how to enter vietnam
 

does anybody knows if its actually possible to enter vietnam by own vehicle (motorbike, 3-wheeler,..). is it better to enter from laos or cambodia? do i neen spezial permit?
thanks
dan

Forget it mate, I have just travelled through LAOS and CAMBODIA, and visited every VIETNAMESE Embassy and Consolate I could find. They do not want any vehicles across their border.
I am planning to go there after xmas, hire or buy a bike and tour the country that way.
Its a real bummer! You are locked in Thailand, no border crossings in Burma, China or Vietnam.

This is ALARMING news. Can anyone verify? I have planned my trip from next year, and would like to go Mongolia, China, Vietnam, etc.

Does this mean that Vietnam is turning into a kind of Burma?

I have not seen any news of this type about Vietnam yet at this great site.

Martijn

Actually there is quite a bit of info on the Vietnam restrictions on the site, do a quick search and you should come up with more information. Vietnam has been off limits to big bikes for a while now.

China is a nightmare also, don't expect to get in without a bunch of money and/or a lot of patience.

Dave

Actually, you are right. I have been reading a lot of the HUBB comments now and it doesn't seem to be all positive about Vietnam.

I guess there is only one way to really find out.. I'll be leaving May 2005 for Russia, China, etc. I'll try to do all necessary paperwork and then go..

Thanks

Martijn

thanks guys

Vietnam has been a no go place with your own bike since 2001. China and Burma also not really an option.
But dont let that put you off. Do what the rest of us do and air freight Bangkok to Katmandu or visa versa.
In Thailand now about to do that for the 2nd time very soon. That is if we can drag ourselves away from Thailand.

Realistically
for riding in S E Asia, the options are
Thailand
Cambodia
Laos
Malaysia
Singapore
Indonesia
India (if you want to consider that part of S E Asia)
Any of the others -
Vietnam is NO
Burma is NO, although it seems to be possible with great patience & special permits
China is No, although the odd rider seems to be able to get through here & there. But the general rule is No. Tour groups are another thing, but cost big bucks & official guides & "minders"
Take a look at
http://www.gt-rider.com/crossingborders.html
if you want to know more


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Keep The Power On
Davidfl
http://www.gt-rider.com/davidu.html

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Davidfl:
[B]Realistically
for riding in S E Asia, the options are
Thailand
Cambodia
Laos
Malaysia
Singapore
Indonesia
India (if you want to consider that part of S E Asia)
Any of the others -
Vietnam is NO
Burma is NO, although it seems to be possible with great patience & special permits
China is No, although the odd rider seems to be able to get through here & there. But the general rule is No. Tour groups are another thing, but cost big bucks & official guides & "minders"
Take a look at
http://www.gt-rider.com/crossingborders.html
if you want to know more

Advice from Vietnam in April this year is Yes, it is possible to take your motorcycle into Vietnam. On returning to OZ, I followed this up with the Vietnamese consulate in Sydney and was advised that it is possible for foreign nationals with a foreign licence and foreign registed motorcycle to get permission to take their motorcycle overland into Vietnam. They qualified this by saying it was a very complicated procedure, but possible. I understood you had to have the paperwork completed and permission granted prior to leaving home. I have not taken the issue any further and have not seen the relevant forms.

John



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BTO APAW
One day I'm gunna......

John
Nice to know that yes, you can enter Vietnam on your bike, but it is a complicated process, and needs to be approved in advance from inside the country.
Is there any chance you could enlist the help of the Vietnam consulate in Sydney, & enlighten us as to what the process might be?
There are many riders who would like to know, not least quite a few riders in Thailand.
Actually if you think about it seriously it is probably possible to get into any country with a vehicle / motorcycle provided you have the right permits & paperwork.
Unfortunately for some countries it is not that simple to just get the paperwork at the border & for the difficult ones it usually means special permits have to be issued from inside the country in advance. China & Vietnam & Burma are perfect examples of this.
Now to be honest I feel that it is misleading to allude to the fact that yes you can get into Vietnam – scores of riders have & do fail on a monotonous regular basis. Many of them are bitterly disappointed as it’s a pain in the arse to ride so far, get turned around & ride back the same way.
99.9% of riders who try & fail don’t get the special permits in advance as it is far too difficult & costly to arrange.
However, if you have the inside line it would be great if you could do us all a favour, & with some assistance from the Vietnam consulate provide some details of the “complicated process" so that we can prove that it is possible to enter Vietnam with our bikes, (on a regular basis?)
But if this info cannot be provided, them I’m afraid that to be realistic the rule is no, you can’t get into Vietnam on your bike.


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Keep The Power On
Davidfl

My previous post on this topic was both right and wrong.

Yes you can take your own bike into Vietnam but it is not practical for tourists.

I have just spoken with someone at the Vietnamese embassy in Oz and the advice was:
1. Residents of Laos, Cambodia and China may readily get permission to cross into Vietnam with their own vehicle.
2. Travellers from other countries require advance written permission from the Transport Ministry as well as the Province fronting the point of entry. Part of the deal is that the Province fronting the point of entry provides registration plates etc. Inferred in the conversation was the Transport Ministry permission was not related to and had no impact on the Province.

Permission needs to be organised well in advance, in writing, with the point of entry being specified and not subject to change.

The enquiries were from the tourist perspective. It may be different for anyone contemplating long term employment (and residence) in Vietnam.

Result: Legally possible but so complex and impractical that it is not worth the effort.

Next time I go I will buy a bike (having in-laws there, registration and storage is not a problem) and leaving it there.

John

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BTO APAW
One day I'm gunna......

Yeah, I have to echo the negative.

I was one of the last people to get into Vietnam with a big bike. (One of the border posts didn't know the rules).

While there, I met a good number of western biker residents who wanted to know how I had got my machine in - they said they had tried everything to import a bike, both temporarily and pemanently - and had failed.

So, it may be the case that there is a formal proceedure in place that a consulate knows of, but in practice this is not used.

It is quite often the case that a consulate somewhere will tell you information that is out of date/wrong/not in use.

Simon

hello,
a friend (half french, half vietnamese) is now in vietnam for a few months. he s been riding around the world for 25 years. before vietnam he was in china with a bike he bought there. in vietnam, he is about to buy or import a big bike and has some info about it. officially, it s difficult, but ...
his name : fred.
you can contact him directly at : fredtranduc at yahoo dot com
hope it helps,

So we agree that that it's negative as a general rule.
But if you want to go the other way & say yes, well then for me it's yes for any country in the world, if you want to queue up, "waste lots of time & pay heaps of money."

All this negativity is putting a downer on my planned world tour in 2007. But with 18 months to go there is plenty of time for plans B to Z. I was hoping to enter Vietnam from the Chinese side. I do like a challenge! I wonder what North Korea is like?