Remember the two ladies who made a cameo on my flight-to-Jakarta narrative? well they stayed in the capital of Indonesia while I took a train to Yogyakarta. I thought the story ended there but to my wonderful surprise I bumped into them again a few days later. After spending 4 days at Yogyakarta I went back to Jakarta for the tail-end of my trip and ended up staying at the same hostel as these two lovelies. They answers to the name of Tania Gonzales and Carmel So. I was downstairs of the hostel at the lounge working on my laptop when I saw them come down, I almost fell out of my seat and just froze. I heard about them talking about eating in a Korean Restaurant before they walked out the door.
I thought that was a fleeting glimpse again, thinking they might come back at midnight and by that time I might be sleeping on my bunk bed, so I kind off shrugged off the inanities of these series of coincidence. An hour later I heard giggling from two women and there they are, taking a seat in front of me to use the hostel's computer to web check-in for their flight the next night, which is incidentally the same as mine. Words cracking as it came out of my mouth, I told them that I was on the same plane flying-in with them and a small conversation ensued.
From there on, I realized that they were very friendly and the opposite of the snob bunch I mistook them when I first saw them. If I only knew, I would have pitched to them the idea of going to Yogyakarta instead of them just touring Jakarta—but who am I to attempt tinkering their travel plans. Our conversations took us from the hostel's lounge to the rooftop area where we were later joined by Jin, the South Korean I first met at Edu Hostel in Yogyakarta, he was also staying at the same hostel in Jakarta. It's a small world for all travelers alike I guess.
Since our flight back home together is on the next night, we agreed to explore the city of Jakarta the next morning. Because it was so hot that day, we only visited a nearby park which looks like Quezon Memorial Circle and the Istiqlal Mosque, said to be the biggest of its kind in South East Asia. (will write a separate post for that). In the afternoon, we went to the batik-batik market where I bought my brother one long sleeve batik polo. In short, we spent the whole day together getting to know each other's travel habbits. Fresh from traveling to Yogyakarta and not having to share the wonderful experience I had at Borobudur and Prambanan to anyone, to be able to explore Jakarta with new friends provided me another traveling high.
You know what they say about time passing by quickly when you're having fun? it was true in this case, as the day went by like a blitz and soon we were at the airport waiting for our flight back. I imagined how cool would it be instead of flying home we were just flying to another city. I bid them goodbye at the airport and has only reconnected via Facebook since then.
I guess we're not meant to meet in a conventional way, maybe in the future I would cross paths with them again, in an airport lounge, on a train, by the sidewalk of a far away city. I hope our trajectory will intertwined yet again. That day in Jakarta, even with the scorching sun and the Manila-like traffic, time burned up wonderfully. Terima Kasih to my accidental tourist buddies Tania and Carmel.
I guess we're not meant to meet in a conventional way, maybe in the future I would cross paths with them again, in an airport lounge, on a train, by the sidewalk of a far away city. I hope our trajectory will intertwined yet again. That day in Jakarta, even with the scorching sun and the Manila-like traffic, time burned up wonderfully. Terima Kasih to my accidental tourist buddies Tania and Carmel.
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