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Even At The Police Station Tea Money Rules


monty1412

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Motoring along Sukhumvit today near Ekkamai. In centre lane. P0lice pull me in, no suprise probably some normal farang crime like having a pulse.

Stupid me though. I've ben pulled in for outside lane, inside lane and now centre lane.. if you see a farang driving up and down the centre divider you will know its me.. where is one supposed to ride as it pertains to choice of lanes on S.

Anyway.. Ive jumped out of the house with only my drivers licence and forgotten the wallet. Cop says 200B I say i haven't got any, he writes ticket for B500 and off i go except its off home to dash back to give the money over to get the license back. Except when i get there the police following a weary morning of pulling up dangerous motorists and making the roads a safer place have gone back to the station to no doubt divvy up the pool.

So off to Thong lor piggery and hand ticket to Sargent or whatever rank he was behind window.. he says B500 I say sort of cheekily say.. "but the officer said to just give him B200".. cop smiles and says ok and screws up the ticket and Im B200 poorer and I must admit a touch dumfounded... got officer to write on ticket ( once it was uncrumpled..... paid in full)

so moral of the story is two fold

1) when on Sukhumvit on a bike weave back and forth vigorously in all three lanes.. this has got to confuse them or as i will now do.. centre divider strip for me.. or as most of the somchai's do, go the footpath.

2) everything is negotiable.... Im sure i could have had, if i had my wits about me. got the pretty young receptionist at the station thrown into the deal along with my B300 reduction.

Thailand one day amazing.. the next day even more amazing.

Of course needless to say about 300 yards down from where the police were stationed there was a most gigantic traffic jam but of course far more important to be pulling up farang on bikes.

Thailand police.. the finest money can buy.

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Good wee story but i just could not stop laughing at this line "when on Sukhumvit on a bike weave back and forth vigorously in all three lanes.. this has got to confuse them"

FUNNY laugh.gif, Cheers for the giggle.

After 10 beers and a few sang soms thats par for the course :lol:

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OP wrote...'or as most of the somchai's do, go the footpath.'

Ah, but it's _legal_ to drive motos on the sidewalk, primarily when road traffic is heavy.

That is often one of the multiple questions asked when taking the written driving test.

I guess you answered wrong on that one...

Edited by LukDod
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Reminds me of my girl friend turning left on red... which was not allowed at that time of day... was asked 500Bt but - as she owns several massage shops - offered a free Thai massage in her shop and got off the hook - all she said to me was "That's Thai way..." :jap:

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Always the alternative view Richard eh! I suggest you take a sense of humour pill.

The OP titled his thread:

Even At The Police Station Tea Money Rules

Is it strange to question where the "tea money" part came into it? Is there something funny that my lack of humor has failed to identify?

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Of course it was tea money as it always is. In all my time in Thailand I have never known anyone defend the BIB to the outlandish extent that you do. They are criminals and everyone knows that with the probable exception of you. Why do you defend blatant corruption by a force that should be there to protect people,but instead fill their own pockets? Every post that you make and every topic that you reply to has the same feel to it. Is your brother in law part of the 'serve and collect' mafia?

Yawn i am just waiting for the 'if you don't like it *deleted* off home to your Utopian country of birth' standard remark

Edited by metisdead
Expletive deleted.
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Of course it was tea money as it always is. In all my time in Thailand I have never known anyone defend the BIB to the outlandish extent that you do. They are criminals and everyone knows that with the probable exception of you. Why do you defend blatant corruption by a force that should be there to protect people,but instead fill their own pockets? Every post that you make and every topic that you reply to has the same feel to it. Is your brother in law part of the 'serve and collect' mafia?

Yawn i am just waiting for the 'if you don't like it *deleted* off home to your Utopian country of birth' standard remark

"Tea money" is a bribe. It's what you pay to a corrupt traffic cop on the street for not issuing you a ticket (yes, traffic cops are highly corruptible -- but those paying off cops are just as corrupt as the cops are. Takes two to tango when it comes to offering/accepting a bribe).

Anyway, when you take a ticket and pay for it at the police station, it is an official fine and receipted as such.

Do you not know the difference? Perhaps you don't.

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Of course it was tea money as it always is. In all my time in Thailand I have never known anyone defend the BIB to the outlandish extent that you do. They are criminals and everyone knows that with the probable exception of you. Why do you defend blatant corruption by a force that should be there to protect people,but instead fill their own pockets? Every post that you make and every topic that you reply to has the same feel to it. Is your brother in law part of the 'serve and collect' mafia?

Yawn i am just waiting for the 'if you don't like it *deleted* off home to your Utopian country of birth' standard remark

"Tea money" is a bribe. It's what you pay to a corrupt traffic cop on the street for not issuing you a ticket (yes, traffic cops are highly corruptible -- but those paying off cops are just as corrupt as the cops are. Takes two to tango when it comes to offering/accepting a bribe).

Anyway, when you take a ticket and pay for it at the police station, it is an official fine and receipted as such.

Do you not know the difference? Perhaps you don't.

I have paid both many times and know that it goes into the same kitty. Perhaps you don't? I got stopped that much in Bangkok by the same cop ( i use the term loosely) that I offered to open a standing order so he did not waste so much of my time. Oddly enough he never stopped me again. Even most of the Thais hate this kind of corruption, maybe you don't know that either.

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Of course it was tea money as it always is. In all my time in Thailand I have never known anyone defend the BIB to the outlandish extent that you do. They are criminals and everyone knows that with the probable exception of you. Why do you defend blatant corruption by a force that should be there to protect people,but instead fill their own pockets? Every post that you make and every topic that you reply to has the same feel to it. Is your brother in law part of the 'serve and collect' mafia?

Yawn i am just waiting for the 'if you don't like it fuc_k off home to your Utopian country of birth' standard remark

"Tea money" is a bribe. It's what you pay to a corrupt traffic cop on the street for not issuing you a ticket (yes, traffic cops are highly corruptible -- but those paying off cops are just as corrupt as the cops are. Takes two to tango when it comes to offering/accepting a bribe).

Anyway, when you take a ticket and pay for it at the police station, it is an official fine and receipted as such.

Do you not know the difference? Perhaps you don't.

From the OP:-

...off to Thong lor piggery and hand ticket to Sargent or whatever rank he was behind window.. he says B500 I say sort of cheekily say.. "but the officer said to just give him B200".. cop smiles and says ok and screws up the ticket and Im B200 poorer...

Sounds like tea money to me :rolleyes:

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Of course it was tea money as it always is. In all my time in Thailand I have never known anyone defend the BIB to the outlandish extent that you do. They are criminals and everyone knows that with the probable exception of you. Why do you defend blatant corruption by a force that should be there to protect people,but instead fill their own pockets? Every post that you make and every topic that you reply to has the same feel to it. Is your brother in law part of the 'serve and collect' mafia?

Yawn i am just waiting for the 'if you don't like it fuc_k off home to your Utopian country of birth' standard remark

"Tea money" is a bribe. It's what you pay to a corrupt traffic cop on the street for not issuing you a ticket (yes, traffic cops are highly corruptible -- but those paying off cops are just as corrupt as the cops are. Takes two to tango when it comes to offering/accepting a bribe).

Anyway, when you take a ticket and pay for it at the police station, it is an official fine and receipted as such.

Do you not know the difference? Perhaps you don't.

I have paid both many times and know that it goes into the same kitty. Perhaps you don't? I got stopped that much in Bangkok by the same cop ( i use the term loosely) that I offered to open a standing order so he did not waste so much of my time. Oddly enough he never stopped me again. Even most of the Thais hate this kind of corruption, maybe you don't know that either.

It sounds like you don't know much of anything.

If an official ticket has been written up and a receipt given, the fine does not go into anyone's pocket.

Where do you get this stuff from?

Thais hate being able to get out of expensive tickets, having their licenses confiscated, and having a black mark on their records by paying a much cheaper bribe directly to a cop?

How do you figure?

If they stopped this practice tomorrow, and everyone had to have their license confiscated, go down to the police station to retrieve it, have a black mark on their record, and pay a much higher fine -- how do you think that would go down?

Would "outrage" possibly describe it?

LOL.

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Of course it was tea money as it always is. In all my time in Thailand I have never known anyone defend the BIB to the outlandish extent that you do. They are criminals and everyone knows that with the probable exception of you. Why do you defend blatant corruption by a force that should be there to protect people,but instead fill their own pockets? Every post that you make and every topic that you reply to has the same feel to it. Is your brother in law part of the 'serve and collect' mafia?

Yawn i am just waiting for the 'if you don't like it fuc_k off home to your Utopian country of birth' standard remark

"Tea money" is a bribe. It's what you pay to a corrupt traffic cop on the street for not issuing you a ticket (yes, traffic cops are highly corruptible -- but those paying off cops are just as corrupt as the cops are. Takes two to tango when it comes to offering/accepting a bribe).

Anyway, when you take a ticket and pay for it at the police station, it is an official fine and receipted as such.

Do you not know the difference? Perhaps you don't.

From the OP:-

...off to Thong lor piggery and hand ticket to Sargent or whatever rank he was behind window.. he says B500 I say sort of cheekily say.. "but the officer said to just give him B200".. cop smiles and says ok and screws up the ticket and Im B200 poorer...

Sounds like tea money to me :rolleyes:

That's what I was trying to clarify -- did the cop tear up the ticket and pocket the 200 baht without giving a receipt? Or did he give a discount, which is within his power to do, and give a receipt?

Either way...sounds like a win-win for all involved rather than an outrage. I'm sure the OP could have paid the full amount if he was so indignant.

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Of course it was tea money as it always is. In all my time in Thailand I have never known anyone defend the BIB to the outlandish extent that you do. They are criminals and everyone knows that with the probable exception of you. Why do you defend blatant corruption by a force that should be there to protect people,but instead fill their own pockets? Every post that you make and every topic that you reply to has the same feel to it. Is your brother in law part of the 'serve and collect' mafia?

Yawn i am just waiting for the 'if you don't like it fuc_k off home to your Utopian country of birth' standard remark

"Tea money" is a bribe. It's what you pay to a corrupt traffic cop on the street for not issuing you a ticket (yes, traffic cops are highly corruptible -- but those paying off cops are just as corrupt as the cops are. Takes two to tango when it comes to offering/accepting a bribe).

Anyway, when you take a ticket and pay for it at the police station, it is an official fine and receipted as such.

Do you not know the difference? Perhaps you don't.

I have paid both many times and know that it goes into the same kitty. Perhaps you don't? I got stopped that much in Bangkok by the same cop ( i use the term loosely) that I offered to open a standing order so he did not waste so much of my time. Oddly enough he never stopped me again. Even most of the Thais hate this kind of corruption, maybe you don't know that either.

It sounds like you don't know much of anything.

If an official ticket has been written up and a receipt given, the fine does not go into anyone's pocket.

Where do you get this stuff from?

Thais hate being able to get out of expensive tickets, having their licenses confiscated, and having a black mark on their records by paying a much cheaper bribe directly to a cop?

How do you figure?

If they stopped this practice tomorrow, and everyone had to have their license confiscated, go down to the police station to retrieve it, have a black mark on their record, and pay a much higher fine -- how do you think that would go down?

Would "outrage" possibly describe it?

LOL.

As usual a surreal reply. I honestly don't believe that you even live in Thailand or have even visited, with the comments that you make on this board. I figure that Thais hate to be ripped off by their own Country men especially people in a position of trust. It may be small money to foreigners, but to Thais it can be rather a large chunk of their daily earnings.

If they stopped the practice tomorrow there would be far fewer Thai people killed in road accidents. Period.

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Should we not differentiate between tea money and corruption?

Corruption = paying money to receive a service which you either would not be entitled to get OR paying for a service that you should get for free but will not get if you don't pay the bribes...

Tea Money (in this case) = paying small amounts to omit being held responsible for something you did wrong. Of course, their is a small step to extortion when they take you out for nothing just to get their tea money...

But is it not the main problem that these guys just don't get paid a living salary? When they get 10K a month but need 5K for the child's tuition and should be supporting the family back home... what else can they do? They can't work more than two jobs a day...

If you want to get rid of the tea money, then Thai authorities must start to pay their employees a wage for living...

BTW: If you look at the Transparency International List of corrupt countries, then Thailand is in the middle field, together with countries like Greece... and if you analyze the list, you will see that corruption is the higher as average salaries in the countries are lower...

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Should we not differentiate between tea money and corruption?

Corruption = paying money to receive a service which you either would not be entitled to get OR paying for a service that you should get for free but will not get if you don't pay the bribes...

Tea Money (in this case) = paying small amounts to omit being held responsible for something you did wrong. Of course, their is a small step to extortion when they take you out for nothing just to get their tea money...

But is it not the main problem that these guys just don't get paid a living salary? When they get 10K a month but need 5K for the child's tuition and should be supporting the family back home... what else can they do? They can't work more than two jobs a day...

If you want to get rid of the tea money, then Thai authorities must start to pay their employees a wage for living...

BTW: If you look at the Transparency International List of corrupt countries, then Thailand is in the middle field, together with countries like Greece... and if you analyze the list, you will see that corruption is the higher as average salaries in the countries are lower...

Finally, someone with a brain joins the discussion.

Tea money is a totally optional convenience payment.

If it offends you, you don't have to pay it. Take a ticket, pay the official fine, and get a receipt.

Right...I wonder how many people actually opt to do that. Perhaps Rick can name a single "outraged" Thai who would gladly do so?

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Of course it was tea money as it always is. In all my time in Thailand I have never known anyone defend the BIB to the outlandish extent that you do. They are criminals and everyone knows that with the probable exception of you. Why do you defend blatant corruption by a force that should be there to protect people,but instead fill their own pockets? Every post that you make and every topic that you reply to has the same feel to it. Is your brother in law part of the 'serve and collect' mafia?

Yawn i am just waiting for the 'if you don't like it fuc_k off home to your Utopian country of birth' standard remark

"Tea money" is a bribe. It's what you pay to a corrupt traffic cop on the street for not issuing you a ticket (yes, traffic cops are highly corruptible -- but those paying off cops are just as corrupt as the cops are. Takes two to tango when it comes to offering/accepting a bribe).

Anyway, when you take a ticket and pay for it at the police station, it is an official fine and receipted as such.

Do you not know the difference? Perhaps you don't.

The very reason for the OP is that the poster claims that this was an example of how that is simply not always the case.

I don't have any idea what happened in this instance (and I admit that find the OP to be slightly offensive and smug) but if you think that bribes aren't ever paid at a station for whatever offense (and sometimes even after paperwork is done) then you are even more deluded than you so often appear to be.

Oh, but kudos for consistency; I especially love the way that if you ever have to concede to an unpleasant truth bout a Thai/Thais, you always manage a 'farangs are just as bad'.

Edited by SteeleJoe
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Should we not differentiate between tea money and corruption?

Corruption = paying money to receive a service which you either would not be entitled to get OR paying for a service that you should get for free but will not get if you don't pay the bribes...

Tea Money (in this case) = paying small amounts to omit being held responsible for something you did wrong. Of course, their is a small step to extortion when they take you out for nothing just to get their tea money...

But is it not the main problem that these guys just don't get paid a living salary? When they get 10K a month but need 5K for the child's tuition and should be supporting the family back home... what else can they do? They can't work more than two jobs a day...

If you want to get rid of the tea money, then Thai authorities must start to pay their employees a wage for living...

BTW: If you look at the Transparency International List of corrupt countries, then Thailand is in the middle field, together with countries like Greece... and if you analyze the list, you will see that corruption is the higher as average salaries in the countries are lower...

Finally, someone with a brain joins the discussion.

Tea money is a totally optional convenience payment.

If it offends you, you don't have to pay it. Take a ticket, pay the official fine, and get a receipt.

Right...I wonder how many people actually opt to do that. Perhaps Rick can name a single "outraged" Thai who would gladly do so?

My wife for one hates the bastards and lets them know that when we get stopped for being totally legal in every which way. You want to go with it fine by me, but corruption is the major player in holding Thailand back.

I don't really think that the OP was being too serious in his post by the way because that's just the way it is.

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Should we not differentiate between tea money and corruption?

Corruption = paying money to receive a service which you either would not be entitled to get OR paying for a service that you should get for free but will not get if you don't pay the bribes...

Tea Money (in this case) = paying small amounts to omit being held responsible for something you did wrong. Of course, their is a small step to extortion when they take you out for nothing just to get their tea money...

But is it not the main problem that these guys just don't get paid a living salary? When they get 10K a month but need 5K for the child's tuition and should be supporting the family back home... what else can they do? They can't work more than two jobs a day...

If you want to get rid of the tea money, then Thai authorities must start to pay their employees a wage for living...

BTW: If you look at the Transparency International List of corrupt countries, then Thailand is in the middle field, together with countries like Greece... and if you analyze the list, you will see that corruption is the higher as average salaries in the countries are lower...

Finally, someone with a brain joins the discussion.

Tea money is a totally optional convenience payment.

If it offends you, you don't have to pay it. Take a ticket, pay the official fine, and get a receipt.

Right...I wonder how many people actually opt to do that. Perhaps Rick can name a single "outraged" Thai who would gladly do so?

One more thing: Having travelled around the world, I can assure you that Thailand is not the only country where tea money helps... Mexico, Egypt, Ukraine, South Italy, Tunesia, Kenya, Poland (some years ago, not any more today)... always have enough small money in your passport in case you are pulled over... and don't wonder when the passport comes back empty...

Of course, try it in the North of Italy, in the US of A, in Germany, Switzerland... and it's a one-way ticket to jail...

And as was mentioned above: If you have the option to either pay 200 right away or go to the station to pay 500... which of you HONESTLY can say he will choose the 500 option???

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They are SAVING money by paying bribes. How thick are you, Rick? As a brick?

Scenario 1 (no corruption): you commit a traffic infraction, are issued a ticket, have your license taken away and have to retrieve it at the police station after paying a 500 baht fine. You get black marks applied to your record which accumulate and could eventually mean that your license is suspended.

Scenario 2 (with corruption): you commit a traffic infraction, palm the cop a couple red kings, and are on your merry way.

I don't know how to make it clearer for you, Ricardo. Every Thai I know would be outraged if he WEREN'T allowed to pay a bribe that would save him time and money.

I can get out some crayolas and make a picture for you, if it would help you understand?

By taking the time to explain that it just show how naive you are. Lets state the obvious shall we. It will take a thicker pencil to draw me Mr know it all and one that by all accounts totally supports corruption.

Glad to hear you'll be taking a firm anti-corruption stand next time the cops pull you over. You'll say, "no sir, I'm not giving you a bribe of 200 baht. I'd much rather you take my license, and I'll come down to the cop shop tomorrow to pay you 500 baht and get a receipt."

Take a witness, will you?

I will hopefully take you as it appears that you have many close friends in our well respected police service. Maybe you can just bore them to death in a very short period of time?

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Should we not differentiate between tea money and corruption?

Corruption = paying money to receive a service which you either would not be entitled to get OR paying for a service that you should get for free but will not get if you don't pay the bribes...

Tea Money (in this case) = paying small amounts to omit being held responsible for something you did wrong. Of course, their is a small step to extortion when they take you out for nothing just to get their tea money...

But is it not the main problem that these guys just don't get paid a living salary? When they get 10K a month but need 5K for the child's tuition and should be supporting the family back home... what else can they do? They can't work more than two jobs a day...

If you want to get rid of the tea money, then Thai authorities must start to pay their employees a wage for living...

BTW: If you look at the Transparency International List of corrupt countries, then Thailand is in the middle field, together with countries like Greece... and if you analyze the list, you will see that corruption is the higher as average salaries in the countries are lower...

Finally, someone with a brain joins the discussion.

Tea money is a totally optional convenience payment.

If it offends you, you don't have to pay it. Take a ticket, pay the official fine, and get a receipt.

Right...I wonder how many people actually opt to do that. Perhaps Rick can name a single "outraged" Thai who would gladly do so?

My wife for one hates the bastards and lets them know that when we get stopped for being totally legal in every which way. You want to go with it fine by me, but corruption is the major player in holding Thailand back.

I don't really think that the OP was being too serious in his post by the way because that's just the way it is.

We're not talking about being "totally legal".

We're talking about being stopped for committing an offense.

What does your wife do in that case? She offers a bribe, doesn't she?

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They are SAVING money by paying bribes. How thick are you, Rick? As a brick?

Scenario 1 (no corruption): you commit a traffic infraction, are issued a ticket, have your license taken away and have to retrieve it at the police station after paying a 500 baht fine. You get black marks applied to your record which accumulate and could eventually mean that your license is suspended.

Scenario 2 (with corruption): you commit a traffic infraction, palm the cop a couple red kings, and are on your merry way.

I don't know how to make it clearer for you, Ricardo. Every Thai I know would be outraged if he WEREN'T allowed to pay a bribe that would save him time and money.

I can get out some crayolas and make a picture for you, if it would help you understand?

By taking the time to explain that it just show how naive you are. Lets state the obvious shall we. It will take a thicker pencil to draw me Mr know it all and one that by all accounts totally supports corruption.

Glad to hear you'll be taking a firm anti-corruption stand next time the cops pull you over. You'll say, "no sir, I'm not giving you a bribe of 200 baht. I'd much rather you take my license, and I'll come down to the cop shop tomorrow to pay you 500 baht and get a receipt."

Take a witness, will you?

I will hopefully take you as it appears that you have many close friends in our well respected police service. Maybe you can just bore them to death in a very short period of time?

I stay as far away from the police as possible. Nothing good comes from hanging around the Thai police.

I wish you'd stop making things up, but it seems to be the normal thing to do around here when you start to lose an argument.

So...Rick. Are you going to pay a bribe next time you're stopped? Or do the right thing and take a ticket? You haven't responded to this very vital question.

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Should we not differentiate between tea money and corruption?

Corruption = paying money to receive a service which you either would not be entitled to get OR paying for a service that you should get for free but will not get if you don't pay the bribes...

Tea Money (in this case) = paying small amounts to omit being held responsible for something you did wrong. Of course, their is a small step to extortion when they take you out for nothing just to get their tea money...

But is it not the main problem that these guys just don't get paid a living salary? When they get 10K a month but need 5K for the child's tuition and should be supporting the family back home... what else can they do? They can't work more than two jobs a day...

If you want to get rid of the tea money, then Thai authorities must start to pay their employees a wage for living...

BTW: If you look at the Transparency International List of corrupt countries, then Thailand is in the middle field, together with countries like Greece... and if you analyze the list, you will see that corruption is the higher as average salaries in the countries are lower...

Finally, someone with a brain joins the discussion.

Tea money is a totally optional convenience payment.

If it offends you, you don't have to pay it. Take a ticket, pay the official fine, and get a receipt.

Right...I wonder how many people actually opt to do that. Perhaps Rick can name a single "outraged" Thai who would gladly do so?

My wife for one hates the bastards and lets them know that when we get stopped for being totally legal in every which way. You want to go with it fine by me, but corruption is the major player in holding Thailand back.

I don't really think that the OP was being too serious in his post by the way because that's just the way it is.

We're not talking about being "totally legal".

We're talking about being stopped for committing an offense.

What does your wife do in that case? She offers a bribe, doesn't she?

Pretty much the same whether you do or not. The fav is changing lanes which is quite impossible most times in Bangkok because the lanes are already jammed. Well if he saw you do it you did it, hey Richard. My wife just out of interests sake argues like hell with them and i respect her for that. They are after all Thais and probably grew up in the same neck of the woods.

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Cant reply directly too many quotes.

Sorry is this an argument. I thought it was a discussion? It is a no win situation as you should know, whether you pay to nice police man on the spot or go to the station. I usually ask for a ticket, but that's just me.

Edited by metisdead
Baiting comments removed.
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