The Bribe Count

Sadly, bribes tend to be a fact of life in some of the countries I’m travelling through.  Here is the updated running total:

Laos        Border Police      $2       Weekend ‘fee’ for stamping passport

Thailand     Customs      2000 baht ($70)     “Fee” paid to a fixer to arrange crossing the bridge to Laos with a police escort. It’s considered a bribe because it’s not formalised, the money paid went directly into someone’s pocket.

Thailand    Failed attempt, traffic cop     $0      I didn’t pay up, and he got bored and let me go

Kazakhstan      Cops      1000 tenge ($13) & 20 minutes negotiating
They wanted $100 for speeding, they claim I was doing 61km in a 30km roadworks zone

Kazakhstan      Cops    5000 tenge ($34) & twenty minutes negotiating
Left a bar at 5am, tipsy, without ID.  They were waiting for foreigners to fleece.  Oscar handled the negotiating in Kazakh. They wanted $340 at opening bid, we closed at $34

Kazakhstan      Cops       2430 tenge ($16) & twenty minutes negotiating
I did an illegal left turn in front of cops. When pulled over, I didn’t have my passport or registration for bike.  They wanted $500, and threatened impounding bike and locking me up.  I gave them everything I had on me, they had no choice to accept it.

Kyrgyzstan      Cops      360 som ($7) & 10 minutes arguing
They say they clocked me doing 80km/h in a 40km zone.  They wanted 2000 som. I offered 500, then sat in the back of the cop car until they got bored and accepted 360 som.

Some will argue that they never paid a single inducement or bribe, and that may be true. Maybe they are more patient than me. Often paying up means you can just move on.