Remember the two ladies who made a cameo in 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 four days in Yogyakarta, I went back to Jakarta for the tail-end of my trip and ended up staying at the same hostel as those two lovelies. They answered to the names Tania Gonzales and Carmel So. I was downstairs at the hostel lounge working on my laptop when I saw them come down; I almost fell out of my seat and just froze. I heard them talking about eating in a Korean restaurant before they walked out the door.

Anytime you found your way to the largest Buddhist temple in the world, you felt like toasting your kismet for bringing you there. Just the mere fact of stepping foot on a structure built with stunning craftsmanship and creativity dating back to the ninth century was already a significant moment for myself. Borobudur was the primary reason why I journeyed to the city of Yogyakarta—which at the time was my longest train ride from Jakarta. It was one of those places forever etched in my mind as something I must see.