...through a combination of unfortunate factors and stupidity. This is my story.

Two months ago i rode down to suzhou on a saturday to go meet some friends. In the evening we got plenty drunk and then headed home to grab some sleep. The next day i was supposed to meet some friends at Tianma racetrack to watch some racing in the afternoon. I woke up around 11, hopped on the bike and headed out towards the track, which is just inside the border of shanghai 'province'.

At the time the shanghai world expo was still going, meaning that every road leading into shanghai had big police blockades at the border where they checked every vehicle entering the city. All my papers are in order and i'd ridden through a few times before so, not worried, i stopped to show my license and documents. I stayed on my bike, helmet on, while the policeman took my documents inside to check them. While he was in there i took my helmet off so i could politley thank him when he came back out.

I took back my license with both hands and thanked him; that's when he smelled the alcohol on my breath from the night before and accused me of drunk driving. Sure i was pretty hungover, but i didn't imagine that would be an offence. Nevertheless i was made to blow in the alcotest machine, and guess what: i was over the limit by 0.01. The limit is 0.2 and i blew a sad 0.21. I pleaded my case and explained repeatedly that i had only been drinking the night before and that i was fine today but they were not taking any of it.

They took my license away but said i could keep the bike. I lost my license for 3 months and had to pay a 500 RMB fine. To get it back i must also attend 7 days of driving school (full days, not evening classes) and repass the theory test at the end. Of course this is china and if you are willing to pay then there are other ways. I did not want to waste one of my weeks of yearly leave for this farce only to fail the test at the end anyway, so with the help of the company driver we found a 'yellow cow' that can take care of all this for you. It costs 3000 kuai and for that someone is paid to attend the 7 days of school for me and sit the test, i don't even have to be present. I passed with flying colours, a proud 96%! I got an official certificate from the traffic bureau saying that i did all that and now i just need to wait for the end of my 3 month sentence to go and claim my license back.

I mentioned that they took my license at the checkpoint (50km out of shanghai city) but let me keep the bike. They told me i was not allowed to drive it home.
"what should i do with it then?"
was met with a shrug.
"can i push it home?"
shrug.
So i pushed it away until i was out of view then rode it back. What did they expect?

Conclusion / Things i could have done differently to avoid this stupid waste of time and money:
- brushed my teeth in the morning
- had breakfast
- had a bottle of green tea
- rode with my mouth open
- not tried to be polite by taking my helmet off
- not stopped at the police check, just like every other bike does