I write from a rather smoky internet cafe as school has now closed for the Spring Festival.

The city is definitely gearing up for the New Year, and I awoke with a start early this morning to find a man testing firecrackers in the courtyard outside our apartment.

Elsewhere, a giant material dragon stretches along the banks of Yellow River, and Dongfanghong Square contains a number of giant material sculptures, including one of a chef cooking Lanzhou’s famous beef noodles, which I’ll try and get some photos of when I next head downtown.

We went to a banquet for Carol’s birthday yesterday, at which we sampled some rather interesting cuisine, including cow scalp, snake, cow hind and cow ears, which were actually quite tasty, if a little chewy.

I also had my second try of Baijiu, and whilst it wasn’t as unpleasant tasting as last time, I still grimace whenever I think of it.

Luckily, the excuse that I had to teach in an hour meant that I could get away with only having a couple of shots. Carol’s uncles, on the other hand, had been downing the stuff even before we’d arrived and proceeded to develop a crimson glow as their drinking games grew livelier-highly entertaining indeed.

In terms of etiquette, we were also told of two new taboos. Firstly, leaving your chopsticks stood up in your rice as you pause between mouthfuls is viewed as bad luck as the position of the chopsticks is thought to mirror that of the incense traditionally burnt when a person dies.

The second new custom we learnt of is that it is bad luck to give a clock as a gift as this is seen as wishing death upon a person.

I was trying to think of any similarly bizarre British idiosyncrasies on the ride back from the banquet but unfortunately we seem relatively boring in comparison.

We’re hoping to leave for Xi’an soon, possibly even this week if we can manage to get train tickets, which may be difficult as the railways are currently heaving with what seems like the whole of China’s population on their way home for the New Year.

Indeed, I saw on the news today that 28 million people are expected to be travelling on the trains next weekend alone.

When we do reach Xi’an, we’re keen to visit the Terracotta Army, which should be amazing if the British Museum exhibition was anything to go by, and the Muslim quarter is also supposed to be great for food and souvenirs.

The weather here is now slightly warmer in the afternoons, and Ali has even braved going outside with just a hoody on, although I still insist on my wearing thermals and big red coat.

Interestingly, many of the locals think we’re from Russia, although I’m not quite sure why, or indeed if this is a good thing.

Also, I realised I forgot to mention about Avatar, which was absolutely brilliant, and we’ve now found out that we can buy a copy from the DVD stall on the corner by the school and are so tempted.

My hour’s almost up now though but I’ll write another update in a few days.