Ubuntu Networking :: Unable To Restore VPN Connection

I am trying to keep a VPN connection open between two Ubuntu 8.04 LTS servers, one in Holland and one in China. Unfortunately, because the connection in China is not great, about 1 time a day the connection drops. I have therefore devised a script, to be started by crontab once every 5 minutes, that checks the connection and if necessary restores it.

Code:

#!/bin/bash
ping -c 2 -W 10 10.10.10.73 &> /dev/null;
PING = $?;

[code]....