Afterwards, we got the opportunity to hold the birds (They were really heavy, so obviously fed well after all) I have really enjoyed our time in Dali. It's a sweet little town, packed out with tourists, ladies in traditional dress and sweet little old women trying to sell you ganja. Each morning we take a walk into the town and, without fail, two little 'shoe fixer' men will approach Dean and start ranting at him in Chinese and pointing to his feet. They want to fix his shoes, which are falling apart and try to grab at the bit at the back which is coming away. But Dean does not want them fix his shoes; he wants them to last for the next three weeks. So he tells them no and gestures at them to leave him alone, but they don't understand, so each day it ends up with a mad race as the two men chase Dean through the streets, making a grab for his shoes, while I stand back and laugh at the madness of it all and Dean sprints away into the wilderness... Well, today we head to Legion, i'll report back soon (More free internet in Legion so plenty of reporting!) Claire x