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Q: Anybody had a "Wow...it's a small world moment!" while living in China?

I think my best one was when I was having a drink in a pub called 'Bad Monkey' in Dali, Yunnan Province and one of the fellas I worked with in Qingdao (about 3000k away) tapped me on the shoulder to say g'day.

Small world indeed given there were about a thousand million people between there and where I'd last seen him!

Had any similar random 'small world' moments?

 

9 years 7 weeks ago in  General  - China

 
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Yep. I had been in China about 3 weeks at the time and was in a bar. Everything was very different and weird to me, I felt like I was about a million miles from home and as far as cultures went I was in another galaxy. Then I got talking to another foreign guy I happened to be standing next to at the bar. The only other foreigner I had seen there apart from the people I worked with.

It turned out he came from the same city as where I had been living the last five years or so, and had lived about three streets away from me. I may have even stood next to him in a bar before and never noticed him, let alone thought I'd meet him on the other side of the world.

 

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9 years 7 weeks ago
 
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Yep. I had been in China about 3 weeks at the time and was in a bar. Everything was very different and weird to me, I felt like I was about a million miles from home and as far as cultures went I was in another galaxy. Then I got talking to another foreign guy I happened to be standing next to at the bar. The only other foreigner I had seen there apart from the people I worked with.

It turned out he came from the same city as where I had been living the last five years or so, and had lived about three streets away from me. I may have even stood next to him in a bar before and never noticed him, let alone thought I'd meet him on the other side of the world.

 

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9 years 7 weeks ago
 
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I taught in Beijing during the summer of 2005 with this man named David. He was the team leader of our 5 teacher team. I met him here in Nanchang in the Fall. At first I thought I was having a flashback but it was him in person. We had a nice reunion and he stayed in Nanchang for a few weeks. I would say that summer of teaching with him and the other 4 teachers was one of my favorite experiences in China. 

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Met a guy in a bar in a tiny city near Suzhou that was from the tiny town that I went to university in.

royceH:

I reckon that's your longest sentence ever.  You're coming good, old cock.

 

9 years 7 weeks ago
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i met a surgical nurse in jinan last month from america studying to become a doctor at the age of 52, age kept her out of most schools in america but she did not give up her dream, we were from the same city and lived about 5miles apart in childhood and had some similar experiences with travel and military service, our age and birthday were exactly the same and i kept waiting for the lightning to strike but im still here.

royceH:

Say what.....you mean you banged her?

 

9 years 7 weeks ago
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ambivalentmace:

no, she was an old looking 52, i passed

9 years 7 weeks ago
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9 years 7 weeks ago
 
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The garbage trucks in a previous city would chime "its a small world after all" as they made their rounds

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Yep, I met this guy who said that he is from Foreignerland. I said "Wow, I'm from Foreignerland as well". - It really is a small world!

Stiggs:

You're from there too ? That makes three of us, we probably know each other !

9 years 7 weeks ago
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I grew up in a small mill town in the northwest of England but moved to the Isle of Man in the late 90's and partially lost touch with a lot of my old friends. One of my best mates from school & after (I was his best man when he got married) came to over for my 40th birthday but apart from that didn't see him much. then I started to visit China.......was getting ready to fly out one time & this mate called me, quite drunk, from a noisy bar. Turned out he was in Guangzhou & his company had moved him to Zhongshan. We missed each other by days on that trip but for the last 5 years we've lived an hour away from each other & meet up regularly. I also lived at his place for 6 months a few years back. Known each other 37 years now & both of us think it's kinda funny that we both ended up living here through different routes. 

royceH:

Yeah, that's a good one.  Small world scenario right there.

 

9 years 7 weeks ago
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I have had quite a few interactions like that... it is quite interesting when you think about it and it starts to question the possibility of FATE vs. COINCIDENCE. 

 

Even with work, I get quite a few clients that have been in China and it serves as an excellent connecting point. They are back in their home country but it seems like MANY people have had a trip through China these days, more than you might expect.  

 

I met one guy recently (and I am in a tier 4-5 city) out of the blue that came from the same hometown city as me. Then we found out we went to the same school and shared the same ex-girlfriend. He is just passing through China and now lives in Portland. 

Stiggs:

I hope you didn't both have the same girlfriend at the same time

9 years 7 weeks ago
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Robk:

Haha, I hope not either. By the info he gave me, it was different time periods. 

9 years 7 weeks ago
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While I was staying at an hostel in Xiamen (when I was new in China and traveling around) I met that guy who was my college mate and with who I talked a few times before but he wasn't my friend or anything. He saw me first in the guests' living room, he remembered my name, we went around Fujian together then he had to go back home.

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I bumped into an Isreali guy I'd met when I was in Thailand seven years before. We'd travelled together for a couple of weeks and not really stayed in touch... turns out he lived in the complex down the road from mine and we'd been neighbours for nearly a year!

 

Another time, I met a guy from my hometown in a Beijing bar and it turned out he used to work with my brother! 

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my small world moment is a bit beyond my writing abilities, you really have to use your imagination and put yourself in my place......

 

 a few buddies and I were walking down a street somewhere in Houston in the mid 80's pretty late at night and there was a group of guys walking towards us, all of us just minding our own business....   as they walk past I just jumped out and grabbed this dude and shouted 'Your Ricky R---eau!!'   and he was!   totally freaked us both out!   Last time we had seen or had any contact with each other was about ten years prior when we were students together at the American School of Aberdeen.  I knew him obviously, but I was actually best friends with his younger brother.  again, my writing sux, but u really have to imagine how friggin' weird that is to see a dude outta the blue 10 years later half-way around the world.

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First time in China I met a girl from my high school class, and it turned out she knew the guy I was traveling with.

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