" our bikes are 125cc. So it should be ok for riding in Vietnam normally"

Sorry, but it aint that simple. Foreign bikes are basically banned in Vietnam. The new rule theyre talking about could mean, that they can sell new big bikes there, not necessarily that tourists can bring their own ones in. Or even if they could, just when that rule would be applied at their borders, would be anyones guess.

We tried last December with 115cc Yamaha Nouvo´s (Thai plates), went to all 3 international borders with Cambodia, 1 with Laos, and one with Cambodia we tried twice, so 5 times altogether. Did not get in.

We were a group of 8, dont know if it wouldve been different if there were only 1-2 of us. They didnt really seem to know what to do with us, and suggested we leave the bikes at the border and take a bus into the district capital, and ask for police permission there, but we didnt want to do that. Someone offered to smuggle the bikes in for about 300us per bike, but with a big group like that, it probably wouldve got us serious problems when leaving the country, if not before.

At the last border (Laobao) one officer told us that before setting off, we should have got some import permission booklet from the Thai ministry of transport....... that does sound a bit like then, even if you had it, they´d just find another excuse, why its not ok. And you probably wont be able to read, write, speak or understand even 1 word of vietnamese, unless youve studied it for a long time, and normally they speak very little english at the border.

But my friend, who lives in Thailand, now has actually got that very same booklet mentioned, and right about now he´s setting off again with a Nouvo, to try his luck at the Vietnamese border, probably with a smaller group this time. He said he´d keep me informed, so hopefully I can bring some good news in a week or so.

But it is a problem to get any foreign-registered bike into Vietnam. Not even the over/under 175cc "rule" (if there is, or ever was one!) seemed to matter anything. The consulate in Phnom Penh provided us with very generous help, too: (in french) "we only do visas here, we dont know nothing about bringing bikes, please go away, go ask at the border!" (and at the border: "go ask at the consulate!"

In short, you could probably save yourself a massive headache, if you imported the bike into Thailand, for example.