Cop – Can I see your driver’s license?
Danny – Sure, here. What’s wrong officer?
Cop – Your lights are on.
Danny – Ahem, ok, sorry. Turns off the lights
Cop – Get out of the car. You need to pay a fine.
Danny – For what?
Cop – Your lights were on. It against the law.
Danny – But it’s cloudy.
Anita – gets out of the car. What’s going on?
Cop – You have to pay a fine. Your lights were on.
Anita –It’s against the law to have your lights on?
Cop – It’s daytime, you’re not suppose to have your lights on during the day.
Anita – laugh. Mr, you must be joking. Why is it against the law to have your lights on?
Cop – It’ll cause an accident.
Anita – No it won’t.
Danny – Ok then, if you want to fine me, take us to the police station and issue me a ticket.
Cop – Oh I can’t, the police station is closed today.
Danny – laugh. The police station is closed?
Cop – Yes, it’s Saturday.
Danny – Well I don’t believe it. The police station is opened all the time. There are thieves everyday.
Cop – No, no, there are no thieves today.
Anita – laugh. Oh, the thieves are resting? They take Saturday off too?
Danny – Hey, those cars, they have their lights on. Why don’t you charge them?
Cop – It’s different, they’re citizens. It’s ok for citizens to have their lights on, but not foreigners. You know, even if George W. Bush were here and he had his lights on, he would get charged too.
Everyone laughs
Cop – Come on, just pay the fine so you can go home and relax. Look it’s raining, your son is going to get sick.
Anita – Ok, just give us a ticket.
Cop – No, no I can’t. We Cambodians are poor. We can’t afford tickets. Please, I’m so poor and my children go to private school.
Anita – laugh. If you’re so poor why do your children go to private school?
Danny – impatient and grumpy. Ok, ok, how much.
Cop – It’s up to you.
Danny – 2000 riel? (~50 cents)
Cop – No, no. More.
Danny – You said it’s up to you.
Cop – Well, enough to take my friends out for coke.
AHHH…YOU GOTTA LOVE THIS COUNTRY!!!
{ 6 } Comments
hahah. that is hilarious!! And it’s even more hilarious that you laughed and argued with the cop. Shows that you’re a seasoned expat and not a gullible tourist.
Oh my goodness! That’s so crooked! I’m glad you could all laugh too. I hope he didn’t get more than $1!
:-) To an outsider it would be easy to think you’d made this story up, or at least exaggerated a bit, but on my first trip to Cambodia I had something similar happen - twice! The cop by the Independence Monument wanted money for beer; the second time around Sam was taking me to the airport, so she just rolled her eyes, handed the cop 10,000 riel, and drove off.
Crazy and hilarious, indeed! What will they come up with next?
Great blog! I enjoyed reading it and seeing another side to you and your take on motherhood and Cambodia and all. Oddly, I had a cop tell me to turn my lights off as well when I was driving on a cloudy day, but he didn’t pull me over (there are a few good ones out there!). Where the heck did that law come from?
out of control. stinkin’ out of control.
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