Travelling to a different country is supposed to be enjoyable, but unfortunately, things can go wrong and you’re left with a poor impression of the place — or its people.
Recently, two women from Singapore shared the harrowing experience they had during their trip to Ireland.
According to them, they were “hate crimed” by a group of young boys who looked no older than their early teens.
Besides disturbing them repeatedly, they allegedly used a derogatory slang against them and threw an item at one of the women.
21-year-old student Jolyn Phua, who posted the video, told MS News that the unpleasant encounter took place at a “pretty well-known Chinese restaurant” in Dublin.
Source: @jojojolynlynlyn on TikTok
While she and her friend were having dinner, a group of four Irish boys, who looked to be around 11 to 14 years old, then walked in and started being “very rude” to the waiter.
Although Phua and her friend were annoyed, they just decided to mind their own business.
Later, when the pair was discussing what time they should leave their hotel, one of the boys interrupted the conversation and gave them a random time.
Still, Phua and her friend paid no heed to them.
“Personally, I felt angry but threatened at the same time because these boys felt super unhinged,” she recalled. “I didn’t know what they were capable of so I kept telling myself to ignore them.”
Unfortunately, the group started becoming “more aggressive”, as Phua described in her video.
They kept pestering the women — who continued ignoring them — for their Snapchat and at one point, referred to them as “chinks”, a racial slur for Asians.
“It gets worse,” said Phua, who was still extremely upset at what happened.
After they finished their meal, Phua went off for a moment to take away some food.
When she came back, the boys were still asking her friend for her Snapchat.
They also started asking the women other questions, such as how old they are.
Source: @jojojolynlynlyn on TikTok
When Phua told them she’s 30, the boys didn’t believe her and asked her to “stop lying”.
Things just kept escalating from there.
Besides blocking the way for her friend to leave, one of them also touched Phua on the shoulder.
Source: @jojojolynlynlyn on TikTok
She turned around and calmly said to him: “Don’t f***ing touch me.”
The same boy then used a chair to block her friend from leaving, but Phua simply moved it away.
Later on, another boy who had been sitting beside her friend said: “I’m going to chuck this can of Coke.”
He seemed to be intimidated when her friend stood up and showed just how much taller she was than him, but that still wasn’t enough to stop him.
Source: @jojojolynlynlyn on TikTok
After the women left the restaurant, the boy threw the soft drink can at them, narrowly missing Phua’s head.
The can grazed past her hair and left a few splashes of Coke on her jacket.
“I stood in place completely in shock for a few moments,” Phua told MS News. “I did consider turning back to confront them, but it was just the two of us against four of them.”
“Like I said, I didn’t know what they were capable of so I decided to let it go and we just went straight back to our hotel.”
When asked if she and her friend considered filing a police report, Phua said they didn’t as they were only there for three days.
They also did not want to let the incident ruin the whole trip — although Phua admitted that the encounter did dampen her mood for a while.
“There were definitely friendly people in Ireland, but I told myself that I probably won’t be returning to Dublin for a very long time,” she said.
She added that she initially posted the TikTok as an outlet for her to vent as she’d never been that angry in her life.
“But looking through the comments, this kind of hate crime is actually quite common in Dublin and it’s super hard for travellers to do anything about it.”
“This incident really opened my eyes to how traumatising hate crimes can be,” she continued. “I hope that this can serve as a lesson to any traveller to always be careful wherever they go.”
And I hope that as unfortunate as it seems, people will know that they are not alone in what they have gone through.
The tale of how they were harassed in Ireland left other TikTok users shocked and seething.
One netizen asked if the cops could’ve been called, but another replied saying that the boys would only get a “slap on the wrist” unless the women decided to take legal action.
Source: TikTok
Someone who is studying in Ireland agreed that the hate crime there is indeed pretty bad.
Source: TikTok
Many also commended Phua and her friend for being able to stay calm despite the situation.
Source: TikTok
Some also said they are glad the pair managed to walk away from the incident and are safe.
Also read: South Korean YouTuber Harassed While Livestreaming In India, 2 Men Arrested Over Incident
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Featured image adapted from @jojojolynlynlyn on TikTok.
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