And then there was the earthquake-- but that was out west, and we only felt it a little bit here. Had to evacuate the Embassy when the earthquake alarm went off, and to escort all sorts of bewildered American citizens to the back lawn of the compound, where one of them promptly made an ass of himself. (Quoted some silly theory about an unbroken mountain range from here to the Pyrenees that resulted in a single mountain culture that has caused conflicts throughout history because of the nature of the culture, blah blah blah. I was skeptical and said there were probably more geopolitical reasons behind it, and he started in about the 'Death of the Intellect'. Then the American guy next to me said 'Seems a little hard to swallow. I mean, haven't there been wars other places, without mountains?' and the first moron gets his undies in a bunch and starts off on how he has a doctorate, you know, and he knows what he's talking about, you know, and he "just can't stand it when some asshole comes up and says (and this is where he adopted the Disney cartoon Goofy voice) 'Hyuk, hyuk... haven't there been any wars anywhere else?'" I thought there was gonna be a war right there. :P
OK... Found out for sure. It was the army practicing at the barracks right by my house. No actual firefights in the streets. :)
More lovely details, though-- the district governor who got killed? The Maoists chopped off both of his legs and let him bleed to death. Nice, hey?
And now the government has shut down one of the prominent English newspapers, just for including a picture of the Maoists.
