I was rummaging for some interesting books in TGA, Senayan City when I heard it.
“Indonesians read all the books. Wow… Look at that Les Miserables”
I turned around and smiled.
“Really…they translate all to Bahasa. Even Paulo Coelho’s. Tsk tsk tsk…”
“Well…yeah,” I nodded. “But I’m not sure if it’s better understood in Bahasa. You know what I mean? Sometimes the words just don’t translate and it gets redundant and funny.”
“Excuse me, are you Indonesian or…?”
“Yes, I am”
“Sorry, I thought you were not. Your English is very good. Are you..ehmm half-Chinese or?”
“I am of Chinese descent hahaha…”
“Ok, that makes sense. Because you look like one! I’m Chinese also but I’m from Philippines. My grandparents are from Taiwan. I speak little Chinese though. Well, they live in Taiwan.”
“Same here… I can’t speak Chinese. I understand the basic conversation but don’t expect me to reply back hehehe… I have a Chinese name, can you believe it? And I don’t speak the language.”
There it goes, my confession 😛
“Ahh..It’s okay. Of course it’s good if you can, but it is so overrated that just because of some genetic background you have to master the whole cultural thingy!”
Wow..I love this person. So damn sensible!
“So..tell me something. Do you Indonesian read Les Miserables? I read the English version and it was so difficult. I was like..whewww you have that in Bahasa!”
“I’ve never read it. But I watched the movie, Claire Danes playing the daughter? Very good. I guess the book must be good too, or even better.”
“I never watch the movie. I only read the book. It’s good but I had to work extra hard to understand it hehe… But I would recommend this one. Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist. Very good. All his books are good and this one is a masterpiece.”
“Hmm…worth trying. Besides, it’s cheap!” 😛
I grab one copy.
“Are you into movies?”
“Yeah, you bet!”
“Gosh…me also! I just watched Bangkok Dangerous. It’s good. Well…the ending could have been better. But it’s okay. Not bad.”
“Nicholas Cage? Hmmm… gotta watch it!”
I totally love Nicholas Cage, even with his receding hair 😛
“Wow…we’ve got lots of things in common!”
“Haha…”
(I have no better response than a clumsy ha-ha)
“Hey do you want to grab something to eat? I’m meeting some friends at dinner time. So it’s about 3 freakin hours of waiting?”
“Actually I’m also waiting for some friends. Errrr…where are we going?”
I hesitate for a moment.
Is it safe to go with a stranger? But we have lots of fun and perfect conversation to begin with.
“Okay, I pay for this book first.”
I’m trying to buy some time. Go…not go…go…not go…
(intro of Puddle of Mudd’s She Hates Me. My message alert)
“Fen psn dr dina 15 mnt
lg dia nyampe.km tlg
telp dia.pulsanya abis.”
Okay…it’s the message from God. Maybe it is not safe to go with a total stranger.
“Sorry…my friend is coming in any time soon.”
“Ah..okay..no problem. I’ll go to Plaza Senayan, they have Periplus there. Some place where I can actually read a book and understand! Hahaha… Can I get your number?”
We exchange numbers.
Smile.
Goodbye.
Nice to meet you.
(That was my story of meeting a perfect stranger. We shared a good laugh, common interest, smart conversation, and above all, a strange chemistry. I would love to end this story with some hopeful remarks from some cheesy romantic love songs (I’ve finally found someone or We could be in love, to name some 😛 ). But I can’t. It’s not ‘him’. It’s ‘her’. Yep…my perfect stranger is a girl 🙂
PS: Nice to meet you, Chona Young. Hope we can hang out when you’re in the neighborhood 😉
Fenny's Pensieve 
Sep 17, 2008 @ 10:41:20
haha, kirain cowok. Ending post nya seru jg
Sep 17, 2008 @ 10:54:40
Tau ga sih Gi, aku sempet parno kirain dia ituh l**bi. Tapi ternyata engga kok, dia facebook dia masih interested in Men 😛 Duh…maapkeun diriku yg suudzon…
Sep 17, 2008 @ 15:23:35
Yahhh..
Padahal awalnya kupikir “dia” bakal jadi ‘some1 u meet this year’ prediksinya si tarot reader..
Pembaca kecewa.. =p
Sep 17, 2008 @ 19:41:53
Kalo kata temenku, ga penting cowo apa cewe…yg penting kan kasih sayang :))
Jan 27, 2014 @ 16:57:44
hey fenny~ so u r still in contact with her? I am curious about it since I also met her in the starbucks under my office… And we’ve just made an appointment Wednesday… hehe, she looks very nice but yes, she is a stranger anyway. I just wonder whether this is a proper decision in the society where people are used to keeping far away… anyway, I’d like to know a little more about her 🙂
Sep 20, 2008 @ 14:06:47
fen…the alchemist is just so damn cool. must-read book, I recommend u
Sep 22, 2008 @ 01:25:09
“Kalo kata temenku, ga penting cowo apa cewe…yg penting kan kasih sayang”…sounds familiar…damn!!!How come he told me that!:((
btw, don’t forget to give me the review of ‘The Alchemist’.
Sep 22, 2008 @ 15:36:34
Eh eh, yg ngmg sm elu ky gt siapa sih? Jd penasaran :))
Gw lg seru baca ‘I Feel Bad About My Neck’, lo kalo mau baca ‘The Alchemist’ duluan, sok atuh… bawa aja mudik. Bisa lo baca di pesawat kan 😀
Aug 12, 2009 @ 14:41:39
Hi Fenny,
Gw terus terang curios aja, kemarin sore gw ketemu ama Chona, di toko buku juga di itc ambassador.
the same question, dia tiba tiba bilang ” r u malaysian ?” terus bicara beberapa hal, then dia bilang kamu lagi nyari apa ?
gw bilang gw nyari buku coelho… dia jadi terhenyak githu dan bilang loe baca buku itu juga…. dan bla bla …
jadi the perfect stranger juga tapi orangnya emang asik dan nyambung hehehhee 🙂
masih keep touh ama dia ?
Aug 12, 2009 @ 17:24:03
lo bener2 penasaran sm Chona sampe googling nama dia gt? hahahaha…
she’s single loh hehehe…
she’s indeed very nice and fun to be with 😉
kapan itu janjian ketemuan dan ngobrol sampe berjam2 krn orgnya emang asik.
Nov 27, 2012 @ 11:08:50
This is funny. This girl also approached me when I was browsing for books at kino at Plaza Senayan!
She initiated conversation like she’s looking for a good scifi fantasy book for a gift, what’s a good scifi fantasy book and small conversation like that, etc. In the end, we exchanged email addresses.
Very weird, and rare in Jakarta to encounter ppl like these. It seems from your posts that she likes doing this in bookstores, maybe it’s her hobby to talk to strangers in bookstores.
Dec 07, 2012 @ 23:39:42
She’s friendly 🙂 but what ensued in my case, she asked me if I was interested in joining in some kind of multi marketing business, which is not my thing. Maybe it’s just a coincidence. I still think she’s a nice person.
Jun 26, 2013 @ 00:22:01
]same case, randomly she talked to me.same as you guys, i also curious abt her, lol!
Nov 07, 2013 @ 20:12:22
Hey guys, i just met this Chona Young as well today when I was queuing for taxi in the lobby of my building office. I’m kind of suspicious and curious about her and I googled her name so I end up on this blog too haha
Apr 22, 2014 @ 20:48:49
wow!! yang bener niiy? aku juga baru dapet telpon dari chona young… dia bilang sempet ketemuan tahun 2006 di ambasador.. tapi aku lupa.
bener atau nggak niy chona young?
di telpon sich ngobrolnya asik, tapi ga inget waktu ketemunya dulu 😦
May 19, 2014 @ 16:23:45
hi all, interesting chona young you all discussing about, I met her too, but not at bookstore. @ Niv and Faye, may I know which office building did you guys meet her? @Fenny, dia nawarin MLM pada meeting berikutnya ya? thx guys…..
May 19, 2014 @ 16:42:39
BRI II
Sudirman
Aug 03, 2014 @ 16:41:55
I met her in front of BRI II’s lobby too! Same with faye 😮
Aug 13, 2014 @ 16:32:22
I met her on Jan 2014, and, two days ago she called me want to offer some business too.. i think same as you guys, she will offer MLM business.. and its not my thing too.. hehehe.. so very thanks to this blog.. 😀
Aug 22, 2014 @ 17:59:05
Hi all,
We have same experience. First I met her around 2010 at carrefour. Several time she contacted me but I unable to met her. After a year she called again, she want to meet me tomorrow at starbuck BRI. Same story with you hahahaa…
She’s nice girl
By reading this blog I just knew that she works on MLM, since she told me that she works on technology industry
Oct 29, 2014 @ 11:19:22
What a funny coincidence. So Chona approached a lot of people and mostly in a bookstore? Lol. I just met her yesterday and it was my second time. The first time I met her was in Kinokuniya Grand Indonesia, she asked me whether Haruki Murakami is a famous writer or not. Being an avid book reader and huge fan of Murakami, I replied her question and we struck a conversation just like an old friend. My first impression was she’s a really talkative person and also very interesting to have a conversation with. Long story short, I gave her my email and yesterday she asked me if I was around Sudirman and I was, so I met her again and we talked about a lot of stuffs. She’s a very smart person and I feel comfortable talking a wide variety of subjects with her. I didn’t know she’s working on MLM business since she only told me that she has finance/accounting degree. But she didn’t offer me any MLM things maybe because I told her I want to pursue career in NGO and not interested in working for profit only.
Anyway, nice to meet a fellow blogger! And nice to see that your blog entry brings all the people who’ve meet Chona coincidentally. Lol.
Dec 19, 2014 @ 14:04:30
They are not worried to desire, and also to desire for everything they would like to
see occur to them in their lives. As time passes, a strange force begins to persuade them that it will certainly
be impossible for them to understand their Individual Legend.”.
Apr 05, 2015 @ 10:42:44
“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” – she’s a psychopatic narcissist!
Feb 11, 2016 @ 17:41:53
hai Fenny, she just called me, and nawarin kalo perusahaan dia lagi nyari orang. Nanya kalo gw mau explore lebih jauh gak dari kerjaan saat ini. Dia bergerak dibidang bio technology, tp pas ditanya nama perusahaannya apa , katanya mending ketemu aja dulu. Jadi sebenarnya mau nawarin MLM ya ? ha ha ha. Pantesan ditanya kantornya mana, dia mau ketemunya di starbucks wisma mulia. thx for the info.
Apr 04, 2016 @ 19:06:38
Hai Fenny, she also called me and ask me to meet her at Starbuck Wisma Mulia. Same with Elina, ketika ditanya companynya apa dia bilang mo explain kalo dah ketemuan. Anyway, ada yg udah pernah dijelasin ttg business nya ga. Thanks all for the info.
Apr 11, 2016 @ 14:22:35
Hai Nona, apa ini Chona yang sama? Aku ketemu dia 2008. Dan ada beberapa kali contact setelah itu, tapi baru kali ini tepatnya hari ini dia telepon untuk menanyakan apa aku interest dengan project baru karena memang dari perusahaan lama aku pindah dengan berbeda bidang, dan dia ingat aku kerja dimana sebelumnya (consumer goods/ FMCG). Besok aku ketemuan dengan dia untuk membahas project yang dia tawarkan (dan dia tidak menjelaskan juga apa project yang dia tawarkan di telepon). Apa kamu sudah ketemu dengan dia? Benar dia menawarkan MLM? Thanks a lot
Nov 10, 2016 @ 17:58:38
Hi all, just an update, Chona called me this afternoon and asked me whether I am still in my current job as the last time we talked. And then she asked me whether I am interested for another opportunity.
Has anyone meet her and talked the same with her?
Dec 02, 2016 @ 00:36:52
just meet with her tonight and she’s ask me to join her company nu skin enterprise
Apr 21, 2017 @ 16:09:43
hi guys …gwe punya pengalaman yg sama dgn kalian. awalanya tahun lalu, gwe n istri lagi d kasir modernmarket di kuningan city..tiba2 dia kayak orang kebingungan gt. trs negur gwe minta tolong titip beli pulsa..awalnya aneh juga sih siapa dia. kok beli pulsa sampe ke kasir emang ga bsa beli d atm.
akhirnya kami tolong dia beli dan dia bayar dengan cash. nah dari situ dia beberpa kali nelpon dan wa gw. terus hilang dan kemarin voila dia tetiba nelpon ngajak ketemuan senin besok.. hmmm kalau dia cuma nawarin MLm kayaknya kagak deh…
thanks untuk ceritanya guys