Strangely, He Didn't Offer a Receipt

Friday night, M and I drove our lovely little car to dinner. We were heading for our favorite Indian restaurant, and since it was our first time driving there, we took the same route that all the cab drivers have taken during the many, many times they have driven us to said restaurant.

Well, getting there involved making a right hand turn across a couple of lanes of traffic (we drive on the left hand side here). We made the turn and started down a dark back road, where we were waved down by a cop. Turns out, when we made the turn, we crossed a double white line, which is a no-no. I guess we didn't notice it because we were too busy trying not to get hit, hit anyone else, dodge the motorbikes that are whizzing by us, etc. Besides, every cab we have taken to this restaurant has gone this way, but DING!DING!DING! We were the lucky winners who got pulled over.

So he asked M for his license (which, luckily, we found the other day after misplacing it). He explained what we had done, we were apologetic, yada yada. He asked where we were from and we told him where we lived, but turned out he wanted to know where we were from, so we told him the US. Damn! I hate when we have to do that.

He proceeded to tell us that we could pay an on the spot fine. Now, we have never been pulled over before, so we didn't know how it worked here. The on the spot fine was RM 300, which is the going rate according to a couple of other expats we've talked to.

M didn't have cash, so the cop even escorted us to an ATM...holding up traffic and everything so that we could stay behind him. M got cash and the cop then proceeded to escort us to the restaurant. Along the way, on a dark and desolate street, he stopped and told us we could pay him there. Seriously. So we pay, and since at that point we didn't really know the neighborhood we were in, he escorted us to the restaurant.

As it turns out, he could have given us a ticket and according to some locals, the fine would have been about RM 100, which we would have then paid at the police station. I guess that other RM 200 must have been a "convenience" fee, right? Do you get my sarcasm? Are you sure? 'Cause I'm laying it on pretty thick.

Although, truth be told, I might opt for an on the spot fine again. Something tells me that going to the police station to pay a fine would not be an exercise in efficiency. Quite frankly, 200 ringgit is worth it to save my sanity. I have so little to spare these days.