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I just got my car drivers license 2 weeks ago.
It’s pretty much all the same as Brian explained in the first post.
All the required documents are still the same as far I noticed.Maybe I got lucky, but my visa & residence permit only had about 7 weeks left on it, but there was no problem there at all.
But you can not apply for a car & motorcycle license at the same time.
They said I could apply for that after 1 year. So now I only got the car category. And as I do not have it on my original drivers license, I would need to take lessons and then do a practical exam 🙁We will find out about that in a year or so.
I used this app on my iphone.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/driving-in-china/id486138822?mt=8
Most of the questions in the app, used the same or very similar wording in the exam. I would say there is an 80% match between the questions in the app and the actual exam.
One more tip:Make sure you arrive on time. Exams in the morning run from like 9:00 till 11:15. An exam takes maximum 45 mins, so I guess after 10:30 you are not allowed to do the test in the morning anymore.
I arrived around that time and was told to wait till 13:30, after all the bureaucrats had taken their mandatory nap, to take the afternoon test.
With nothing to do around there and only one small noodle shop, it is a long long boring wait. But gave me time to practise the questions on my phone.
@Natasha: try different servers. ExpressVPN has so many different servers. I use the ones from Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines mostly.
They give me the best connections.
I also use ExpressVPN. Been using it since august last year and have had no problems continue using it since the crackdown.
Connections are very stable and a long list of servers to choose from.
Got a nice app but also supply all the information for setting connections up manually. I often have a connection last 8 to 10 hours without any disconnects.For my best experience, I have to connect to severs in Asia, such as Hongkong, Singapore or Philippines.
If you want 30 days extra for free, use this link.
https://www.expressvpn.xyz?referrer_id=8420355You will get 30 days free and so will I.
Very very few are related to Chengdu and are China related topics in my opinion.
What are the real top 3 positive and negative things related to Chengdu to you? Mine are:
+ the people
+ relative cleanness of the city
+ closeness of nature and mountains around us– subway construction
– can’t really think of more real Chengdu negativesIt’s unlikely that you’ll find an employer willing to go through all the trouble to get you a proper work-visa for such a short time. As it will take them 3-4 months (or more) to get it done in my experience.
But finding work and getting them to arrange a business or other visa for you would be an option.
As a backup plan, you can always travel to other countries around China (Thailand, Vietnam) and come back once your postgraduate application has been approved or try to extend your visa here or in Hong Kong.
Below is my response and thoughts about your questions. They are written with the assumption that you are a single healthy adult. (If you got small kids, then I feel you should be more concerned about these issues.)
I would suggest coming over here with a open mindset and just dealing with things as they go or do not come at all. Things are not as bad as they might seem here in Chengdu.
While your points are all possible points for concern, you in my opinion are being ruled by fear at the moment.
Yes air quality is bad at time, all you can do is get a air filter (I have one) and maybe a mask. But I hardly see anyone wearing a good mask, unless they are riding a bike or so (foreigners and locals). You see plenty of those flimsy mouth covering masks, but they don’t address the pollution issue.
As for water, just don’t drink tap water and buy bottled water. No idea if heavy metals are in there, but just drink it.
Food will contain most likely unhealthy elements in them, no where you go. And the shabbier you go, the more likely. But why care, you got to live.
And how are you going to know if some food is “dangerous”.I feel people with this mind set (so change it before coming) are better off staying in their home country, where things are supposed to be safe…
In China you just got to adjust and shrug your shoulders at certain things, otherwise you’ll start disliking the place and letting the discomforts take over.(Please this is not ment as offensive, but my personal thought and suggestions.)
Would there be interest in investing and setting up something like this?
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/noocity-growbed-turn-unused-urban-space-greenTo create our own growing area and be in control of it?
What are possible concerns of growing food in the city?
How does air pollution relate to the quality of the produced vegetables?Anyway I am very interested in setting something like this up.
I have been using SamoAir for about 4-5 months now.
It’s in a corner of the living room, just monitoring the air quality.I don’t look at the numbers anymore, just the colours. Green is good (>40), orange is ok (<40 – >75), red is bad.
When I see red, I turn on my air filter. Anything below red I don’t anymore. 40 would be considered bad in Europe, but standards have to shift here I guess.
Wish I could auto turn on my fans, when it reaches red.
Anyone got suggestions on how to do that?Yes, the fish market is a surprising interesting area.
Bought a huge block of Gouda cheese of nearly 3.5kg there yesterday for 260 rmb.And a kg of bacon for 25rmb. Certainly a great price in my mind.
On topic: didn’t see any cookie dough there though…
As a Dutch person, it’s pretty interesting to see.
But could not finish it. Only seen the first 40 mins…English language is not a requirement. A local with only Chinese language is also fine.
Might even improve my Chinese that way.About what I need to produce is, 2 logo’s, several flyers, marketing material to be attached to bikes and A3 posters. Beside that need one landing page and one simple brochure style website design.
More details on what exactly I’ll discuss with the designer once found and established a relationship with.
Does any one have the phone number of this guy?
I have some questions about unlocking a iphone, which so far no one else has been able to unlock…
The last picture is the best, had great rays of sunshine breaking through the clouds and lighting up the houses…
I went hiking there this weekend. If you follow the instructions provided by Ian and use your smart phone, you’ll find the bus stop to take you to the start point.
After arriving by Metro, we took a electric threewheeler to the street “Dashisan lu” and then figured out the bus stop location. Got on the bus, which was packed and wrote for a half hour or so to the village and got out on the corner of “east street”. The bus was only 1 RMB a person btw.
From the corner with east street, we continued with Ian excellent map instructions and started walking along east street.
The first half hour was kind of disappointing as your just walking along a village street with cars and trucks coming by. But after that your getting in the hills and the further you go the more pleasurable/peaceful it gets.
Stopped around the middle of the loop, right before the loop comes back to the “main road” and sat down at a local mahjang place to drink some tea. 2 RMB a glass with refills. Bargain compared to some tea in Chengdu.
Right before the first army base we got a bit confused as it looks when you walk up to it, that your walking straight on to the base. But you can pass along right in front of it. The security guard got nervous of seeing a laowai, but did nothing.
Continued in the direction of the “Alien face”, but got stopped by 4 (off duty) army guys, who were taking a stroll with their dog, a couple 100 meters before it.
So did not get to see the Alien Face.
@Ian: How close is this Alien face & ancient forest to that army base? I feel I was within 250-500 meter from the base.Then proceeded with the loop back as instructed. Which was I think the nicest part of the whole trail. Very nice and peaceful. Had beautiful sunshine come through the clouds and light up the small cluster of houses.
Very enjoyable walk, spend a good 4 hour walking it. But that was with stopping and exploring some area’s. Climbed up through someones peach tree yard to find a path up a hill which I saw from a distance. Up between the tree’s could not find the path and returned back to the road to continue after a while.
And I would call it more of a walk then a hike as there is no “off-road” at all. It’s all on concrete roads/paths.
But very recommendable on a nice day. Had some cool views of the city in the distance.
