Disconnection: Instagram, Cables, Assumptions.
Unlikely this will be published while I am still in Beijing, as the crack down on communications with the outside world intensifies.
Seems fitting for my last week here. About time I got used to just how far away I am from home, and just how unfamiliar life is here. No more Skype for talking- the internet is now too slow, even if it is still available. No more Instagram and the subsequent news feeds it offers. Lockdown.
The loose cables which have fascinated me since I arrived now seem a bit sinister.

Without communication, how can we be heard, anywhere in the world. When desperate protests are taking place in one of the most connected cities in the world, how can we monitor what is happening and how can we support them.
It’s alright for me- I have tickets to take me home soon. But what if home is the unsafe place?
Writing that last part, I spotted another assumption- that my plane will still leave. And so with each day I have been learning to take the assumptions that I understand how anything works here down another notch. Take it as it comes. Don’t expect to get anything done, then something always does happen.
If that’s not some sort of zen lesson then I don’t know what is. Perfect place to practice it in I suppose.
Just spare a thought for the people in Hong Kong and Taipei who are standing up for their rights to democracy and free communication.