Yes, it’s a cliche, but like most cliches, it has a basis in truth. Amazing coincidences occur when you travel.
I’ve run into friends from home on the other side of the world and met people who know people I know, but this is probably the weirdest thing that has happened.
Take a look at this picture:
It’s not remarkable; it’s a street scene in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. It was taken by a colleague of my nephew six years ago. It was one of several holiday snaps she was showing off in their office, in Brisbane, Australia.
My nephew told her to stop at this frame, so he could take a close look at the stout, bald man in the blue shirt and black trousers walking down the steps.
“That’s my uncle,” he said. (Or he probably did, as I wasn’t there at the time.)
And indeed it was. I had gone to KL from my then home in Bangkok for a short break. Nobody in Australia knew I was going, and I didn’t know anyone in that city, but somehow my nephew’s friend happened to take a picture at the exact moment I was leaving a shopping mall.
I still haven’t met the person who took the photo, but I know she had no intention of photographing me, nor any means of knowing who I was.
The odds against this happening must be enormous; yet it did happen.
It really is a small world.
PS: Here’s what I wrote about the incident when it happened.
