Buying A Motorbike

I've been renting a piece of junk for a motorbike since I got here for $50 a month. Brad suggested that I buy a new, low-end Chinese-built bike for about $350. That sounded like a good plan. Then I figured I could buy a Honda basic bike new for $700.  So that got me off shopping.

Before I knew it I was pretty much craving a Honda Air Blade, top of the line, cool as all hell. A babe magnet, as I was teaching my students. (We spent a class discussing what kind of bike I should buy. The Air Blade won out.)

A new Air Blade costs about $2200. This is the Lexis of motorbikes. You are definitely well-off if you can afford one in Vietnam. I decided to buy one because that is about half the cost of my scooter in America which I only use about 2 months a year. This one will get plenty of action.

So, credit card in hand I went to the Honda dealership, found the bike I wanted, asked the price, and gave them my credit card (there was a Visa sign on the wall) and was told they don't take credit cards. Okay, I'll go get cash. No, that won't work either, I'm a foreigner, foreigners can't own a bike.

I had heard that. Ex-pats have to put the bike in a Vietnamese person's name. Preferably someone they trust. So I drove to my lawyer's office to ask what my options were. And I was going to ask her assistant to come and help me make a purchase. Turns out the lawyer was selling her Air Blade (it was black and she wants a new yellow one). After going back and forth we settled on $1700. She would take care of all the paperwork, give me a bill of sale in case I was stopped by the police, and register the bike for me.

Anyway, two days later and 17 ATM withdrawals I had the bike. It's sweet. And my lawyer went straight to the Honda dealer with my cash and bought her new one. I've gotten lots of compliments since I've been driving mine around. I did have one problem that shows what an idiot I am and how funny our brains work. When I was given the bike I looked at the gas gauge and it read full. How nice of her to do that. To my dismay, after riding around the gauge never moved. Okay, it's broken I'll have it fixed. I still figured the tank had been full when she gave it to me. Two days later I run out of gas. When I fill the tank, the needle goes all the way over to the other side. That's when I realize that the needle didn't read full, the F was an E, she gave it to me on empty! How stupid can I be? Clear as day there was that E staring me in the face. Come to think of it, there really isn't much difference between an E and an F. I'm dumb but not all that dumb.