Dear Editor,
I recently traveled to Vietnam; it was something to do on my bucket list.
I adventured out to Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, and hired a taxi driver to take us across the country side for site seeing.
As we were traveling in Muoi Ne on the highway we came across the police that had flagged us down. The taxi driver pulled over. The police spoke Vietnamese to the cab driver looking into the cab while he was talking to the cab driver, keeping a close eye on us. He told the taxi driver that they had caught him speeding on camera, and that he would need to pay cash for his ticket. The taxi driver looked shaken as he exited the vehicle to pay the ticket. Another driver was also flagged down, ostensibly for being caught on camera speeding as well. He argued with the police officer about wanting to see the evidence.
The police told the driver that the choice was to pay cash for the ticket up front or go to jail. When we eventually got back on the road, we noticed the other driver behind us. We pulled over and talked to him about the corruption of the police in Vietnam. It was shocking how blatant it was, and how scared the local people are of the police.
It paid off to question the ticket to the police because he got off on his ticket.
It made me appreciate how lucky we are as Canadians to have more honest, reliable policing agencies here.
Cheryl Gross
Turner Valley
