Monday, March 30, 2009

Getting a Driver's License in Taiwan

Badges? We don’t need no stinkin’ badges!

My friend, Richard, from Australia, has been here about two months. Now he wants to get a driver’s license. I have been here off and on for almost 13 years so I decided to go with him. I didn’t want to rush into anything you know. So last Wednesday we went, accompanied by his wife, Bonnie, to the Motor Vehicles Department or whatever they call it here to take our written test and then our driving test.

We took the written but not the driving test. We both failed with 77.5% on our tests. The test questions are strange. One would think that after practicing online a little and using 42 years of driving experience and common sense I would be able to pass the test with the required 85%. But no. And to think I only needed 70% to pass my private pilot written, which is what, I think, I got….

The questions don’t only ask about driving, but about what the fines are for driving incorrectly. Also, some of the signs are strange. In the book I had to study a few years ago t had about 25 pictures of signs that all seemed to show rocks falling off the cliff. Looking closely on the online test, one of those rocks is really a car, and the sign means that there is a cliff on the left, not rocks falling from the right. It looked like a rock to me but luckily the three answers led to the right answer. Here are a few of the questions:

1. When driving on 2 lanes of 2 ways, in the line division parts, it is allowed to pass, but not allowed to compete paralelly. [the spelling is not mine]

2. Applicant with illegal methods to take the test, the test cancelled. If the applicant already has driver’s license, the license will be annulled and with no rights to apply for driving test for 2 years

3. No person is allowed inside the trunk

4. When driving parallely with other cars, the car in the front needs to stop: (1) must turn on the right signal light and brakelight or hand gesture to notify (2) stop any time, no need for signal and hand gesture (3) slow down then stop slowly

5. Perpendicular yellow lines are: (1) car lane lines (2) direction division lines (3) car direction lines

6. Perpendicular white lines are: (1) zebra pedestrian lines (2) car lane lines (3) road side lines

7. Full horizaontal line is: (1) parking line (2) no passing line (3) stop line.


8. In a case of hit and run, the car owner who is informed to present at the scene and fails to do so without justification, or fails to provide the information of the driver is punishable by suspension of license plate for: (1) 3 to 6 months; (2) 1 to 3 months; (3) 1 to 2 years.

9. When you are driving and see the cars on neighboring lanes have turned off the turn signals, you must: (1) accelerate and pass (2) slow down and yield (2) compete and race (1) land mark (2) fog direction (3) road direction

10. And one of my favorites: (the character means east)



There seems to be an emphasis more on what penalty you may receive than what you should do versus what you shouldn’t do. If the answers were based on what actually happens in real life, most of the answers would be: do whatever. The questions even have narration in English. The question is read three times with the answers. Usually it is read correctly but once the writing said: It is correct… but the narration said: It is not correct… I think if I fail this week I will challenge the results. That should be interesting. I’ll see how good my Chinese is, or if I can bluff or bully my way into passing. Maybe it just needs a red envelope, you think?

For the driving test I am going to rent the car at the test facility. It costs NT$80, or about US$2.50. I didn’t have my registration with me last week and I also discovered that if I took the test in an automatic, I wouldn’t be licensed to drive a stick shift. I will still have to take a motorcycle test and my bike is a Yamaha 150 so it qualifies as a big motorcycle (over 90cc to 205cc) but not as a great big motorcycle (or some other strange name for anything over 250cc).

I may wait until I go back to the US this summer and get a motorcycle endorsement on my Arizona driver’s license and then come back and bypass the 30 hours of schooling and one year regular motorcycle license requirement to get a great big motorcycle license. Not that I will ever use it, of course. A big bike is not real practical here. No advantage in traffic unless one still rides it like a scooter, and no great advantage in parking either. Great Big Motorcycles can now be ridden on the freeway thanks to WTO. I haven’t seen any on the freeway and I don’t think I would like to ride on there anyway. Cars here don’t have a lot of respect for other cars let alone motorcycles. It could be dangerous. I’ll stick to my Chrysler Voyager, with or without a license.

Oh, you want the answers? 1.T, 2.F, 3.T, 4.1, 5.2, 6.2, 7.3, 8.2, 9.2, 10.3 How did you do?

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

My latest adventure


Well, I just got back from a three day ride from the west side of the mountains to the east side over the southern cross-island highway. From my house at about 20 meters to the peak at about 2,722 meters, and back down again. The total distance was about 242 Km from my house to TaiDong where I boarded a train for the three hour ride back to PingTung. The three hour train ride is equal to a day and a half ride, I did that last year as part of a ‘round the island adventure with three of my local friends.
The ride was definitely tiring but very scenic. The sensation of elevation was always there as the mountains are quite steep and it seems one can always see all the way back down to the bottom. The road always seemed to have a sheer drop-off on one side or another. I saw no live snakes but did see a variety of dead ones on the road. I heard many different birds though could not identify any of them. And, I saw a total of six monkeys, four on one occasion and two on another. I heard the first set but didn’t know what the noise was until I went around a hairpin turn and looked back across to where I had just been and saw one up in a tree. Then there was another and soon I saw four. I got the movie camera out but in looking at what I captured it is hard to see anything other than a moving form in among the trees. The other sighting was on the way down when two monkeys were starting to cross the road. As I came around the corner one was in the middle of the road and the other was still on the side barrier. They both turned around and disappeared before I could even think of snapping a picture.

Even though the peak brought me up into cloud level I never had to cycle inside any clouds this time. The second night, after it got dark, the clouds or fog rolled in but stayed only for half an hour and left again. After that the sky was beautiful and made me wish I had brought my star gazing guide. It was hard to imagine that I had actually left anything at home, but I did. A sleeping pad would have been nice too, but that is another story. In the morning it was crystal clear again, and warm, not cold as I had expected.
I stayed the first night camping in a police station (no, not in jail) and the second camping in a parking lot. Luckily I stayed in a hotel on the third night and got a real shower. Also I met a few cyclists along the way, one who rode with me for a day and a half. There were six who rode up in cars just to cycle down, and on the way up I was two riding down who had obviously ridden up as well. On the down on the east side I passed several who were on their way up. “Next time” I will either take the van or spend an extra couple days at each of the hot springs along the way (there are at least two or three) or maybe I’ll do both.
From my account of the trip on Crazy Guy On A Bike I was contacted by David Horwitt from San Diego. He is here in Taiwan for work and will be taking a few days off to do some riding before he heads back. He took my family and I to dinner in KaoHsiung to pick my brain about cycling here. We had a great conversation and hope to do some riding together to KenTing as he starts his multiday adventure soon, and again when he returns in a month or so.
My bike shop buddy ZhiSheng is also talking about another round trip to KenTing some weekend so I better keep practicing.

Friday, March 6, 2009

The Tour de Taiwan: Of course I am not racing you idiot

We have all heard of the Tour de France. Did you know that there is a Tour de Taiwan as well? That this may be the 20th year? Or 10th at least? I have been here almost 13 years and I have never heard of it. Never before yesterday, that is. It starts in Kaohsiung, 45 minutes away from me, on Sunday, the day after tomorrow. They’re not big on local publicity. And, no, I wouldn’t have entered had I known. I raced once, that was enough. Michael Rubel always said: “don’t play games you haven’t already won.” I would like to at least watch part of it. I haven’t found out the exact route yet either, just something about 40 laps around the Love Canal over a couple bridges for a total of 88Km. It sounds more like a Tour de Block. I asked ZhiSheng, my bike shop friend about it. He showed me a big poster he had but didn’t put up. He was afraid his customers would ask him for details and the poster not only didn’t give any, it didn’t even say where you could go to find out the answers. No routes were given, just days and cities with vague times. Certainly wouldn’t want any spectators to gum up the works.
Teams are coming from around the world. I hope they get more information. I didn’t see Lance’s name anywhere so I guess he isn’t coming.

I know I look like a racer but I am still not racing.

Crossing the Great Divide, or maybe the Lesser Divide

Well we didn’t leave for the South Cross-Island Highway bike adventure again today. Maybe next week, or the week after. My friend, LaoSu is still having back trouble from his motorcycle accident. As luck would have it (good luck this time) it is raining tonight and may rain more this week. While this gives me more time to do other things first, it would be nice to listen to it rain while sitting in a natural hot spring.
I took a ride on my motorcycle, a trusty Yamaha 150, to see if there was a route over the mountains where everyone says there isn’t. I won’t say everyone is right, but I haven’t found a route yet. It won’t be a paved road, and it might only be a hiking trail, but I will find one. I will probably have to go by myself because I don’t have any friends stupid enough to want to go with me. But I may be able to convince one to drop me off on one side and pick me up on the other side. The route is from SanDiMan to GaoSu or there about. Google implies tracks through the mountain, and I have been on a few. Google doesn’t show a bridge that is necessary for crossing the river/wash. Less necessary if one is hiking than if one wants to drive a van. I did, however, find a bridge. Sorry I forgot my camera. The last time I took my cameras on the motorcycle, in the pizza box, the movie camera smacked against the display on the back of the digital SLR and broke it the same way I broke our flat screen TV. I keep forgetting to mention that to Hsien-Ling remembering the abuse I took over breaking the TV. I was attaching wires to the back of the TV and laid it down on a not-flat-enough something and the screen went crack.
Anyway, back to the bridge. It has seen better days. One could drive a car across it, but at the other side, the approach is gone save a single track just wide enough for an adventurous motorcycle driver. It is about 15 feet long and about two feet wide. It is not a bridge to a bridge but what is left after both sides of the track fell into the river. It is like riding on top of a two foot wide wall. I rode down it before thinking what it would be like to ride back up. Details. The road then of course turned into a track. I followed it a little ways before going back to scale the bridge. One certainly doesn’t want to stop half way up the approach as there would be nowhere to put your feet down. Exciting.
On the way back I tried another road that went up and over the first mountain and was heading down toward the river before I turned back. The road had a lot of powdery clay mixed with sharp rocks. The sky was also clouding up and the thought of riding on the wet clay brought the vision of sliding down the mountain on elephant snot. There was only one bridge anyway. Anybody up for a hike?