The Great Firewall of China

Not long now until China, and the usual problem with posting while on Tour is about to turn up again. China blocks access to many of the most popular websites in the West. Although you can log on to the internet, you can’t (usually) access any of the sites, as shown below.

We can add to that list Snapchat, WhatsApp (intermittent) and if your email address is on Gmail, forget it! Last time I was there, this site (TimOnTheTrain.com) was also blocked, which is kind of exciting and a bit worrying at the same time – I’m perceived as a potential threat!

So, the question arises as to how I can post while away. I have a plan – here goes. There is a way to post to the blog by email (email should be allowed); once this is done, my site is set up to automatically cross post the new blog post to Facebook & Twitter from server side the UK, where the site ‘lives’. This may, or may not work. You may, or may not, be hearing from me while I’m in China. If you can see what I’m posting, I probably won’t be able to see for myself what my posts look like, or what people are saying, until I get back home, or to Hong Kong, or (sometimes) in Shanghai where it seems to be a bit more relaxed. I also won’t know whether anything I’m posting is getting through at all. This is a bit like talking on the radio – you can’t see or hear the people that you’re talking to, you just have to hope somebody is listening

So there we are… Happy Days! You may have to wait for your fix of cute Panda photos until I get back. Or not. 😄