The Fuzz

I've been pulled over a couple times in Hanoi. It seems I can't get away with what I do in Saigon. They don't really like the "toi khong biet" (i didn't know) excuse, either. The officials in Hanoi also aren't into Americans, so I try to keep that under wraps. I'll have to be more careful- no major problems yet.

Except yesterday I left my bike parked on the street next to the hotel and the police impounded it. I went down to the precinct and showed them the title, but they made me sit and wouldn't tell me why. The guys at the desk were just watching tv, doing nothing. To make matters worse, my bike was right there in the office. They knew it was mine too. So I asked them if i could have it back and they said to wait. For what? Gimme a ticket and let's go!

So I wait there for at least a half hour, and then I ask "when?" and they said some things i didn't understand. So I called My and asked her to talk to them. She started to ask them what was going on and they hung up on her. That was it for me.

My tactic then was to sit in the chair directly across from this man and stare at him. Not in a mean, theatening way, just staring. He wouldn't look at me and I could tell he was getting nervous. I was playing with fire i know, but he knew he was wrong, and I was fed up with him. After a few minutes he couldn't take it anymore and he unlocked the bike and let me go without a ticket.

I rule.