‘Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you.’– American chef and author, Anthony Bourdain
Was Harry, my brother-in-law and the husband of my elder sister, taken for a ride on Friday night?
I don’t know. I let you decide.
Harry, who’s working in Bintulu, decided to take a break and join my elder sister, Ah Moi, who was already in Kuching for a short holiday.
So on Friday afternoon, out of the blue, he hopped on a bus to Kuching City and arrived here at around 10 pm.
When he told my sister he would take a taxi to my house in Tabuan Laru, I was happy. You see, I don’t like to drive at night, especially when it is raining. And on Friday night, it was drizzling.
So Ah Moi and I waited in the house for Harry. He had disembarked from Kuching Sentral Complex & Bus Terminal, Mile 6, Jalan Penrissen .
The bus complex and bus terminal is about 20 minutes’ car ride from Tabuan Laru via Jalan Lapangan Terbang and Jalan Stutong Baru/Jalan Teo Kui Seng.
One hour passed and after seeing no sign of Harry and the car he boarded, Ah Moi called him.
Harry said the taxi driver had taken him to Tabuan Dayak.
“But we are in Tabuan Laru,” Ah Moi told him.
“That’s what I told the driver,” said Harry.
During the conversation, the car driver seemed to be asking for the location of our house in Tabuan Laru.
I wrote down the address and asked Ah Moi to send it to Harry.
Harry had visited my house years ago but forgot its exact location.
He later told Ah Moi and I, “ I met the driver at the bus terminal and told him I wanted to go to Tabuan Laru. The driver said yes, he knew Tabuan Laru and told me to get into his car. He also said he knew Tabuan Dayak and Tabuan Jaya.”
But the thin man who appeared quite old seemed to be bluffing. It seemed he did not know where Tabuan Laru was.
Harry said the taxi driver took him round to Tabuan Dayak and as far as Kota Samarahan.
“Kota Samarahan?,” Ah Moi and I exclaimed in unison. “Up to where?”
Harry was definitely in the car for a long time. He seemed to be sweating and a bit dazed when he came out of the car and finally appeared in front of my house. It seemed to me the taxi driver took him on an unexpected long tour of Kuching City.
Before Harry could disembark from the car, he had to pay the taxi driver RM150.
Luckily, Harry had the money. I wondered what would happen if he did not have that much cash. Would the taxi driver hold him captive?
The total distance of a trip is a primary factor in calculating a taxi fare. My house is only 20 minutes’ car ride from the bus terminal. I wonder what was the route taken by the driver.
On Friday night, I waited a while outside the house for Harry. Then I went in
to relax. I came out of my house again after hearing some commotion. Ah Moi was arguing with the taxi driver in Mandarin and scolding him for fleecing Harry.
At that time, it was almost midnight and most of the lights in the neighbours’ houses were already out.
Since Harry had already paid the taxi driver RM150 based on the GPS, I told my sister to stop arguing with the man. “What is done is done,” I said.
Besides, it was not good to wake up the neighbours from their sleep.
After the taxi driver drove off, Harry sheepishly entered the house.
Although we were shocked that Harry had to pay RM150 for a ride that normally took us 20 minutes, we could not help laughing at him. We were relieved to see him finally in front of the house.
He looked tired and deep inside, he must have been shocked by the expensive charge and the unexpected tour of Kuching City he had to endure late at night.
Bella, Harry’s own daughter and my niece in Bintulu, was also shocked by the cost of the car ride to my house. “Apuu…How come? He paid?” she commented in her WhatsApp.
Ah Hong, another niece in Singapore, commented, “Apuu… so expensive. How come no one picked him up? Kesian (pity). Should have called Grab.”
Initially, I also thought Harry was using a Grab car. Instead, he used a taxi.
Looking back, I think my family learnt a valuable lesson from the incident —
Beware of taxi scams.
Yesterday morning, on my way to work, I dropped Ah Moi and Harry near the old mosque and bus station in Kuching City. Harry said he wanted to see parts of old Kuching City again. He said they would catch a bus home to Tabuan Laru.
But Ah Hong, who is in Singapore, ordered a Grab car to send the couple back to Tabuan Laru after Harry saw what he wanted to see.
“Kesian. I am scared they might be scammed again by taxi drivers,” she said.
Harry and Ah Moi will be going home to Bintulu today. My sister was here to help me declutter my house.
Though his trip to Kuching was short, I’m sure Harry will remember it for a long time to come because he paid RM150 for a taxi fare from the bus terminal to my house.
