China: Political

We've had a lot of amazing experiences here in Tibet over the past few weeks, but the undeniable highlight has been hanging out and partying at the home of one of the friends we made at Tibet University during our first week here in Lhasa.

On our very first visit to the campus to play basketball we met these three young guys, all of whom are students at the university. In total, I think I ended up playing hoops with them and other students at least 6 or 7 different times. I even got The World Soccer Tour rolling again for a few hours one day. The basketball was definitely great fun, but the most amazing times were all had back at our friend Tenzin's place, eating, drinking, talking and partying with him and his mom, brother, friends and neighbors. And, man, what an incredible experience each of those visits turned out to be!

So we're wandering around Lhasa for 5 days surrounded by warm, friendly Tibetans with the biggest warmest smiles we've ever seen anywhere and we're wondering how in the hell are we ever going to befriend any of them considering half the people on the streets are tourists. The answer: The World Basketball Tour, of course!

China's back at it again. Killing, oppressing, repressing, subjugating and enslaving, all the while attempting to crush the spirit of the Tibetan people. You've really got to wonder why they can't just get their army of occupation the f*ck out of Tibet and leave the Tibetan people to live peacefully on their own - forever!

Hey all you fellow Canadians out there, as Bob Dylan once asked, how does it feel? How does it feel to have a government that is such a disgraceful embarrassment on the international stage? I mean, when your country's only real ally on a major issue is George W. Bush's America you've really got to stop and ask yourself just what the hell went wrong? And the answer, obviously, starts with the election of this Stephen Harper-led right-wing Bush-a-like government of ours two years ago. The only question now seems to be, just how far down do these jokers plan to drag us?

You really have to hand it to China. I mean, there's simply no denying the magnificent effort the Chinese government has put into becoming an old school Superpower, in the mold of America and the Soviets during the Cold War. Just look at how passionately the Chinese defend, love and nurture three of the most despicable regimes on the planet. That is, Burma, North Korea and Sudan, of course. Check out Beijing's heartfelt apologia for mass slaughter and horrific repression. Watch in amazement as petty dictators and genocidal regimes are coddled and cozied up to. And marvel at the sheer stubbornness and complete lack of morality on display as China increasingly steps out onto the world stage.

Whether it be Burma's ruthless suppression of its own people, North Korea's starvation of millions of its citizens while spending all of the country's money on nuclear weapons and the military, or Sudan's genocide of the people of Darfur, China is always there to encourage the tyrants, load 'em up with weapons, and protect them from sanctions and censor in the UN Security Council. To put it succinctly, China's simply there for them whenever they're in need. 'Cause, hey, as that old song goes, and as any petty dictator will tell you, "we all need somebody to lean on".

I was going to start this rant with some lame attempt to be witty, such as:

Q. Hu was that guy Bush was getting all defensive for today at the White House?
A. Yes.

or

Who's Hu and why is Bush so enamored with him?

But in the end I decided to just go with this:

I could easily write a whole rant on nothing but Bush's reaction to that heckler at the White House this afternoon. You know, the woman who was, after all, simply just shouting out some truth about the reality of the dictatorship in China and its brutal oppression of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. Did you see the look of disgust on Bush's face? Thankfully, for those who like polite meetings with dictators, he quickly apologized to Chinese President Hu. Now everything's going to be ok, right? What a pathetic hypocrite! This was the guy who was supposedly so upset and worried about the human rights situation in Iraq that he had to destroy the whole country. I could write a whole other rant about how he sucked up to Hu all day. I mean, we're talking about a country - China - that still runs gulags, er, I mean "re-education camps", which are full of tens of thousands of innocent people. But, come to think of it, America's been running its very own gulag in Guantanamo Bay for years now, so I guess they can't really call other countries on such things anymore, can they? But, still, it sure looks pathetic. Don't you think he must feel at least a little bit embarrassed about sucking up to the leader of a communist dictatorship that throws people in jail for 10 to 15 years at a time for such things as publishing articles about a peaceful transformation to democracy?

How to deal with a hung-over Chinese PSB cop asshole: Wrestle the prick!

The full story:

Our final visas were originally to expire yesterday, so last week on Thursday we booked our 2-day trip to the Nepali border in a Landcruiser. We were to leave early Saturday morning and arrive at the border Sunday, at least an hour before it closed at 6PM. We paid a deposit and signed a short contract with the organizer. We then prepared to leave by, amongst other things, having an amazing goodbye party together with our Tibetan university-student friends, one of their families and many neighbors - and with lots and lots of dumplings and cold beer.

So, after nearly 3 weeks down south, we arrived back here in Shihua, in Northern Xinjiang, yesterday afternoon. Southern Xinjiang is a completely different world and returning here felt like returning to China. Our time down south turned out to be quite different than we had planned or expected. Besides some disappointment/problems (one quite big) it was an unbelievable time full of fun, surprises, incredible experiences, wonderful people, great food and, believe it or not, very little beer.