Things were looking bleak for a Japanese couple that was thoroughly ripped off by a taxi driver during their holiday in Bali, but a chance encounter with some tourists from Jakarta turned their evening around for the better.
Japanese tourists Kenichi Miyamoto and Sayuri got royally overcharged by a taxi on Friday night, paying a whopping Rp 579k for a ride from Kuta to Petitenget. Prices in Bali can fluctuate for transport, but Rp 600-800k is the standard rate for transport for a whole day with most drivers.
Jakarta tourists Agung and Ida saw the Japanese couple wandering around Petitenget at 11 pm on Friday evening, looking confused.
A Facebook post by Ida, using her Facebook account ‘Syarifah Khalida’ chronicles the encounter.
The Japanese couple asked Agung and Ida if they were at Seminyak Beach, to which Ida says she replied ‘no.’ From there, a friendship was apparently born.
In her post, Ida explained how as Indonesians she felt bad that the Japanese pair were ‘victims of scamming’ and how she wanted to ‘pay it forward.’ So, she and Agung gave Kenichi and Sayuri a lift to Seminyak Beach (asking for nothing in return) and waited for them while they enjoyed the beach. It turned out it was Sayuri’s birthday and she wanted to celebrate, Ida wrote. Afterwards, the Jakartan couple dropped Kenichi and Sayuri back at their hotel.
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Sayuri and Kenichi’s English was lacking, so the couples communicated slowly and with the help of Google Translate, says Ida.
Agung and Ida hope to visit their new friends, who have apparently offered to show them around, in Japan in 2018.
For Ida, the experience really was about “paying it forward.”
“Doing a small act of kindness can be rewarded in the future. Because one day, I might be in a situation where I need help. Hopefully, someone will want to help me too. It was just a little something we could do to help these Japanese tourists,” Ida concluded.
“I’m also happy that from the first time they met us, they believed we wanted to help them. Even after they had just been scammed. At the very least, hopefully we will make them see that not all Indonesians take advantage of tourists like that.”
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