Hey everyone This is my first postcard in China. What can I say?! Nothing could have prepared us for the culture shock that is China. The greatest shocks have been the lack of spoken English and the most disgusting toilets I have ever seen. Also, spitting and smoking appear to be two of the most popular pastimes. Oh the sweet sound of people hocking up and gobbing everywhere; who needs the sound of birds singing in a morning when you have that? Having said all that, we are really starting to enjoy China. We have visited some amazing places in the past few days. Also, on our 2 day excursion to Zhongdian with various sightseeing stops we were taken aback by the friendliness of our Chinese travel companions. Everybody clubbed together with the English they knew and communicated what we were doing ( which as Claire mentioned, was often a complete mystery).Our driver was great too, he took us to the guesthouse our friend reccomended, even though it was a little out of the way. One lady even fed us snacks everyday because she was concerned that we hadn\'t eaten lunch. We are now back in Dali, ready for tommorow\'s torch festival (big local event, should have some good photos from this). Dali is a blissful little town well away from the hordes of tour groups the congest other towns in Yunnan. Right now, I am enjoying sat in a nice cafe, with good chillout music, good local coffee and good internet connection. I have also booked a Tai Chi lesson that I will do tommorow morning, in a local park. I am trying to encourage Claire to come too, but anyone who knows Claire well, will know that it is difficult to inspire her to do anything that involves rising before lunchtime. Anyway that\'s my two pence for now Laters Dean