Happy new year, everyone! I hope you all had a festive celebration and good rest, and ready to face 2016 tomorrow morning, the first working day of the new year.

I've had a great break but I must confess that all my Chinese medicine training has not stopped me from falling prey to the dreaded Eating-far-too-much-rich-food-while-on-holiday disease. My family and I spent a wonderful week in Lisbon, where a good friend showed us the sights and sounds of this beautiful city by the Tagus river.

I was also excited because I adore Portuguese food, having spent so much time in Macau while living in Hong Kong many moons ago. In fact, I got married in Macau and our our wedding feast was a happy marriage of Chinese and Portuguese food. So fast forward to 19 years later, and there I was, gorging on octopus and squid cooked in olive oil and cilantro, braised pork and clams, lots of fried potatoes, lots of vinho verde, endless pastel de nata. Oh Tess, you should have known better!

I always tell my patients to eat moderately, avoid foods that are too oily or Damp-forming (dairy and sugar are the main culprits for Damp, a climatic condition in Chinese medicine that is a source of disease), minimise alcohol (causes the build-up of Heat), and eat in a calm and relaxed atmosphere (put away those electronic gadgets!). In my gluttony, I managed to forget all about that in the first few days, and the result, shall we say, was a very unhappy digestive system. In my case, that was Damp-Heat in the Stomach.

I will still make caldo verde at home, that wonderful soup made of kale and potatoes, and indulge in Alentejo wines, but I will remember to be sensible and not overdo it.

The beautiful balmy autumn weather was too good to last. In the middle of October, temperature in this northern-most part of China dropped to around freezing. We put on more clothes -- although the local students are made of strong stuff. They continued to wear just the thinnest jackets, and hardly anyone wore hats and gloves. Heating finally came on in the buildings, and with this, a new problem became readily apparent.

About 70% of China's power comes from coal, a dirty form of energy. Last winter, the level of fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, in Harbin air reportedly reached 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter, exceeding the level set by the World Health Organization by a factor of 40.

The smog shut down roads, schools and the airport. Visibility was reduced to less than 20m in some places. It is not that bad at the moment, but it was obvious starting last week that the air quality is severely compromised. The air is acrid and breathing is more difficult. We have started wearing face masks, although I don't know how much they help. I am concerned for my poor lungs, but I get to go home in a month or so. What if you lived here all the time and the haze hangs around six months of the year? 

It became apparent very quickly after arriving in Harbin that the local cuisine is all about one thing. Fried, preferably deep-fried. Actually, make that two things. Fried and salty. The perfect combination if you want to have high blood pressure.

Hypertension is the main reason why people have stroke. If you have been eating the typical Harbin cuisine all your life, you are bound to have an unhealthy blood pressure. Add to that the Harbin fondness for meat and alcohol (think of those cold winters that you have to get through), and it certainly explains why the hospitals have got very good at treating stroke patients with a combination of Western and Chinese medicine. Because there are so many of these patients!

What you need to do is have lots of fruit and vegetables and prepare them very simply. I like wandering around the local street markets to see what is in season. Unfortunately I live in student accommodation without a kitchen, so am reliant on the university dining halls and local restaurants for food. Eating healthily has been my biggest challenge so far during these past six weeks since starting my hospital placement.

One of our favourite treats now is to go hotpot (or steamboat) restaurants. You sit down on a table with a small stove in the middle. A big pot goes on that, filled with broth. You order plates of vegetables, mushrooms, tofu (and meat if you like), which are placed in the pot until they are cooked. You fish these out and eat them with a sauce that you create from a selection of sauces, herbs and other ingredients. It's a beautiful meal, with no sign of oil anywhere! 

An onion-domed church is not what I expected to find in Harbin's city centre. But there it is, the Church of St Sophia taking pride of place in the old part of town. There are plenty of old buildings, very much bearing Russian and Jewish influence, and they are still intact and have not been bulldozed down to make way for bigger and taller developments.

I arrived in Harbin last Friday 5th September. But because of the autumn festival, I cannot officially register at the Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine until today. My classmates and I had the long weekend off, so we explored the area around the university and the city centre. You can take a taxi to town for 2 GBP, or you can take a bus for 10 pence. I like it already!

Raining in Beijing today -- that can only mean one thing, you have to head into a museum. So my friend and classmate Teresa and I made our way to the very grand National Museum of China, across the street from Tiananmen Square.

Many many objects of art stood out, but the highlight was definitely this bronze figure model for acupuncture and moxibustion. Marked with meridians and acupuncture points, these figures were used in imperial medical academy exams. They were coated in beeswax and filled with water, so students can identify the right points. 

This model was cast in 1443 during the Ming Dynasty. Teresa and I had great fun identifying the points, giggling a lot when we got something right. And probably because those days of acupuncture point identification exams are firmly behind us.

It seemed a good idea at the time. Take the 24-hour train that goes directly from Hong Kong to Beijing, avoiding the queues at the airport and arriving straight in the city centre. 

All fine in theory, except it doesn't quite work that smoothly when you've got to push an enormous suitcase and a carry-on bag through security, immigration, and finally on to the train and into your compartment. But lucky lucky me, there were only two of us in a four-berth compartment. Jo, my roomie, a lady from Beijing, found someone with whom we can practise her English, and I found a Putonghua teacher. Perfect!

So the 24 hours went by quickly. I spoke more Putonghua in the first 12 hours than in the past 12 months combined. I ate Chinese train food and discovered how much the Chinese love their snacks (spicy tofu candy, anyone?). And arrive at Beijing West Station, ready for four days of playing tourist in this enormous capital city.