From our China bureau

Date: 08/12/2005 10:46 PM
Subject: Dude!

Yo bro!

How goes everything?

First up, before I forget. I need you to copy this to Dave coz I can't get
his email to work. Second, I need you to know that the Chinese government
has blocked forbattle. I shit you not. You must have pissed these guys off
somewhere coz I can not access your blog from China. What did you do? I
mean really. You know I think you're great, but how did you piss off a
quarter of the planet so badly they cut you off?

Anyway, I'm now in Dali, which is in Yunnan province (south China, near
Burma). Way cool. Free internet (except forbattle obviously, fuckers).
This place is so cool. I had only been here for 1 hour when an old woman
tried to sell me dope. Go figure.

I gotta tell you, this is a freakin hard country to travel in. Seriously.
Nobody speaks English. And they are mostly crap. Well, that's not true.
Almost entirely crap is more accurate. You know you're in trouble when
Naomi says, "Matt, I hate the Chinese." That's pretty bad. But I gotta
admit, I love it here. It's rough but totally unlike anything I have ever
encountered before.

I wont even try to explain on email. Instead I will bring photos and stuff.

Hope you're good, bro.

Take care,

Matt