Blocked in China

It's coming up to the 60th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Government October 1.

That's a big deal. Thousands of soldiers are practicing marching in Beijing. Hundreds of people in the town where I'm staying right now, not far from Beijing, are practicing marching while waving banner flags. There are security road blocks set up on the perimeter of Beijing. We were stopped at one last night. I worry how long the traffic lines will be because of the road blocks when I go back to Beijing in three days and again in a couple of weeks. All of the streets around the downtown Beijing hotel where I will be staying just before departure to US will be totally blocked off the day after I leave. I was told that those without a special pass will not be able to walk the streets around the hotel. I will allow 6 hours to get to the airport, a trip which normally takes 1 hour. I worry that will not be enough time.

So that's probably why I am blocked from posting to my blog directly. I was able to circumvent the block while in Beijing a few days ago. Now I am trying to figure out how to do that here in this town.

I emailed this message to my assistant, Tamarah to post. As soon as I can post directly, get ready for lots of material from this land of contrasts. Please check regularly as I'm working on the block instead of sleeping.