Report April 10

By Dirk

Passed!!

Today Dirk is going to see if he can get his Chinese driver’s license. On to the police station.
They cannot issue a driver’s license there because of my age. Foreigners over the age of 70 must take an exam, which must be taken at police headquarters.
The computer system appears not to work there and we have to go to an office 50 kilometers away. But suddenly the system works again and Dirk passes his driver’s license with flying colors.

On to the harbor to see how the cars are doing. These are already outside the container and we can already take them with us. Apparently customs have no need to further check the contents of the cars.
What became clear yesterday is that the maps on the cars are incorrect, according to the Chinese government. Tibet has a different color than China and the border with India is also incorrect.
Do you know what they did? They have adjusted the borders of China on the cars with colored felt-tip pens.

It is already around 6 o’clock in the afternoon, so getting the license plates will not be possible today. That has to happen tomorrow. But we are allowed to take the cars to the hotel in the city center.
There we go for the first kilometers on Chinese soil, straight through the rush hour traffic of Tianjin with its 13 million inhabitants.
It’s wonderful to feel the wind in my hair again and hear the engine of the Model T roaring.
Along the way we come across a huge transformer that we take a photo of for our grandchildren.

All in all a very successful day. Tomorrow the license plates and then on the way to Mongolia; on to Trudy and Marijke.