French Tourist Says Malaysians Are "Awesome" For Helping Him Find His Lost Phone
"You are the best example of LOVE."
By Tang Ruxyn — 13 Apr 2017, 12:37 PM
When a tourist lost his phone in Malaysia recently, he quickly turned to the public for help
Yves Moncla, a tourist from France, accidentally left his phone in a stranger's car who offered him a ride to the bank in Bagan Lalang, Sepang, Selangor on 9 April.
It is a special phone that he cannot afford to lose as it contained many photographs and videos that he took to document his experiences when he started to travel around the world about a year ago.
"I record all the information about my trips around the world on the phones. So it is very important to me," he told Malay daily Harian Metro.
In an attempt to reach out to the woman whom he hitched a ride from, Moncla resorted to using a banner to get the message out
"Help Me! My name is Yves from France. I forgot my mobile in your car Sunday. Can you bring it to the police station in Sungay Pelek! Thank you," the message on the banner read.
He also wrote down his contact number and how to contact him through his Facebook account, 'Yv Oyage'.
It was reported the 30-year-old brought along the banner and waited for six hours at the same spot at the side of the road in Bagan Lalang in hopes of bumping into the driver who gave him a lift.
A passerby who took notice of Moncla and his banner quickly helped to spread the word on social media
Nur Halim Ibrahim took to Facebook to share what happened to Moncla and urged Malaysians to help him search for the missing phone by looking out for the driver.
The post immediately went viral.
Thanks to the power of social media and helpful Malaysians, Moncla didn't have to wait long until his phone was back in his hands
The message eventually reached Syafiqah Shahirah, who did not realise that the passenger had left his phone in her car until she saw the viral post online the next day on 10 April.
"After discovering his story on Facebook, I looked for the phone and found it under the car seat," she said.
She immediately went to look for Moncla and returned the phone to its rightful owner.
Needless to say, Moncla was absolutely delighted to get back his phone
He left a comment on Nur Halim's post, expressing his gratitude towards all Malaysian who have helped him in this quest.
"Thank you to all the Malaysian friends. Today a lot of people said to me, you cannot find your phone, is impossible to find the woman! Never give up, nothing is impossible," Moncla wrote.
"Malaysia is awesome!!!! Thank you so much everybody, you are like a big family, I will remember about your help and support long time! You are the best example of LOVE," read another comment that he wrote.
He also thanked the owner of Bagan Villa Resort di Pantai Bagan Lalang, Datuk Ahmad Talal Abdul Razim, for his generosity in offering him a free room.
Ahmad Talal felt sorry when he noticed that Moncla had to wait by the roadside in hopes of finding Syafiqah earlier, so he offered the visitor a free stay at his resort instead.
It is said that Moncla will depart from Malaysia for the Philippines this Saturday, 15 April.