Some parts of the world are blocked because of spammers and other types of evil doers. Asia is one of the blocked areas along with Africa. We have some other globetrotting members who hit the wall from some countries and use proxies as Limited-Time mentioned.
Detroit is under consideration for adding to the block list.
The use of proxy servers can be a royal pain. That is why during my trips to Africa I am usually MIA around here. I guess it is a necessary evil, there are moments when the iboats mod team has been inundated with spammers and it keeps us busy eradicating and deleting them. Keeping Asia and Africa off the grid sure does help with "traffic control."