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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 |
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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
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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 ------------------ 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 ------------------ 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. ------------------ 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 ------------------ 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?
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We're in Vietnam now after spending a month and "heaps of cash" to get customs clearance to bring our bikes into the country.
We're working with a charity (SOS Children's Villages) and were it not for this we wouldn't have had a chance, but the people who helped us get our papers believe they can do it again. We have been given Vietnamese license plates and so far(Haiphong to Da Lat) haven't had a sniff from the plod. Basically you need a sponsor in Vietnam, a "non-government organisation" and authorisation from the top. We got approval from the vice-primeminister! We're on the road now, but when i get chance to properly discuss the situation regarding other foreigners with our helpers i'll post the results on the HUBB. So it is possible, but will not be "cheap". Vietnam is a mad place to ride a (big) motorbike though....... |
Wonky
After gritting my teath and muttering "lucky bastard", I thought of squillions of questions: how much money, what point of entry, what size bike, etc, etc. Please let us know full details as many of us would also like to try. (Just trying to keep a straight face thinking how the in-laws deep down in the Mekong delta would react to my canary-yellow 1150GS). John |
yeah, what does it mean big bikes? upto how many cc are restricted? can you enter with a 250 cc?
greetz niels |
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Niels I have been quoted 175cc and 200cc (I have not checked to see which is correct) as the maximum engine size permitted, however, the biggest I saw in reasonably regular use (in the South) was a 125 Bonus, with 110 being the norm. You see the occasional Honda cruiser that is bigger, but I have been told they are a hangover from before the max engine size (and that the owners have "connections"). Based on this, anything from 225 and upwards would be big. John ------------------ BTO APAW One day I'm gunna...... |
175cc is the legal limit. There are a lot of 150cc scooters and i saw 1 Yamaha DT175. There are a few big bikes kicking around, but as posted above, they're older bikes from before the limit. The guys who ride them have a deal with the government, most of them have police style lights on their bikes and do escorts for big official parades etc.
I heard of a few 250s getting in but they're few and far between. The ex-pat bikers we met in Cambodia said they'd only ever met 1 guy who got in on a 250 in 7 years! We were lucky and now we're skint! |
there are some bigger bikes smuggled into Vietnam as well. Mostly Virago's that come via Cambodia.
My question is the following: Did anyone try to take a bike out of vietnam? We've bought a Minsk here in Hanoi and we want to take it to Laos and back into Vietnam (Ho Chi Min City anbd Mekong delta) Even the locals are rather vague about it. So did anyone try? |
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http://board.gt-rider.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=635 and http://board.gt-rider.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=306 and http://board.gt-rider.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1013 |
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