Stopped by the police while riding a motorbike

After the tour in the Mekong Delta, I went to a seaside town called Mui Ne. It is a resort town where one can learn surfing, kite surfing and other sports nothing of which was of interest to me. It is also famous for red and white sand dunes and that’s why I wanted to stop there on my way to the north of Vietnam.

Having just gone on two tours I finally wanted to explore the place on my own. I started walking around in the morning but had no idea how far the places of interest were. Mui Ne is basically a very long stretch of resorts along the main road so you can easily walk 10 kilometres without reaching the place you want to go to

After an hour I turned around also because it was really hot. I went to take a rest and started reading about renting a motorbike. I knew the red dunes were on the outskirts of the town on the other side of the fishing village which is also an interesting place to see. The white dunes are around 40 kilometres north of the town so neither walking nor cycling in the scorching heat were an option. Why not rent a motorbike or rather a scooter.

Now, this is where it gets interesting. This is what a lot of tourists do in Southeast Asia. I had done it myself once before when I was visiting the island of Koh Lanta in Thailand. I had a fantastic time. I was going to do it for a second time in Mui Ne. But the thing is you need a Vietnamese driving licence to ride a motorbike here. How many tourists own a Vietnamese licence? I reckon none.

I asked at my guesthouse about it and the guy said it would not be a problem as long as I rode in the village. ‘But I want to go to the white dunes,’ I said like a small child. ‘Ok. If the police stop you give them five-ten dollars.’ So I rented a scooter. It didn’t even occur to me that my licence was not good enough to ride it (I can only ride bikes with 50cc engine not more powerful). In addition to that, it is not even an international driving licence.

But at that point I really thought the only problem would be not having a local licence. And I decided to ignore it as I thought there was little chance of police stopping me. They supposedly only stop foreigners when they drive too fast or without a helmet. So I took a risk. I did something what i wouldn’t normally do back at home where I always go by the book, stick to the rules. But when I travel I get carried away (have you read my mugging story yet?).

I don’t know what you are thinking at this point. But if you search ‘Hanoi traffic’ on youtube you will probably think I must be crazy. Well, the traffic in Vietnam is crazy. I experienced it in Ho Chi Minh City and I would never dare to ride or drive there. But Mui Ne is a bit different story. It’s a much smaller place and the traffic is not that bad.

So I was about to ride a scooter for the second time in my life. I went to buy petrol first so that I would make it to the white dunes and I set off. I occasionally stopped to look around and admire the scenery. I was planning to go to the white dunes first and stop to see other places such as red dunes, fairy stream and the fishing village on the way back. I was enjoying myself.

At one point I had to start riding on the main road which goes around the town where there is more traffic including buses and lorries. Still it wasn’t too bad.

A few kilometres past the village I noticed a few policemen sitting under a tree by the road. As soon as they saw me one of them stood up and started waving for me to stop. ‘Oh no,’ I thought. I stopped and the policeman asked for my driving licence which I gave to him. He asked me to get off the bike and sit in one of the chairs they had by the road. They started asking questions and telling me my driving licence was not good for the bike I was riding. Of course it wasn’t. They weren’t at all interested in seeing a Vietnamese licence.

They showed me a piece of paper in a booklet they had stating the fine for not having a valid licence was from 800000 to 1200000 dong (approx 30-50 euros). Then I started talking myself out of paying it. I was trying to plead my case but in vain. At one point they stopped a foreign couple. But the policeman let them go within a minute. Maybe they had a valid licence.

While one was policeman was occupied with them, the other one turned the page of the document and showed me other amounts of the fine ranging from 500000-700000 dong. I had no idea why he showed me another amount. He asked me to pay 500000 and I could go. I think he was even winking at one point. But I was still trying not to pay a dong.

After going back and forth between the two ranges of fines, insisting on me paying, repeating my licence was not good, speaking more in Vietnamese than English as he was losing patience, they eventually let me go. I think it took some 15 minutes or so. I think he had told me to go once before but then I was asked to sit down again. But the second time he meant it. They noted down the licence plate number, so I thought they would come and hassle the owner of the bike but they never came. He said they might do it though. And ask for money.

After they let me go I turned around and rode back to the village. I decided not to risk going to the white dunes. I went to see the red dunes and the village instead.

The owner told me I was lucky to get away like this. Another person said I was unlucky to be stopped by the police. Either way it felt great to be part of the traffic in Vietnam and see it from a different perspective.