5-9-13 -- Traffic Stop, Cave Tours, Coastal Mountain Passes

After all the talk of police in Vietnam, I finally got pulled over and hilarity ensued! They got me on Tuesday, May 7th, in the middle of a 300km ride from Phong Na National Park, and the coastal beach town of Hue. I came zipping around the corner on the HCM, and there they were, batons held high, pointing straight at me. My plan to continue riding when right out the window, as I felt myself automatically slam on the breaks and come to a halt. Three officers crossed the road and approached the bike, and began speaking to me in Vietnamese. Quickly realizing that I was a foreigner, they looked to Josh on the back of the bike. He had his riding dust mask and large sunglasses on, so it was difficult to identify his nationality - even for the native Vietnamese officers. They questioned him aggressively in Vietnamese, but Josh mercifully didn't say a WORD. All three beckoned me to the other side of the road where their truck was parked. "Where you from?" They asked. "Your friend - where he from!" I looked back over my shoulder and saw Josh pretending to tie his shoelaces, while also stuffing all his extra cash in his sock. I turned back to the officer as brought out his ticket book. "Crap...." I thought to myself. He then tuned the book over and began to write on the backside of the ticket. He drew a circle with a 60 (indicating the limit), then wrote 71, over which he wrote YOU! He then followed with a cheeky "=500,000 Dong." His buddies snickered and punched each other as they watched. 500k Dong is about $25 USD - not a small amount of money in Vietnam. "Are you kidding me?" I spoke confidently in English, as I stepped forward and towered over the officers. He pointed emphatically at the 500k again. "You've got to be kidding me." Luckily I was completely out of cash at the moment. I opened my wallet and showed him the single 10K Dong bill I had. Then i returned to my bike and brought out my travel folio, in which I had $4 USD. "Hide your money!" I whispered to josh. "Already done!" he chuckled. I took the $4  and handed them over to the officer. "That's all i've got!" I said, now trying to sound pissed. He laughed and handed the money back. He then eyed my Samsung Note 2 cell phone, and then had the balls to try and grab it from me, as though to exchange with his own piece-of-shit phone. "NO WAY!" I said as I shoved his arm back, laughing now, realizing that this traffic stop had become a complete joke. He and his buddies were now laughing an joking like a bunch of high-school cronies. I shook my head, headed back to my bike and went on my way. Hilarious!