But judging from the blog tracker, some of you still check in from time to time and it gives me the warm fuzzies to know that you're still here.
So the big question goes without saying, where have I been? Oh, I've been a lot of places... still having a ball exploring every little nook and cranny of Beijing while from time to time escaping the big city to go on a grander adventure. I've been to Xi'an to see the terra-cotta warriors and I've slept on the great wall again. I traveled south to the beach where I set foot in the Pacific for the first time in my life and north to cliffs that overlook an amazing river that I would have given anything to set foot in.
Yes, I'm having fun but no, I haven't been enjoying life so much that I completely neglected my blog. I'm not that busy!
In the words of a famous southerner, "What happened was...." ...the government blocked access to Blogger at the beginning of the year, round about the last time you heard from me. Seems they're weary about what all you freethinking westerners might put into the minds of the innocent young folk here. Especially given that the 20th anniversary of the big Tienanmen Square you-know-what was coming up.
It wasn't nice, but at least I had Facebook to keep in touch with. That was until July, when the Uighurs started rioting in XinJiang. The government wanted to contain the flow of information about what was happening so they banned Facebook too. They shut off cell phone reception in XinJiang so people there couldn't tell everyone what was really going on. Who knows what actually happened, the news is all lies and half-truths I'm sure.
That's when I discovered what a proxy server is. It took a while to find one that actually works, even the one I have now is almost more trouble than what it's worth... but hey, at least I can log on! What a mess.
Democracy might not be a perfect institution, but at least nobody's controlling your internet access!
More stories later about my run-ins with communism.
I'll be back!
Jackie
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