Encounter

Some people asked me, how much money I spend for 378 days of travel (and counting), especially my friends and colleagues in South Korea, my hometown. Most of the time, I only smiled or laughed to their question because I never really count. But to some people I find interesting—I rarely found it though, I answered them with this sentence.

"In my long journey, I met a lot of people, some of them were wonderful and kind, some of them were bad. I respect the bad and turned their behavior towards me or their surroundings as a life lesson. The wonderful and the kinds helped me a lot in many aspects. Furthermore, they gave me something I couldn't measure with money—which are experience and friendship. That's why I never count how much money I spent. Those wonderful and kind people gave me something I couldn't measure with money; and even if I can, it will cost much more than the expense of the journey itself.”

After those words, those people usually went silent—as if contemplating whether my words make sense or not. After a few minutes, they smiled and nodded, and somehow I found sudden admiration in their eyes. I never mind about the sudden admiration, because I'm always glad to inspire. That's one of many reason why I became a novelist.

But one day, I found another answer to that question. To be exact, I found another way of thinking for answering that question—and practically many questions in my head.

It all started with an encounter with a Korean woman in Kuta, Bali.

"Is this seat taken?" she said in Korean. I was sitting in a restaurant-bar in Kuta to have lunch by myself. I usually took a bar seat and chat with the bartender to prevent overthink many things. But that day, a Korean woman with long blonde ponytail, cheerful eyes, sunglasses on top of her head and white-blue sundress greeted me cheerfully with a bright smile to complement that greeting.

"No one miss." I also replied in Korean. "I'll be glad if you can take that seat."

With my sentence, she occupied that seat and settled herself. She put her bag and sunglasses down, then ordered in fluent English to the bartender. It didn't take long for us to engage in a nice chat while waiting for our order.

"Are you here alone?" she asked. She had her face turned to me, and I had my face turned to hers too. "I rarely found a solo Korean traveller. They usually travel in groups."

"Well, I'm not an ordinary Korean traveller then," I said with a smile. "I've travelled alone for the past year."

Her eyes widened in surprise—which I found adorable, and started to grin. "I guess we're the same then. We both are not ordinary Korean travelers."

I raised my eyebrow at her sentence. Did that means she was flirting to me? But before I could assume more things, she quickly clarified her intentions. "I've been traveling alone for almost all my life. It's in my job description as a travel writer anyway," and with that sentence, she laughed. I immediately laughed too at the similarities.

At my laugh, she started to control her laugh slowly and stopping at some point. Her eyes sparkled with curiosity and questions, and I didn’t find it disturbing though. "Why? Do you find my experience funny?"

I stopped laughing too and shook my head. "Nope. But I just realized we already have two similarities even before knowing each others' name."

"And what are those similarities?"

I raised my finger one by one as I said our similarities. "First, we are both Korean solo traveler." She nodded at this and smiled escaped from her lips. "Second, we are both writer."

She widened her smile and let out a long 'Ooh' at the second fact. "Ah really? Are you a writer too? What kind of book do you write, mister...?"

I extended my hand to shake hers. “I’m the novelist, Kwon Jiyong."

She welcomed my extended hand with hers and shook mine firmly. That was a sign of confidence, and I like confident woman. "I’m the travel writer, Kim Taeyeon."

xxx

People may find us—writer in general—as a geek who is quiet, introvert, freak, and always over analyzed or over thinking kind of people. Well, if I can say something to defend that stereotype, I’d admit that some of us do have those traits… and some of us don’t.

I might have some trait of that stereotypes—I am nowhere near geek with braces and thick glasses (FYI, to prove that I’m not a geek, I must say that I had my hair dyed in dusty brown and I had tattoos all over my body), but I’m pretty quiet and lost in my thought often. I’m a better listener rather than a smooth talker. My job as a romance novelist impact my diction, so I’m more poetic and more philosophic when I talk about things.

But if you see and interact with Taeyeon. I bet the stereotype would be broken in an instant. She’s so cheerful with her bright smile and ahjumma-style laugh; she’s definitely pretty with that blonde hair of hers and fair complexion of her skin; and she’s talkative with many interesting topic in her mind also witty and smart answer from her lips.

To talk with her—especially in Korean, a language I haven’t used often in the last 378 days—was an absolute joy. Despite the field difference—me with my romance novels and her with her travel books—I found the conversation really interesting. She’s the kind of person whom I’d gladly tell her my long-and-thoughtful answer if she ever asked me about ‘How much money you’ve spent for your journey?’

But she didn’t, anyway. She asked me another important question.

“Why did you travel for so long Jiyong-ssi?” She asked. We’ve finished our meal—me with my pulled pork sandwich and her with her fried chicken sandwich—and was waiting for our dessert. Before, as we finished our lunch, we’ve talked about my 378 days of travel to 12 cities in 8 countries, my works as novelist, her works as travel writer, her current interests in the city we currently stay—which was Bali, and the most common topic for any writer in the world—which is how each of us cope up with the annoying editor, the demanding publishing company, and the silliest reader and their request.

“I love traveling since I was young, so I chose this job for a living. No offense here, but I haven’t found how important and significant the effect of travel around the world for your writings.” She added to express her weird findings. At that, I didn’t immediately answer her qu