"While escaping war-torn China, a group of Europeans crash in the Himalayas, where they are rescued and taken to the mysterious Valley of the Blue Moon, Shangri-La. Hidden from the rest of the world, Shangri-La is a haven of peace and tranquility for world-weary diplomat Hugh/Richard Conway. His ambitious brother, George, sees it as a prison from which he must escape, even if it means risking his life and bringing destruction to the ancient culture of Shangri-La."

Shangri-La.

That's where the ICANN team is today, in the Shangri-La Hotel in downtown Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It's a very nice hotel.

The big item on ICANN's plate right now is the budget. I've heard that at least one large registrar hasn't signed on yet. I've also heard that ICANN has several backup plans in mind that may involve looking to the registries for funding.  Or may not. This will be a hot item of discussion over the next few days. 

I saw a plaintive email from Elisabeth Porteneuve that said ICANN had deleted all of the old wwwtld records for the ccTLD organizations from its website.  From what I can gather, there remains some concern and confusion about the ccNSO's legitimacy and standing in the ccTLD community.  Their meeting here will be dedicated to process.  I'm sure there will be bloggers in the ccTLD meetings to tell us more.

Other substantial issues to be discussed include the .net contract, IDNs, ongoing WSIS issues, and how to approve new registry services for registries under contract with ICANN.  VeriSign may or may not have something to say about the Sitefinder report [pdf] of July 9.  At the moment, the GAC is meeting behind closed doors, and the rest of the crowd is touring the city or chatting in the capacious lobby.