Vietnam How to get your driving license for northern Vietnam Travel to Vietnam 5 (3)It was not without a certain form of excitement that I got up that morning. Having recovered well from yesterday's somewhat long day, I was eager to discover the landscapes of Dong Van karst plateau, a geopark that is part of the global network (created by UNESCO) since 2010.View of Ha Giang from our hotel window. Summary hide Welcome to Frontier Area (again): direction Dong Van! Round 1: Immigration Office in Ha Giang Next stop: Tam Son Karst landscapes of Dong Van Geopark Final Round: How to get your license Is it essential? End of the day and small change of program Welcome to Frontier Area (again): direction Dong Van!But as I mentioned in the previous article, there is just one point to respect in order to be able to travel in the northernmost regions, beyond the provincial capital of Ha GiangThe official reason being that it is still under military control and hoteliers are required to notify all foreigners passing through.To travel to Ha Giang province, you therefore need to acquire a “border area entry permit”.View from a bridge in Ha Giang.But rest assured, nothing very complicated to do so. Most hotels and guesthouses in Ha Giang can help you obtain your permit, but they will obviously take a small commission in the process.So we went straight to the Ha Giang immigration office since that was the plan…Round 1: Immigration Office in Ha GiangYes yes, there is still some “round” in the air… Do you feel the fail of the day coming? Finding immigration is not too complicated. I had spotted its location beforehand hence the choice of the location of the hotel, which in this case had been booked in advance.Concretely, it is located at 415a of Tran Phu street shortly before an intersection with Nguyen Thai Hoc street (where our hotel is located).See the map below, indicating in passing the location of restaurants identified and/or tested and other landmarks in Ha Giang. The opening hours apparently state: daily (except Vietnamese public holidays) from 08:00 until 20:00 and closed for lunch from 13:00 until 13:30.Apparently… Except by chance this day… We arrived in front to find the doors closed with a couple of travelers looking a little dejected on the steps. A message on a simple sheet of A4 paper, placed there on the wall, seems to indicate that it would reopen this afternoon, at 13:30 p.m. (that's what we can guess, it was written in Vietnamese, otherwise, it would be too easy...)Facade of the immigration office. Notice the bored-looking couple downstairs…The cinema located opposite.The fact is that on that day we had a long road of 150 km, and the goal is still to arrive before nightfall. So leaving around 14pm would be too late, and staying here for a day didn't suit our schedule too much...Luckily, I had looked up quite a bit of information on this subject, and after double-checking on the net, I confirmed that it is now possible to obtain the permit elsewhere than in Ha Giang, either directly to Dong Van or Meo Vac.However, we took the time to have breakfast before leaving around 10:30 a.m.Small road under construction to start the day, yeah!Tut tut!Glued!Like this guy who seemed a bit dreamy, as I understand it.Next stop: Tam SonAfter passing a few small towns with wide, almost empty avenues, some pretty good scenery, along a road that gets lost in a maze of bumps and mountains of various shapes, and some viewpoints that literally had me glued to my seat for a moment; It was at Tam Son that we arrived .Located in Quan Ba district, Tam Son is known for its absolutely stunning mountain views, but more particularly for its 2 bumps, nicknamed “Fairy Bosom”, which roughly translates to “fairy breasts”… (After Mui Ne Fairy River, here is another reference to these mystical creatures in Vietnam).Breathtaking view of the “Fairy Bosom”.Seeing them side by side like this, it's easy to understand why they were given this sweet nickname.In addition to this view of this “beautiful pair”, we decided to stop in the city for lunch.It was then 13 p.m., and we had traveled barely 50 km in 2h30… That’s an average of 20 km/h… (OK, I’m still going a bit faster in real life, but with the many stops, that really brings this average down, which is more likely to be around 40 km/h excluding stops).The typical signs remind us that Vietnam is indeed communist.Quiet street in Tam Son.The little restaurant we stopped at looked new and clean, which was nice. While we waited for our fried rice, we enjoyed the rest. The streets are quite quiet, here a lady is moving her buffalo, there people are chatting in front of their door, children are looking at us from a distance with a shy air.Tam Son doesn't really have much charm, but we came across a few typical houses which add a certain cachet to the decor.Karst landscapes of Dong Van GeoparkThe landscapes follow but are not alike. This is also what I appreciate in this trip. Although we are essentially surrounded by mountains, they all have different aspects, the nature surrounding them included.Sometimes it will be rice fields, further away, a wide valley, other times everything becomes narrower, there, it will be rather pine trees, while elsewhere, it will be other types of trees lining the roads, etc.Hummm Dong Van where is it??Little watermelon seller on the side of the road.Facade of a house in the countryside.And suddenly, pine trees.And all this made us drag our feet. Besides the essential breaks to rest our behinds, it's still a shame in my eyes to be content to just ride to our stage of the day without stopping, after all, we're not just here to ride either.Well OK, there is also a middle ground… Because it was already almost 17:30 pm when we only arrived at the beginning of the geopark, while we still had 40 km to go before reaching Dong Van itself.And needless to say, with these winding roads, 40 km seems a bit endless…The roads are not always in good condition...Another type of landscape.There's not even a road anymore...We are approaching the goal!The sun is already starting to set!Karst landscape of Dong Van Geopark.Good luck? Yes, we're going to need it, the road is still long...Another 39 km, come on, come on!Didn't I tell you? My wife is a Daft Punk 😉Karst rocks.We are approaching, the night too…Crossing yet another village.Last view before nightfall.Stop full of gas, one more effort and we're there!After yet another break to admire this somewhat chaotic landscape, which reminded me of a film set (I don't really know why, but at the time, I mostly had the impression of treading the soil of Mordor...), then, further on, for a last fill-up, it was only a little after 19 p.m. (therefore arriving at night once again...), that we arrived on the main street of Dong Van, looking for a hotel.We passed a few Homestays, but it was only when we arrived in front of the facade of the Hoang Ngoc Hotel that we decided to stop and have a look. It is located directly on our right towards the middle of the long main avenue (I will communicate the price when I get my hands on this "famous" notebook where everything was noted down...)The price and the room being suitable, we decided to put down our suitcases here. It was at this point that we were asked, in addition to our passports, the famous permit… Well yes, that’s why I’m writing the article in the first place!For a moment, I thought we weren't going to be asked, but here we are, confronted with the possession of this famous piece of paper.Facade of our hotel in Dong Van (taken the next morning).I had a moment of panic, wondering if the local immigration service, or in this case here in Dong Van, the police station, would be open since it was after 19pm…I would quickly be reassured by the young lady at reception, who spoke a minimum of English (it was a bit of a change, given the lack of dialogue up until now...), there was still someone at the station, a few blocks further.Before letting us settle in, it was therefore necessary go directly to the station to get the permits.Police station and place to go to Dong Van to get your permit (also taken the next day, just to be consistent chronologically, since if you followed, we went there at night eh 😉)Final Round: How to get your licenseThe process to get your license in Dong Van is just extremely simple ! With your foreign face, the officers present will normally know immediately why you are there.We first came across two police officers at the entrance, who didn't speak any English, but asked us to wait a moment.Then came the superior who was going to take care of our case. He was probably one of the best English speakers in the whole northern part of our motorcycle roadtrip…And when I say that, I mean, a good level of English, really! It was weird.To get back to the topic, you must therefore put your original passport. If, like us, you are on a motorbike, you must also hand over a document, normally given by your rental company before departure (especially if you have informed them of your route), on which is written the license plate number of your traveling companion.strain 200 Dong per person, the cost of the permit, approximately $10 and that’s it!Tadaaa! My precious!If you don't have your passport with you, give them a photocopy of your photo page and the one with the visa, as well as a letter stating why you don't have it (like, that your passport is in Hanoi for a visa extension or some other legitimate excuse why you don't have it with you).While he was filling out the documents, he asked us a few standard questions (where are you from, going, etc.), in a warm and curious manner, not like a police interrogation. I was so happy to have arrived at my destination and that everything was working like clockwork with this permit that I almost had a euphoric air…The deal was done in a few minutes and with a smile!Is it essential?Some people might be tempted to say that all this is just a ploy to make money for the state on the "poor" backs of tourists like us...To tell the truth, checks as such are rather rare (we have never been checked by the police on the roads for this), but as explained above, Hotels will systematically ask you for this.It is better to avoid any problems and fines or other possible consequences and acquire the license, after all, it's only $10.End of the day and small change of programTo put it simply, we ended the day by eating at the restaurant located right next to the hotel. And it was by seeing one of the photos hanging on the walls that I decided on the program for the next day.The evening restaurant at Dong Van, right next to the hotel.Let's go back a little! Because I realized that Dong Van is not ONLY mountains.I will of course reveal the rest to you in the next episode!I leave you with a little teaser 😉Have you heard about Dong Van and its region? Still not tempted by a roadtrip in the north of Vietnam 😉? Did you like the article? Vote on the article Note globale 5 / 5. Number of votes: 3 No votes yet. Be the first to rate this article! Did you like the article? Follow me on social media Administrative procedures Road trip 0 1 Roman 21/09/2015
