Please excuse the irregular postings of late. I’ve been side-tracked in Yunnan Province – not exactly a hub of technology. But I am learning more about the lengths to which some people go to get a little convenience in their lives, such as a woman who strapped a refrigerator to her back and lugged it to her home at 3000+ meters.

The Letter is from Dali (大理) this week, an idyllic town sandwiched between 4000 meter peaks and one of China’s largest freshwater lakes. I’m here for a few more days, attending an annual three-day bazaar (三月街) that attracts Tibetans, Nepalese, Indians, Chinese minorities and a host of others from across south-west China and South East Asia. So I won’t be writing daily letters until I return to Shanghai in about 10 days.

It’s certainly not for lack of content. In the week or so I’ve been on vacation here, there’s been plenty of developments in 3G. China is looking to set up a TD-SCDMA network in Taiwan. Alcatel-Lucent won contracts in 14 provinces for W-CDMA, showing it’s down but not out in the world’s largest cellular market. And China Mobile is refining its netbook plans in a bid to attract 3G subscribers. So far, 20 models have reportedly been approved and the telco is drafting a plan for extensive co-marketing and distribution with a few select brands, which should include Lenovo.

When I get back to the office, I’ll track these developments in more detail, as usual. For now, I’m wandering the back roads of China, getting a feel for parts of the country where technology is less relevant to scratching out a daily living. But as the woman with the fridge tied to her back showed, people are eager to attain some of the daily comforts of life and will go to great lengths to get them.

That’s it from Dali.

mc

PS: Mail continues to pile up in my inbox. Keep the comments coming, and I will try to address some of your areas of interest with future letters.