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Latest Forum Posts

• • May 22, 2013
    
  • Forums > Living in Kunming > Getting Chinese Driving License from Hong Kong Driving License
    

    @remishenzhen you don't need any assistance. At most maybe you would need to bring a translator to help you talk to the Traffic Police folks at the Traffic Bureau, who speak only some basic English.

    The test is in English. In Kunming it costs 60rmb (yes, 60) to take it up to three times. If you fail 3x you just pay another 60rmb and try again.

    You can get a license on a tourist visa. I did in April 2013. You just need a residence certificate. This is not a residence permit, which is the same thing as a work visa. A residence certificate is just a document the police give you when you go to register your apartment at the police office. There are also some other documents you need to have like photocopies of your passport (photo page and visa/entry stamp pages), photos (you can get them there), and the approved translation of your foreign drivers license.

    The test itself is in English. The questions as of the new 2013 test are totally reasonable. All the odd questions about first aid, what to do if you are submerged in water, how to jump out of the window, etc are gone.

    Right now (May 2013) the only place I could find an English translation of the test questions was in an iOS app called Driving in China (
    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/driving-in-china/id486138822?mt=8). It uses all the actual questions with user-submitted translations. It is quite good and if you consistently get 90+ on the app's test you should be fine.

    There are some other threads that may also be helpful. You can ignore any of my confused questions about which version of the test questions will be used. The test in Kunming and probably everywhere in China at this point uses the new 2013 questions.

    www.gokunming.com/[...]

    www.gokunming.com/en/forums/thread/1549/chinese_drivers_license

• • May 12, 2013
    
  • Forums > Living in Kunming > Radar detectors
    

    @bucko Now I finally understand why on the new 2013 driver's license test they have all these photos where there is a CD blocking part of the license plate.

    @AlPage48 yeah they are really serious about it. Any attempt to mess with the license plate (forged documents, obscured by CD, etc.) is an immediate 12 point offense and results in a revoked license.

• • May 9, 2013
    
  • Forums > Living in Kunming > Radar detectors
    

    From what I have been told, the problem is the speed cameras, which are installed on many highways. I have not heard about cops using radar guns themselves.

• • May 9, 2013
    
  • Forums > Living in Kunming > Car electricals
    

    Thanks everyone for the suggestions and links.

    I think messing with the car electricals is going to be more trouble than it's worth for this situation. If I had more time and *really* wanted to power a rice cooker I'd consider getting the car rigged for it. My brother did something similar in the US. But at this point it's not that critical and there are alternatives.

    I think I'm going to go with a petrol stove. In the US I have one of these multi-fuel stoves, an MSR Dragonfly, and it's awesome. So I think I will get something similar here. I just have to make sure a wok will fit on it.

    The propane tank is probably the most efficient solution, given the wide availability of propane and the nice little single-burner stoves you can buy, but I don't like the idea of carrying around one of those tanks, especially if we get into an accident. That could just be paranoia, but that's how I feel.

• • May 9, 2013
    
  • Forums > Living in Kunming > Driving recording camera
    

    @bucko thanks. I ended up getting a Chinese one that seemed to be well-liked on Taobao. It has dual cameras so I can watch the back too.

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