tracksterman

I was recently so horrified by my last (in both senses) visit to Dunhuang that I thought I’d...

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:01:57 +0800

I was recently so horrified by my last (in both senses) visit to Dunhuang that I thought I’d...

Urumqi '7-5'

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:59:00 +0800

I had this blog up and running two years ago, before the entire domain was blocked by the Chinese...

Back to Urumqi

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:52:00 +0800

7-5: a personal chronologyMy decision to break the journey in Korla meant I missed the violence that...

Pictures of the 7-5 victims posted on tianshannet.com and later...

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:48:00 +0800

Pictures of the 7-5 victims posted on tianshannet.com and later removed.

APVs at the ErDaoQiao bazaar.

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:47:16 +0800

APVs at the ErDaoQiao bazaar.

Aftermath

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:45:19 +0800

Thursday, 9th JulyThings appear to be settling down. Still no internet access or SMS, but the...

Business as usual?

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:35:00 +0800

Friday, 17th JulyI’m testing the assertion that it’s tourist business as usual by going...

Nice few days in the Tian Shan, but it’s getting chilly...

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:46:13 +0800

Nice few days in the Tian Shan, but it’s getting chilly now - soon to be time to head south for the winter.

Urumqi cycling.

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 09:26:15 +0800

Urumqi cycling.

UK to Istanbul

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 08:53:43 +0800

As part of my strategy to avoid the ‘Beijing Effect’ this summer, I cycled from the UK...

Now I’m back in Xinjiang, a bit of mountain cycling seems...

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 08:26:42 +0800

Now I’m back in Xinjiang, a bit of mountain cycling seems in order.

OK, I’m about to fire this blog up again. Seems like...

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 08:21:39 +0800

OK, I’m about to fire this blog up again. Seems like I’m getting a cat next week. Here he is…

Wahay!

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 18:07:51 +0800

Found a proxy that lets me edit my old blog within China! Watch this space…

By way of closure, here’s an anecdote. A couple of weeks...

Fri, 16 May 2008 19:12:29 +0800

By way of closure, here’s an anecdote. A couple of weeks ago I was listening to a BBC podcast, on my MP3 headphones, about green activism in China. The section of Chinese dialogue I’ve posted here contained a word I didn’t recognize, mingzhu, so I asked my Han girlfriend to listen and translate it for me. This was a Sunday afternoon so her daughter, in the next room, was receiving tuition from a private art tutor. Jess wrote down the word in pinyin, but forbid me to say it out loud until the teacher had gone.

The word mingzhu means ‘democracy’, and my girlfriend, a doctor, had refused to allow me to even say this word in her own flat in case an art student heard me. Think about that for a moment.

Also consider that, while subsequently writing this draft in China, I googled the word to make sure I had the proper spelling. Not only did Google crash, but the whole browser locked up and had to be restarted. I was unable to access Google for over an hour. I have been unable to post this until leaving China because the entire blog domain is blocked there. This is at the same time China claims it is freeing up internet access under the terms requested by the IOC.

Last post...

Thu, 15 May 2008 16:46:00 +0800

So, one year on. I’m back in the UK (briefly). It’s been an interesting year. I thought I’d close...

Interesting BBC clip from FOOC, examining the nationalism...

Thu, 15 May 2008 16:38:19 +0800

Interesting BBC clip from FOOC, examining the nationalism stirred up by events surrounding the Olympic torch relay. It’s a pretty even handed piece. The BBC are certainly one of the lesser offenders when it comes to Western bias, but there’s a great irony here. The BBC was only recently allowed past the Great Firewall – and the reaction of China’s netizens seems to have been almost universal criticism of its bias and lack of partiality! Oddly enough, they were criticizing it before they even had access to it…

The Great Firewall

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:08:00 +0800

It seems the Chinese authorities didn’t like my humble little blog, so there will be no more...

On today’s ride over the Yarmalik hills I noticed that a...

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 13:21:40 +0800

On today’s ride over the Yarmalik hills I noticed that a whole bunch of these gizmos have just been installed. I took a close-up picture of the sign for Jess to translate, and it turns out they’re silver iodide generators. Concerned by the lack of winter precipitation over the last couple of years, the authorities are putting these on high ground to try and induce snowfall. This is needed, not only to top up water resources (see post dated Nov 18th), but also because the wheat seeds planted each autumn need a blanket of snow as insulation through Xinjiang’s intense winter cold. It’s an illustration both of how stressed the environment is even here in NW China, and of the measures the CCP are taking to combat this.

The fishing pool has been drained for the winter and now serves...

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 11:50:00 +0800

The fishing pool has been drained for the winter and now serves as an impromptu exercise ground for old ladies, popping jumping jacks while singing the old songs. In the summer this is a good spot for a cold beer under the willows, and even in autumn I like to stop here on the way back from a ride. Sitting on a bench, drinking hot coffee from my flask (bao wen ping, lit. ‘keep warm bottle’), listening to the singing - I never get bored with it.

Oddly enough, the open air pool is still open for business and,...

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 11:46:26 +0800

Oddly enough, the open air pool is still open for business and, despite the fact that it’s dropping to -10C at night and there’s a layer of ice on the water, there are still some speedo-wearing maniacs willing to jump in it!