January 16, 2007

Internet?
According to sources (i.e. the China Daily, my source of news in these internet-scarce times) it should take another 2 to 3 weeks to repair the fibre optics cables off Taiwan. The original plan was to have it all fixed by today but judging from the long wait, up to 30 minutes, it takes to read one email there's still some work to be done. According to the paper "crewmen on boats south of Taiwan are dragging the seabed with grappling hooks at the end of long ropes to recover cables about 4,000 meters down in the sea." You can imagine how long it would take!
To get decent internet access, read: slower than dial-up access but better than nothing, I have to get online sometime between 2:30AM and 7:30AM. Any later and I can make and drink an instant coffee while waiting for any non-China webpage to load, if it loads at all.
The slow internet access has certainly made me much more aware of how dependant I've become on it for almost everything -emailing, weather reports, international news, travel advice, etc. It'll be nice when things are "back to normal".

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

hello I'm french, from Lille, I would like going to China in 2008, but I don't know how it's possible... Do you have ideas?
I let my e-mail: camrio@hotmail.fr
Thanks for possible answers

Stephen said...

C'est assez facile de voyager en Chine. Le visa n'est pas du tout un probleme, et du monde dans les villes touristiques parle anglais. En plus, c'est pas cher du tout. Un auberge de jeunesse a Beijing coute 5 à 7 Euro/soir, la bouffe est encore moins chere, et un billet de train de Beijing a Shanghai coute p-e 50Euro pour un lit (un voyage de 24 heures).

Anonymous said...

Isn't that the case! Amazing how life has changed. Phone numbers, postal codes, maps, definitions.

Anonymous said...

If you want fast email within China these days, get yourself a GMail account (just make sure to turn off the chat feature). GMail & Google flys. I wish I knew how they do it. :)

John

Stephen said...

In other computer news, I finally got the computer in my room fixed.
I also talked to the tech guy who's going to unblock my MSN now that he's got my IP number. The headmaster had MSN put down because it was reducing the teacher's productivity.

Anonymous said...

sounds like a dangerous undertaking to recover those cables...anymore news about the length of time it will take?

Stephen said...

They say it could take between another 2 weeks (end of Jan) and another 6 weeks (end of Feb). Apparently there are a lot of storms there now, hindering the repair process.