My Christmas Gift – 我的圣诞礼物

Short story: I was interviewed by Ctrip's travel blog, read it by clicking here - China Blogger Spotlight: Oli Denton on his Shanghai blog and living the good life in China! 精简版：我被携程旅游网采访了，点击这里查看 - China Blogger Spotlight: Oli Denton on his Shanghai blog and living the good life in China! Long story: I had a great early Christmas present the other day, when the lovely Aimee from The China Travel Blog asked me to be interviewed about my blog. 完整版： 某日我收到了一份最棒的提前到来的圣诞礼物，就是The China Travel Blog的亲爱的Aimee要采访我关于我的博客。 She grilled me like an oyster...but you can click below to see the interview in full (as well as some hot photos of me doing Jesus poses) on their website! 我就像一个牡蛎一样被她拷问…点击下面链接你可以看到完整的采访（还有一些我凹造型的照片）在他们的网站上！ Don't forget to press the LIKE button on their site at the bottom of the article! 别忘了点击文章下面的LIKE键！

Icy Chill #2 – 冰天雪地

I just found out that my dear cousin Alice and her husband James are stuck in the freezing UK and can't fly away to the sun (they have tickets for the next Ashes cricket test match in Australia)! When I heard that a lot of flights from the UK had been delayed I didn't think at all that they would affect anyone I knew...the only thing I could think of was snow! Snow! SNOW! 我刚刚发现我亲爱的表妹Alice和她的丈夫James被困在了冰冷的英国，不能飞向阳光（他们已经拿到了下一届Ashes澳大利亚板球赛的门票）！当我听说很多英国航班延误的时候，我根本没想到会影响到我认识的人...我唯一能想到的是下雪！下雪！下雪！ It is the British way to wish for a white Christmas, and then complain when it happens. I would never wish for a cold Christmas, because I know what can happen...you wake up in your cold bed...you can see your own breath in the air...you put on your cold slippers...walk to your cold bathroom... 希望有一个白色圣诞是英国人的传统，然后真的发生的时候又开始抱怨。我可不希望有一个寒冷的圣诞节，因为我知道会发生什么...你在冰冷的床上醒来...看见自己呼吸冒出的热气...穿上冰冷的拖鞋...走进冰冷的浴室... ...give me sun every time! ...我要太阳！

It’s now official – Facebook is a terrorist hangout (perhaps)

Due to what some see as draconian approach to media control, news stories don't always come quickly to the mainland. Sometimes, however, the opposite is true! I read a story in the Telegraph this morning which reminded me of something I'd heard many times before...but I just couldn't put my finger on exactly where, so I did about 5 minutes of research and put together this super-timeline... It was a shock when terrorism hit China before the Olympics... August 2008 - Beijing Olympics security fears as terror attack kills 16 Chinese policemen "The seemingly well-coordinated assault [...] appears to be China's most serious act of political terror in more than a decade." "Ten days ago, a Muslim group which said it was fighting for the liberation of the region posted a video to a security website threatening to make the "most critical points of the Olympics" a target. Riots in Western China saw more than 100 killed... July 2009 - China riots: 156 killed in Urumqi as riots spread to Kashgar, according to Xinhua "Calm had settled over Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang province, after 20,000 police, troops and firefighters reclaimed the streets from rioters who burnt and smashed vehicles and shops, and clashed with security forces over Sunday night." The Telegraph's coverage was, as usual, accurate and well-researched... August 2009 - The battle to scale the Great Firewall of China "[T]he Chinese government cLose Weight Exercised [...] Facebook four weeks ago. This is because the government believes the rioters in Xinjiang province on July 5 used networking sites to communicate." As well as this golden nugget... "When expats move to China, the issue of internet access is one of the first culture shocks. The first surprising thing is that internet cafés do not exist." Earlier this year released a whitepaper about its block of FB and similar sites... June 2010 - China defends censoring web "Anything considered subversive or threatening to "national unity", China said, would however continue to be blocked." And now today's breaking news... December 2010 - Facebook emerges as 'terrorist recruiting ground' "The US government has warned that terrorist groups like al-Qaeda are targeting Facebook as a prime recruitment ground." It's hard for progressive techophiles to argue the virtues of unblocking this type of website (or at least question the reasoning of the censorship) when Western governments underline the same fears...and more than a year later!

Bathroom Tips – 厕所里的小贴士

Sometimes the most obvious advice is the best. 有时候很明显的意见也是最好的意见

Snow my God! – 雪！

As my lovely girlfriend is often reminding me, my Dad (probably 70 years older than me and 1/4 as wise) is a MUCH better photographer than me. 因为我可爱的女朋友总是提醒我，我的爸爸（可能比我大70岁可是只有我1/4的智慧）拍照比我好。 With that in mind, here's some photos of the crazy landscape at my old house in England today! 因为这样，有了这些今天在英国的我的老房子的风景照！ I hope they're wearing their wooly underwear! 我希望他们都穿着羊毛内衣！

Beating Tetris – 打俄罗斯发块

Here's a short video which proves that it's not that difficult to beat Tetris... 这里有个短片告诉我们打俄罗斯方块不难 From Kaixin001.com

A Message To The Koreas – 致北韩和南韩的消息

With tensions between North and South Korea rising, my buddy at LengXiaoHua has sent a message which puts into words what the majority of people are thinking... 韩国和朝鲜的紧张关系升级，我的爱说冷笑话朋友发了一个消息给我，内容关于大多数人对于这个事情的想法… - - - -> www.lengxiaohua.net

Funnies – 小玩意

THIS IS WHAT SAD LOOKS LIKE 這就是悲傷的眼神 THIS IS WHAT SORRY LOOKS LIKE 這就是抱歉的眼神 BAD SPELLING- 這拼字太差了吧 PRIVACY PLEASE- 請注重隱私 LOUD ENOUGH FOR YOU? 夠大聲了吧 BAD JUDGMENT-判斷力太差 SHOCKING ACCIDENT - 嚇死人了 McBURNT 麥燒光 I'D RATHER HOLD IT- 寧可忍住 PILE UP- 堆起來 THIS IS GOING TO HURT- 很累耶 FORGOT SOMETHING 忘了什麼了？ LET ME EXPLAIN 我可以解釋.... THESE WILL MAKE YOU SMILE! 你要遲到了哈哈.. HOW WAS YOUR CEREAL THIS MORNING 今天早上的麥片好喝嗎? HOW TO HANDLE A PROBLEM NEIGHBOR 對付惡鄰？ Boy Genius! 小朋友你也太利害了 Tattoo Of The Year 本年度最佳刺青 Latest Grill Accessories These are a must have! 最新的烤肉架--這是一定要的 果真是全球暖化的證明

R U Chinese? – 你是中国人吗？

When I went to Hong Kong this summer, I bought my ticket through Ctrip (Chinese version). I only found out recently that the Chinese and English language versions were not 100% the same - and the 'local' version offers some really good deals that you don't seem to be ablr to buy on the English. FOREIGNER DISCRIMINATION! I'm upset... 今年夏天我去香港的时候，我在携程网（中文版）上买的票。我才发现原来中文和英文版本不是100％一样的 - '本地'版提供了一些非常核算的产品，可是你在英语版上是买不到的。西人歧视！我很不高兴... So anyway I bought a 'package deal' on the site, which means flights, hotel, mobile sim card, subway card, airport transfer etc are all included in the price, which in this case was something like 2800rmb (2 nights). 不管怎样后来我在网站上买了一个套餐，包括机票，酒店，移动SIM卡，地铁卡，机场接送等都包含在里面了，这样一套大概在2800元（2晚）这样。 I chose the cheapest hotel from the choices I was given, and I got very lucky, because it was fantastic! (It was called L'Hotel Nina). 我选了套餐里面最便宜的一个酒店，我觉得我非常幸运，因为它太棒了！ （它叫如心海景酒店）。 Huge windows! Great view! 大玻璃窗，视野很好！ The only downside was that they didn't seem extremely organized in the morning when people were arriving (the rooms weren't emptied yet, so people had to wait). I didn't mind too much, because I just went to a coffee shop. 唯一的缺点是，他们早上的运作不是特别好，人们到酒店时（房间都还没有清空，所以人们不得不等待）。我不太介意这个，因为我可以去喝杯咖啡。 I could have gone to a restaurant inside the hotel, but it seemed to be aimed at mainlanders... 我可以去酒店内的餐厅，不过似乎它也是针对国内人士的... Question: R U CHINESE? 题为：你是中国人吗？ More FOREIGNER DISCRIMINATION! 又是西人歧视！