A view of Sơn Tây District, Quảng Ngãi Province. – Photo soha.vn

Cart and card before horse and ATM

Government employees in mountainous Sơn Tây District of Quảng Ngãi Province have faced a bit of a pickle.

In recent months, more than 1,400 officials and employees have had to receive their monthly salary via ATM cards instead of in cash, according to online newspaper vietnamnet.vn.

Only problem is the district doesn't have any ATMs, and the nearest is 60km away.

Teachers in particular have struggled, as they've had to traverse treachorous mountain roads on their motobrikes to pick up their monthly salary of about VNĐ3 million (US$130).

The newspaper reported the salary payment via cards was a compulsory regulation issued by the State Treasury.

Should the phrase 'putting the cart before the horse' be amended to putting the card before the ATM?

Spreading some cheer

Delivery drivers up and down the nation earn a pittance for doing a tough and important job, so the temptation to cut corners must be huge.

However, one driver from the mountainous district of Mù Cang Chải of Yên Bái Province recently made a name for himself for his basic human decency.

He is Giàng A Sử who works as part-time shipper in Hà Nội and on a recent cold, rainy night, the 19-year-old man found a wallet full of money and personal papers on his way to work.

He thought the wallet's owner would come back to look for it, so he stood in the rain waiting for a while but no one came back.

A Sử took the wallet to his rented accommodation to try and contact the wallet owner.

He searched found the owner's name online and then contacted the ATM card holder’s bank and informed them the card had been lost.

Finally, A Sử found the wallet's owner, but for some reason, the man wouldn't come to A Sử to pick it up.

Once again, A Sử expressed his kindness by travelling 15km on his old and creaking motorbike to Tây Hồ District to hand over the wallet at night.

Trees lost and found mysteriously

People in Nam Từ Liêm District of Hà Nội were recently surprised about mysterious disappearance and subsequent reappearance of stolen trees.

Last week, the district reported some trees in Đại Mỗ Street had been stolen at night.

But two days later, the trees were found re-planted on a real estate construction project near Đại Mỗ Street, according to dantri.com.vn.

Before being stolen, the trees were planted in a public area which is now an entrance to the project.

“Those trees were planted before the project started. It was six or seven years ago,” a local person told the newspaper.

When police started investigating the theft, the trees were re-planted but not in the same place.

According to local people, the re-planting has made the real estate project more beautiful. – VNS