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Using a Kindle overseas

I hear and see many questions about using a Kindle overseas. I live in Shanghai China, an Oregon expat living here. I ordered a Kindle as soon as it was annouced, but I had to have it delivered to my dad in Oregon. He then forwarded it on to me in China.

I do not, and cannot, use Whispernet; instead I dowload books, magazines, newspapers and blogs by way of the USB cord that comes with the Kindle. The USB cord works like a charm, so very fast.

I have a credit card with a U.S. bank, so I make purchases from Amazon.com in that way.

I have downloaded over 60 books so far, reading more than 20 since February 2008 when I got my Kindle.

I was ordering books from Amazon.com before the Kindle came out. Being in China I get no free shipping when the order is more than $25.00. Most of my book orders were more than $200 and often the shipping was another 50% of that amount.

I figured I paid for my Kindle in avoiding shipping charges and getting books at a great discount on the Kindle page.

I take it with me all around Shanghai. I get strange looks but not speaking Chinese yet no conversations yet.

I love my Kindle in China.

Steven
Shanghai China

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by technogypsy on August 2, 2008 at 3:41pm: I live in the US and travel overseas a lot. When traveling, I always ended up shipping books home (normal trip is 2-3 weeks with 16-60 hours of flight time) as you can find english books in most large cities. Loading the Kindle with classics and being able to buy over the net (which was very easy from places like Delhi, Chengdu, Tianjin, etc.) makes my life a bunch easier. I hadn't thought of how much it would save on shipping for someone overseas.

I did get chatted up by some young people in both China and India about it. Some young lady in Beijing actually found a friend who spoke English to ask me about it. She came over and kinda looked and tried to talk to me, then came back in 20 minutes with another young lady who had learned some English. Ah, to be 20 years younger and single again!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mike Tremoulet on August 25, 2008 at 4:38pm: This is good to know - I'll be traveling internationally soon and I wondered about Whispernet outside of the US (didn't expect it). Is the Kindle selling "natively" in other countries, and if so, how is the data handled?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Gilbert Corrales 6 hours ago: I am from Costa Rica and travel quite often to the states, been a foreigner with no american issued creditcard was an issue at first to buy books but after a call to support they gave me a great hint: gift credit cards from wallgreens ;-)

I wrote about my first experiences with the kindle here, in case u want to check it.

Cheers.

G.; ▶ Reply to This