by black69wolf69 » Sun Aug 13, 2017 3:38 pm
LaudJohn wrote:I took a 650cc bike registered in Cambodia in my name to Phu Quoc.
$100 bet says you cannot do as you ask.
Was this at the Ha Tien (Xa Xia/Prek Chak) crossing nearest to Phu Quoc? I've been there once, took a Cambodian motodop across the border all the way to my hotel in Ha Tien. How are Vietnamese customs there? For some reason, every time I've shown up at any Vietnamese border driving a car (twice at the Lao-Vietnam border at Phu Kuea/Bo Y and once at Bavet/Moc Bai) the customs officials have had a negative reaction towards me driving a car in their country, despite the fact I possess a Vietnamese driver's licence and surely thousands of expats living in Vietnam also drive cars quite without a problem. The first two times I came I was driving a Lao car, first time I got in no problem but the customs lady put down my Vietnamese friend's name on the paperwork stating that she thinks it "looks better" to have a local listed on the paperwork. I later exited at the same border by myself; nobody questioned this anymore. The second time we were refused entry because of some obscure new? law where apparently only a Lao national can drive a Lao registration into Vietnam (not sure if they came up with that one on the spot or if that was an actual new law), although in the following months I heard that foreigners had managed to drive into Vietnam in Lao vehicles without incident.
Finally, last week I came back from Vietnam and was driving a friend's locally registered car just to the border. As mentioned in another thread about parking at the border, he was made to drive his car from the guard hut to a parking area because the customs official didn't like the idea of a foreigner (despite being in possession of a valid Vietnamese driver's licence) driving a car in his country.
On the other hand, I've never encountered any issues when stopped by police once inside Vietnam.
[quote="LaudJohn"]I took a 650cc bike registered in Cambodia in my name to Phu Quoc.
$100 bet says you cannot do as you ask.[/quote]
Was this at the Ha Tien (Xa Xia/Prek Chak) crossing nearest to Phu Quoc? I've been there once, took a Cambodian motodop across the border all the way to my hotel in Ha Tien. How are Vietnamese customs there? For some reason, every time I've shown up at any Vietnamese border driving a car (twice at the Lao-Vietnam border at Phu Kuea/Bo Y and once at Bavet/Moc Bai) the customs officials have had a negative reaction towards me driving a car in their country, despite the fact I possess a Vietnamese driver's licence and surely thousands of expats living in Vietnam also drive cars quite without a problem. The first two times I came I was driving a Lao car, first time I got in no problem but the customs lady put down my Vietnamese friend's name on the paperwork stating that she thinks it "looks better" to have a local listed on the paperwork. I later exited at the same border by myself; nobody questioned this anymore. The second time we were refused entry because of some obscure new? law where apparently only a Lao national can drive a Lao registration into Vietnam (not sure if they came up with that one on the spot or if that was an actual new law), although in the following months I heard that foreigners had managed to drive into Vietnam in Lao vehicles without incident.
Finally, last week I came back from Vietnam and was driving a friend's locally registered car just to the border. As mentioned in another thread about parking at the border, he was made to drive his car from the guard hut to a parking area because the customs official didn't like the idea of a foreigner (despite being in possession of a valid Vietnamese driver's licence) driving a car in his country.
On the other hand, I've never encountered any issues when stopped by police once inside Vietnam.