A Thai cabbie gives me his opinion of being stung by crooked Bangkok cops.

This poor cabby got a ticket while picking us up at the area in front of The Mall
in Bangkok. Apparently, he was not supposed to stop there, but the car in front
of him stopped also, and was not given a ticket. When this man stopped to pick
us up, the cop didn't say a word.

Only when everyone was in the taxi did the cop blow his whistle, and signaled for the
driver to pull over. Apparently, that's not the proper way to do it. Despite kind worded
pleas from the driver and my Uncle Sathaporn, the policeman showed no mercy and wrote
the ticket. I know, the law is the law, but this is Southeast Asia, and we 'deal' with
it differently.

On the ride I heard my uncle saying about the cop, "Ma ha kin." Literally that means
"looking for something to eat." Realistically, it means the cop was trying to make some
money. My uncle said that if this had happened at night, the cop probably would've taken some
bribe money to forget the whole thing, to which the driver replied in Thai: "I wouldn't
even give him that. I'd rather give it to a dog." In a kind gesture, the ticket was paid by
my uncle and my dad at 200 baht or around $5 bucks. Chump change here, but not for
some in Thailand.