The MAK board is banned in China!!

[rv_safetyman]

Hi folks.  Just got back in the good old USA after nine days in China on a consulting trip.  I had heard that the Internet is censored to some degree in China.  Well, MAK must be on the "subversive" list.  BNO opened fine, but none of the busconversions.com sites loaded.  Tried doing some backdoor entry and that did not work either.  I did a lot of Internet searching as a part of my assignment and many would not load.  Most "mainstream sites loaded fine.  Maybe there is something going on that I don't know about!

The buses in China are a bit primitive and were not well taken care of.  It appeared that the engines were smaller than in the USA and I would expect that.  Several had their engine doors propped open to offset cooling problems (sound familiar?).  I tried to pace off the length of several buses and many were at least 40 feet perhaps 42.  Not one bus had a tag or bogey.  All two axle.

The trucks are really primitive.  Way underpowered and many seemed quite overloaded.  Did not see one air spring unit and I saw several hundred trucks.  Diesel and gas are cheaper that in the US.  Diesel was $2.35 and mid range gas was 2.50.

The driving condition in the part of China that I was in (Shanghai area) absolutely defy description!!  Lane markers are, at best, a guide that is commonly defied.  Scooters, human powered taxis and bicycles go every which way and pay no attention to the lights.  There are 30 cars per 1000 people (1.3 billion folks) and over 100,000 traffic fatalities per year (came close to being a part of that statistic a couple of times)! 

Sure glad to be back home (well almost – waiting to catch a plane to Denver)

[Connel]

Jim,

Welcome Home!!   Sure makes one appreciate the good ole USA.
Hope your trip was an economic success.

Connel

[ceieio]

Jim - yes it is wild driving in China... same in much of Asia.  Japan and Singapore are more the exceptions; Malasia, Thiland and The Phillapines are just like China, a free for all with horn warnings and no sense of lane discipline or whatnot, pedistrians, bicycles, and scooters thrown into the mix as well.  I have to say that in my travels in Asia, I did not see any accidents, but I was also quite glad to have a driver in those countries.  In Europe I always drove myself, but I learned in Asia to have a car and driver.  Can you picture piloting your bus there? 

Craig - MC7 Oregon

[jjrbus]

I've spent the last 3 winters in the Philippines, Thailand, and Cambodia. It is strongly suggested that foriengers do not drive. Not becuse the driveing is so bad, there is no place to park! Also if there is an accident you are at fault. There reasoning being if you were not in the country the accident would not have happened! Very simple very stright forward, don't like it, dont drive or leave.
The driving rules are very simple, the biggest, oldest most beat up vehicle has the right of way. If someone flashes thier lights it is too tell lyou they are coming through. Also all vehicles are equipped with automatic horn blowers that blow horn every 30 seconds , this is not true of Thailand. It was the best of the three.
I've seen brand new Mercedes buses with the engine doors wide open, habit or needed? Also many of the buses are WWII vintage, probobly not much left of the original structure.
Motorcycles are the main form of transportation and account for most fatalities. There can be no more than 5 people on a 100cc bike and no more than 7 on a 125cc and up cycle. Unless you can fit more of course. The hospital dumpsters are loaded with body parts amputated after accidents, it is a real crime to see so much carnage. I think as the price of gas rises  in this country, the lawyers will force them to make safer bikes, some sort of roll cage.
I had no problem accessing the MAK board in any country I was in, so is not an all asia problem.

[HighTechRedneck]

I had heard that the Internet is censored to some degree in China.  Well, MAK must be on the "subversive" list.  BNO opened fine, but none of the busconversions.com sites loaded.

It is a fact that China heavily censors the Internet.  As I understand it, they utilize an "alowed list" process rather than a "ban list".  From what I read, they started out banning sites they considered offensive but soon discovered that banned sites were just changing their domain names and returning.  So they switched to only allowing sites that had been reviewed and approved by the appropriate government agency.

[Barn Owl]

China sucks! Freedom rules! I am greatful everyday I live in America. God Bless the USA!

[plyonsMC9]

Hi Jim,

Just curious - was it the BBS that you could not get to?  Or, the BBS?  I have some large IP blocks in place to prevent re-curring spam from recurring SPAM on the BBS.

Thanks - Phil

[Eagle]

Could it be they are trying to keep their citizens from being (BUS) nuts like us.

[rv_safetyman]

Hi Phil.  It has nothing to do with the bbs software or programming.  I tried busconversions.com and motorcabin.com and they would not load. 

As I mentioned, I had to do quite a bit of internet search while I was there and at least half of the google hits I tried would not load.  Yet, some really obscure sites (by my measure) came up fine.

I wish I knew how their system works. 

It does make you really appreciate our freedom in the USA!!!

[plyonsMC9]

Hi Jim,

You're right - I didn't do anything to block those sites.  Their government probably didn't want to show their citizens how much fun can be had with the freedom to "do it your way" and a bus!!!! 

Best Regards, Phil