You are right the Captiva is an AWD. The Nissan Xtrail is also an AWD but has the CV drive, and looking at Xtrail events on YouTube they are quite capable in rough terrain.
The fortuners and others are grey imports. There is a large car market up near the Garden Expo in the North. One of the sales halls is imports.
Q. Do you need a full blown 4x4, or will a 4wd soft roader work for you. There are lots of these. The Chevrolet Captiva is 7 seater and I paid 300k about 18 months ago. They are only available in 2.4ltr petrol now.
A lot of imported, from Thailand etc. SUV for sale in Kunming, including the 4tuner. But these are expensive - 700k+
The Mitsubishi Pajero/Shogun is also made in China as part of a JV and these used to start at about 400 000 rmb for the 4wd.
There is also the Toyota FJ Cruiser is also available, and the basic model comes sans carpet etc for hosing out when mucky. Not sure on the price.
I would avoid some Chinese brands due to reliability. Greatwall are getting good now but I am not sure about the spares distribution outside China, should you break down.
@Alex,
I haven't seen them yet, as I have just returned after a long spell away. I would imagine that they are indeed LED. These are also usually dual intensity, they are less bright after dark so that people are not dazzled.
LEDs burn less energy, and should last for many 10s ths of hours, but as they are very low voltage the transformers used to generate a lot of heat and the transformers used to fail. As I see more of these LED signs around the world I am assuming that the systems are now more reliable. If this is the case we will see lot more of them, a good thing IMHO.
I only wish reliable LED technology was available for domestic use at an affordable price, LEDs cost only about a cent to produce. LEDs don't contain the toxins of low energy lamps, and last longer.
@geogramatt
We are on the same page, but sadly rushed development (usually to meet political ends) changes what can happen.
I know where you are coming from with urbanisation. In an ideal world I agree with you. But TIC.
In many developing cities the usual case of non-joined up government means that unless the infrastructure goes in first, this safe development cannot happen.
This new development usually requires green field sites. Brown field development, usually (not always) means that a redeveloped city block still needs to plug into the surrounding ancient infrastructure.
We recently had complaints from a poster on here, about lack of water supply for most of the week. This is perhaps dues to new development on old infrastructure. In the last city I lived in, we lived in an new area with inadequate infrastructure, we lost water for up to a week at a time every 3 months or so. This lack of mains water affects sanitation.
I also agree with you on population density figures, I did not want to post too long, and skipped the issue of local areas of more density. In the last city I lived in the most densely populated area was 38000/km2. Like most statistics, there is room for more detail.
No results found.
Great to know it is no longer dry.
Good review BTW
This has moved.
The cut flowers are about 700m east on Duonan Jie. The plants and trees are about 700 m west and follow Duocai Section.
A reasonable choice of lumber that has improved over time. Fancy hardwoods like walnut, and mahogany are in abundance. There are some plywood and rubber-wood boards available. There are also some kiln dried imported softwoods and merbao available. Some of the lumber is very green, so look for the kiln dried if you need stable timbers.
Echo everything said by others.
Breakfast great and the serve from 8am. Most other places say 9am and they still are not ready.
Sandwiches are cheap 22-32, and really packed full of filling. We got some sandwiches for a day out, the only mistake I made was ordering two, as this was too much. These are seriously good sangars, and they are wrapped in alu foil.
In fairness to Metro, they are a wholesalers, and not really a supermarket. Hence the need for a card, which can be got around.
They have improved in the year I have been away. They now carry a more consistent range of imported foodstuffs and they also seem to have sorted out the mported milk supply.
They have a wider range of electrical appliances now, there is a coice of more than one toast. There is also a better range of seasonal non foods, like clothes, shoes, garden furniture and camping gear.
Earth's budget deficit at 160%, hope stems from trees
发布者As the late Prof. John Maher (economist) told me, globalization is not sustainable. In the 1980s 20% of the world's population used 80% of the world's resources. What happens when another 20% (China) wants to use resources at the same rate?
Report: Three Parallel Rivers plagued by unregulated mining
发布者Does anyone know what the beasts are in the second picture? They appear similar to capybara. Although I know capybara are S.American.
Yuxi begins experiment as one of China's 'Sponge Cities'
发布者It will also play a major part in flood prevention further downstream. I lived just outside Gloucester, England in the late 1990s. We had floods year after year caused by the large paved areas of the cities in the Midlands, up to 100 km away.
With large paved areas the water cannot soak into the ground and slowly dissipate into the ground water system. Instead the water runs straight into drains and then is piped directly into water courses. This then over flows into rivers.
In the case of Gloucestershire, to protect the large towns downstream of the cities, they basically opened the floodgates knowingly sacrificing the smaller rural towns and villages further downstream.
The idea of a sponge city is beneficial to the city, if water can be saved for later use, prevention of flash flooding in the city itself during heave downpours, and for the areas downstream that get flooded as a result of run-off from paved areas.
This is a phenomenon that has been known for many years, but as cities (especially in China) are getting larger and larger, so are the problems that they cause.
Larung Gar: Sichuan's extraordinary Buddhist retreat
发布者Yes, great photos.
Report: Yunnan to have universal preschool education by 2020
发布者Let us hope that pre-school curriculum is not just a preparation program for the mainstream curriculum. There would be so much scope to develop children's other intelligences, leading to more rounded individuals, who can better cope with the things life will throw at them. Just having more of the same, starting earlier, will only give you what you already have; which everyone admits needs improving.