Yes, my web site is apparently not accessible from inside China. My original web site address, Lawrencegray.com is, though that has become a mysteriously inert site for some accident assessment company. A Chinese Company took over the service provider and then would not let me renew my registration. So I had to change to the .net site.
So what does that mean? I have no idea. My site is hardly a threat to national security and I haven't incited anyone to do much more than write some decent scripts. All very mysterious.
I was in Lijiang over Easter and enjoying the delights of chewing on deep fried dragon flies. They didn't taste like chicken. Didn't really taste at all. I guess if you fried your finger and toe nail clippings and sprinkled them with msg you would get much the same taste.
Apart from eating bugs, the Naxi's of Lijiang bitch about the Han Chinese, relish the fact that they were the inspiration behind the book Lost Horizon, and have created a town called Shangri-La just to make themselves even more the location for the book. This Shangri-La however is a dusty bunch of empty apartment blocks that nobody wants to have much to do with.
They have an airport they hope will be fit for International flights soon. Unfortunately there are only dirt roads leading from the airport to the city where they used up most of their concrete. Eventually it will be fixed though the locals cynically thought that they would be re-building the road before it was finished because it would be falling apart like all the other roads around that have recently been laid.
Whenever one is in China one is aware that one is with a nation of people who are told what to think and so happily contradict themselves several times over with every sentence. They hear the government wants them to think one thing, then the government changes its mind and tell them to think another, and then changes its mind again. And since nobody bothers to listen too closely, as long as they manage to get a few government slogans out, they think they have done enough to show loyalty and thus not be bothered much. The message they get is that thinking gets you into trouble so, just eat and try earn some money.
And so our guide happily informed us that as a member of the Naxi Minority he was lazy and liked to sing and dance. This is the standard Chinese description of all "minorities" in China. Then he informed us he only needed five hours sleep and worked seven days a week at two jobs and had taught himself to speak nine languages. He also told us that the two day mountain hike we planned to embark upon was an easy stroll through mountain passes to some beautiful hostels where we would rest, eat and drink, and enjoy the mountain splendour. The man was a walking brochure.
After seven hours trekking along a mountain ledge that sometimes shrunk to zero with a sheer drop beside us, going up rocky inclines and down slippery moraine, that hostel that was just around the corner, was just around a lot of corners! I staggered on, clutching a stick, and dragging my feet slowly painfully inch by inch, into the night until we finally did reach the hostel.
Severely dehydrated and somewhat affected by the altitude I struggled through an exhausted night and then embarked upon another death march. I don't think I saw any scenery other than the rocks in front of me that my feet could barely slide over.
On finally returning to the hotel I was a dead man walking. Our guide managed to chivvy us through the next tour on our itinerary, after having a saline injection "for his stomach". But the next day he informed us he was in hospital for an operation and so farewell.
Our guides in China often seem to have problems like falling ill or getting arrested for carrying offensive weaponry onto aircraft or not speaking a word of English. Luckily in Lijiang the local minority were in a majority and they liked to speak English more than Poutungwa. In fact they spoke more English, and better English, than the Chinese of Hong Kong.
