Vietnamese Driving Test

Yesterday I took my Vietnamese driving test and I'm happy to report I passed. However in all honesty its not the hardest test I've ever taken.

As I mentioned before it involves driving in a figure of 8 and then driving in a straight line followed by weaving in and out of some lines before finally driving over some small bumps.

The test course

The only time you can take your test is a 1pm on a Sunday, not bad for a city of 8 million people, at a centre about 20 minutes drive outside of town. There was about 80 people there and they read your name out one at a time. There was some confusion with my papers so I had to wait about 2 and a half hours to take my test which was over in about 1 minute. They have a row of 3 judges like in X-factor who mark your paper then after they read out over the tannoy if you've past or failed for everyone to hear.

Most people in Vietnam don't have a driving licence however I wanted to get mine so I am covered on my Insurance. If you get pulled over by police without a licence you have to bribe them to let you go (about 50 dollars is the going rate I'm told). So this is an additional benefit of having a licence.

I spoke to one of my friends who took his test last week who paid a $15 bribe to one of the judges to guarantee he passed his test. He thought it was good value for money so paid it although after he said he would have passed it anyway.

Not much else to report. I saw the cat the other day and chased it again - its a fast runner. I think it knows its done wrong but frankly I don't think it cares and will take great pleasure in doing it again given half a chance. We have been extra vigilant with locking both sets of doors at night so it doesn't repeat the senseless crime.