I was thinking of purchasing one, or hinting at one for Christmas, as I love the music.

If anyone has any sort of experience with exotic instruments, what is the likely hood of a local trainer, and would it be possible to self-train in any reasonable fashion (like, actually getting somewhere)

More specifically, if anyone actually plays an Erhu, or any of it's related instruments, how hard is it to learn, or self teach?

I would imagine it would be similar to a violin. If you want a teacher you will probably need to go to chinatown to find an FOB.