K. A Japanese dude who's been learning Bahasa Indonesia for the past 2 years and has been living in Lombok for the same period of time.
We met back in November 2009, on the island of Gili Trawangan, Lombok while I was there diving, on my own. I'd just finished dinner one evening and the diners at the table (one of whom was K) next to mine asked if I'd like to join them. In no time, we were having hearty conversations about anything that came to our minds. K's friends retired to their rooms post dinner while the two of us bought a bottle of local wine (brand translates to Old Man) and had some drinks on the beach. I can still remember how the moonlight illuminated the beach and the sky filled with trillions of stars hanging above us as we shared snippets of information about our lives, our countries and thoughts.
It was really awesome.
I thought I'd never see K again, but he stopped by Singapore this time round en-route back to Japan. So, I played host and showed him around our little island that's slightly more developed than the one he's been living in. We visited Botanic Gardens and I found out that the place's really much bigger than I thought it was, visited the National Museum and learnt something about the history of Singapore together, walked down Orchard Road where he went to get his eyebrows threaded by an Indian lady -_- had some ice-kachang at the food court of Plaza Singapura, enjoyed a lovely dinner by the Singapore River at Clarke Quay and I learnt to enjoy a rare steak, stopped by the river front at Esplanade to take a good, long look at the CBD skyline as we had a good conversation over a bottle of Australian Cabernet Sauvignon (snucked from home).
We both agreed that he should book a room at MBS the next time he visits Singapore.
I'm really happy that he's decided to visit, and also, for sharing stories about his experiences living with Indonesian farmers and giving me so many new perspectives about things in life.
He should be back in Nagoya for his 2-month study break by now; I'm looking forward to visiting him in Japan soon!
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