I have this crazy story to share with you that still has me in absolute shock days later. I’m in the airport writing this post while waiting to board my flight to Phuket and I am still in disbelief. It’s a story of fate and listening to the universe regardless of whether it means deviating from your plans at the time.
On Sunday, I ventured out to visit the Wat Pho and Wat Arun temples in Bangkok by the Chao Praya River. Getting to the temples required taking the BTS Sky Train and then hopping on a very rudimentary speedboat down the river. I boarded the boat and seated beside me was a young guy who appeared to be traveling solo as well. At first, I sat in silence taking selfies LOL! Then I had a strong gut feeling that I should make conversation with him because this trip was also about making friends along the way. So I asked him his name (Brandon), where he was from (Singapore), and he confirmed he was traveling solo like me. We talked for the duration of the ride and I just felt very comfortable with him.
When the boat docked, we made our way to the Temple of the Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho) together chatting along the way. Shortly after entering the temple, we got separated in the fray and I went about my tour and he went about his. However, I remember saying to myself, almost matter-of-factly, that I would see him again. Again, it was just my gut feeling at the time.
After touring Wat Pho, I grabbed a nice brunch by myself at the Above Riva rooftop restaurant and then toured the area before crossing the river to see the Temple of Dawn (Wat Arun). After Wat Arun, the extreme heat finally called me back to the condo to rest…andddd I ended up taking a “nap” from 5:30pm to 3:30am. Yikes lol! 🤣
On Monday, I was up before the chickens🐥due to my extreme nap, so I ventured out pretty early. I walked down to the Ekkamai area of Bangkok and grabbed a nice breakfast at The Coffee Club (highly recommend). After walking around for about 30 minutes, I decided to catch the train to a new neighborhood to explore. I walked down the street to the entrance of the Thong Lo BTS SkyTrain station and as I placed my foot on the steps heading upstairs to the train, a strong feeling in my gut stops me in my tracks! An undeniable voice inside me says, “Turn around, don’t get on the train and walk down this street instead.” The feeling was so strong that I didn’t think twice about obeying the internal order. I promptly turned around and walked down the adjacent street as “instructed”. 🤷🏾♀️
As I’m walking down the street I have this strong feeling of awareness and I remember thinking that something is about to happen or I was going to see someone. I knew the universe pulled me so strongly down this street for a reason. After walking down the street for no more than 2 minutes I hear someone scream, “Gina, OMG!!!It’s you!” I look up and it’s Brandon from Singapore standing right in front of me. HO-LEE-CRAP! Is this real life? This strong sensation washed over me, and we are both laughing, screaming “Oh my Gods” and in absolute shock that we are seeing each other again in a city this big! You can’t make this up! It felt so surreal and uncanny. This is remarkable because we were not staying anywhere near each other and the area we met was many miles away from where either of us was staying.
Brandon declared that this must be 💫fate💫 and I couldn’t have agreed with him more. He asked me why was I in this neighborhood, and I shared with him that I felt pulled down this street on a gut feeling. After taking a few selfies, we decided to head down to brunch together at Roast restaurant at the Commons. Yes, I was going to eat again… don’t judge me! 😂😂😂
We both agreed that the universe had plans for us in some way and we owed it to ourselves to hang out and explore our new friendship. We had an amazing brunch with dessert (#teamgreedy) and chatted about work, life, family, fate, the state of Hip Hop, and the Cardi B and Nicki Minaj beef LOL! It felt like we had been friends for years. We had very similar worldviews even though we grew up a world apart from one another. Having brunch with this total stranger felt as natural as going over to my parent’s house for dinner. We both loved to travel and decided to take this solo trip to Thailand for our birthdays (#heyScorpio) and now here we are having brunch together like fast friends despite the most unlikely odds. After brunch, we hopped on the BTS train and explored the Sala Daeng neighborhood together before parting ways. We exchanged contact info because we knew this friendship was orchestrated by the universe and we vowed to keep in touch.
While I don’t know what the future holds for Brandon and I, I know our paths did not cross by coincidence. In addition to my new friend, I believe that there was a valuable lesson in this for me and everyone.
The lesson is this: Trust your intuition, no matter what. Surrender to the universe even if it requires you to deviate from your plans. Our intuition is our connection to God/the universe/our divinity. It’s why we always kick ourselves whenever we go against our gut! When you surrender to the universe and flow with it instead of resisting, amazing things start to happen. So I’ll take this lesson with me on the rest of my trip and into this next chapter of my life. I am open, I am trusting and I am ready for whatever or wherever the universe leads me.
Brandon is heading to the U.S. for the first time next year to go on a road trip with friends. I plan to meet up with him if I can. I’ll keep you posted on our friendship, but I couldn’t keep this incredible story to myself!
I’m only a few days in, but what an incredible journey this has been. Wow. Just wow…🙏🏾
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The Dope Bohemian 
Wow! What a story!?!? And, I love your writing.
“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” Anais Nin
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Thank you soooo much & what an amazing quote!
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