MOTORBIKE TRAVEL

Not sure about motorbikes or scooters but self drive of a vehicle in China is very costly unless you have a Chinese passport of residency permit and Chinese drivers license.

People avoid doing this because of the Chinese regulations that you pay for a government supplied guide. This is from the website of a company that provides guides:

<<After we receive such information, we will keep in close contact with you to work out a detailed itinerary that will satisfy your need and be accepted by you. After this, we come to the stage of fulfilling itinerary which requests you to provide following material:

1. Color pictures of each vehicle(2 copies), their models, copy of vehicle identification including number of the vehicle body, serial number of the engine, type of fuel, original number of license plate, country of region it belongs to, color of the body and so on. And rember to tell us the present value of each vehicle.
2. Information about the tourist to drive in China: Copy of his or her passport, 5 photoes identical to that on the passport, his or her occuption, copy of the driving license.
3. List of logistic supply equipment and their value, such as spare parts of automobiles, camping facilities, tele-communication appliances like speakers, GPS system and satellite-transmitted telephones.
4. Confirmed route, itinerary, entry and departure ports, service items requiring us to enter into the contract.

Based on these, we start to apply for and obtain following permits and formality necessary for your proposed tour in China. This process may request 2-3 months.
1. To apply for a written reply released by related department of Chinese Government to allow automobiles to enter into China and travel permits to ensure the tour legal and operable.
2. To obtain temporary travel licenses, license plates and pay various fees such as road toll and purchase insurance for automobiles.
3. To obtain temporary driving licenses and buy insurance for tourists to drive in China.
4. To finish all customs formalities for automobiles to pass through the entry ports.

As you can see it is not an easy process nor is it cheap, but it can be done.

http://www.tibet-tours.com/english/selfdriving.htm<BR><BR>Ruth

Ruth - that only applies to someone bringing in a vehicle from overseas. not to someone buying one here.

astroboy - can you even buy a vehicle without a residency permit and license?

Ruth

Ruth - I'm sure that you can. Maybe not legally, but I'm pretty sure Xiao Liu down at the local scooter shop doesn't really care. Especially with the extra 500 RMB you throw his way not to care.