Sometimes its very hard to remain stoic when dealing with asian...

Sometimes its very hard to remain stoic when dealing with asian cultures, but nonetheless this is how things are done in this part of the world.

I recall being in a small village east of Hanoi, Vietnam, in the early 90's. At the time as a visitor you had to present your passport to the local police station upon arrival. I went to the Hatay station accompanied by my Vietnamese wife and her brother-in-law, the local doctor. 4-5 police officers were sitting playing cards and after 30 minutes of idle chat, cups of green tea and cigarettes I was informed that no, the man that had to take the passport details was unavailable. There was no protestation by my brother in law, merely a shrug of the shoulders and to my query when the officer in charge of passports would return he replied. "They say try again next week"?

At the time the Vietnamese government were quite strict on foreigners fulfilling this minor task so my immediate frustration was probably clearly evident. No one speaking English except the wife didn't help!

The next week we revisted the police station and Mr Passport recorder was present. In five minutes, four of which included pleasantries, we were processed and on the books. Seems the card playing policemen just aren't paid enough to take on the responsibilty of sighting and recording a passport.

A similar game of merry-go-round (albeit on a much bigger scale)is probably occurring with Lynas.