I've been promising / threatening this for a while. 

I've been asked a million times by family and friends back in the old country, "What do you eat?"

I have made three slide shows of the stuff I've been eating over the last couple of years. Some home cooked. Some in restaurants.  Unfortunately, this blog site won't accept my HTML which works everywhere else.

So. Click on the pic!

As I strolled downtown this morning, I got the distinct impression that I was in China!

This miraculous revelation came about because, overnight, they have stuck large Chinese flags on virtually every lamp post in the city. The Chinese State Flag. You know the big red thing with five stars. I passed literally hundreds of them in a twenty minute walk.

Now, I'm fairly sure they haven't done this just to remind me which country I'm in. Perhaps, it is to do with Wednesday's anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (founded July 1st, 1921), but then shouldn't they be hanging up the Party flag (left) rather than the national flag?

On the other hand, perhaps they are getting ready a bit prematurely for October the 1st which will be National Day and the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Either that or they just happened to have a whole bunch of these flags  and thought they'd better use them for something.

Back in 2003, when the then mayor, nicknamed The Hammer, decided to destroy rebuild Liuzhou, countless buildings were torn down, including some which had never been completely built. The demolition was almost always done by hand. Gangs of labourers with sledge hammers. 

Later, things became somewhat more mechanised, but recently they have just taken to blowing things up.

The latest casualty is the last building of any significance on the new construction site where they are planning to build the tallest building in Guangxi.

Yesterday afternoon they blew up Ying Binguan (hotel). I had many a happy banquet there and visiting friends stayed there when there were too many (or it would have been immoral for them) to share my only spare bed.

It was also home to Liuzhou's best bun shop. 

The internet has gone and went all strange.

It is alleged that, yesterday from about 9:30 local time, the self appointed lunatics who  look after our safety decided to block all Google sites, including Gmail for about an hour.

At that time, I was busy on Google and receiving Gmail no problem.

But then the self appointed cretins who decide matters like these have never been very efficient. Efficiency is not a requirement for the job - stupidity is.

A Chinese friend in Guangdong is furious. 90% of her business comes through Gmail, which she can't reach, even today.

Following the ridicule poured on them after the unresolved "Green Dam" debacle, you would the think the slugs would crawl back into whichever hole they crawled out of and keep their mouths tightly shut, but that would require intelligence. About a micron above that of a particularly stupid goldfish.

Tonight from 6:30 till around  7:30 pm the internet was completely unavailable. They blocked everything. Now I can only be here by devious means.

Don't these morons realise the damage this does to China's economy, education or credibility?

Probably, but they don't care. They only live for the next publicly funded banquet, which they won't remember tomorrow.

Goldfish.

(Except, I respect goldfish more.)

Liuzhou has (nearly) lost one of its favourite shops. In their efforts to clear space for what is promised to be Guangxi's tallest building, they have been tearing down and blowing up buildings all along the northern side of the city square. The hospital has all gone and for the last few weeks they have been pulling apart the Ying Binguan (hotel).

Attached to the hotel was this tiny shop selling steamed buns. It was very, very popular and early in the morning there were huge crowds waiting at the windows for their bun fix. People travelled from all over Liuzhou to buy their buns here.

As the building was torn down around them they went straight on dishing up the dough.

However, last week, they finally gave up and now all that is left of the shop is this.

The end of an era. Or so I thought.

Yesterday I discovered that they are still battling on and have set up shop in a tent further along the road! Good on them!

UPDATE 27th June

They have now moved into a slightly more permanent home. A sort of prefabricated hut. It is still situated in the NW corner of the square at the corner of Guang Chang Lu and Ba Yi Lu. (广场路， 八一路. 广雅路 十字路口)

A lovely, fascinating film turned up on YouTube, yesterday. (Sadly, YouTube remains blocked in China - so I don't know how I managed to see it!  If you really can't get to it on YouTube, it is also here but in lower quality.) 

The world's most disgusting government is being warmly welcomed to visit Guangxi.

According to People's Daily, Burmese "State Peace and Development Council" (i.e the military junta) Vice-Chairman Maung Aye has been enjoying a holiday an official visit  to China.

I read that "Myanmar and China share a long history of friendship which is increasingly cemented"

Back in the real world, yesterday was the 64th birthday of Aung San Suu Kyi, the elected leader of Burma. With stunning predictability, after around 13 years of house arrest,  she is being held in prison on ridiculous charges. 

All trumped up by the dog shit that calls itself the government of Burma and which China "warmly welcomes in their long history of friendship!" Sniffing each others' arses.

They're going to be playing in the river again.

Following last year's hosting of the F1 Powerboat Grand Prix, this year Liuzhou is going to be treated to the jump and wakeboard events in the International Water Ski Federation (IWSF) 2009 World Cup. The events will be held during the National Day holiday, from October 1st to 3rd.

According to their website:

"Next on the calendar will be a totally new and exciting experience for all. Located 727km west of Hong Kong in China, the City of Liuzhou with its 2100 year history, will host a World Cup Stop for the very first time. Surrounded by rolling hills, mountains and caves, the river site will stage JUMP and WAKEBOARD on October 1/3. As it will fall within a national holiday period and will form part of a major Watersports Festival, our World Cup athletes will be on centre stage! It is anticipated that the Finals will be broadcast nationally by Central China TC (CCTV)"

No doubt, it will be the same as last year. The selected few will have riverside seats and the bridges and riverside roads will be closed to keep the scum locals out.