Just a quick update before I leave for Lanzhou tonight.

We had our first Mandarin lesson on Saturday morning with the bizarrely-named ‘Shadow’ who was very patient as we muddled through the basic vowel sounds.

Mandarin is far harder than I thought it would be, but I now know a few basic phrases and was more confident towards the end of the lesson.

Apparently my name translates as ‘Chúnjìng’ which means 'pure’, something my friends found highly amusing.

Sunday saw us taking part in a traditional cookery lesson with a Chinese lady who was small even by my standards. Some of the recipes were a little strange but the chicken and mushroom stew was delicious.

I've posted photos of my rather epic chopping skills (take note, dad!), as well as the cookery teacher’s very cute dog, Toto.

The hostel's really cool, and I'll be sad to leave.

It’s situated on Beijing’s answer to Oldham Street with nice bars and quirky independent shops surrounding it, and the other people staying here are really friendly.

I was chatting to a guy at breakfast who lives around the corner from my aunt, such a small world!

Elsewhere we've seen some really odd sights, such as kebabs being cooked with hairdryers on the street and lots people asking for photos with us, including one Japanese man who stuck a long lens camera about a metre away from my face and followed me down the street taking photos until I managed to duck into a shop and lose him.

We’ve been told we’ll get used to this, but I still find it incredibly embarrassing.

Anyway my train leaves in an hour so I've got to get going, but I’ll write a lengthier post once I arrive in Lanzhou.