One in 1.3 billion

I have a few funny stories about coincidences that have happened in my life. Up to this trip the best one was about a German I met in Australia who met another Italian I knew in India.

But in this trip we had something more amazing happen. I remember walking along a very touristy street in Moscow and seeing a couple, asking for directions about their hostel. We decided to stop and see if we could help and accidentally gave the right directions, giving the wrong ones but thinking about the wrong hostel.

Well, on a train in the middle of Siberia, over a week and a thousand kilometers later we see this couple walking down the our car, and we stop them for asking if they found their hostel in the end. This is how we met them. Andrew, from Ireland, and Maria, from Spain are a lovely couple traveling from Ireland to Australia overland, just like us, but taking a different path and allowing a lot more time. They were going through Mongolia, and then China, after stopping at lake Baikal camping for a while. What a nice surprise to meet them properly!

Over a month and a half later, we were cycling on a tandem bike in the fields around Yangshuo in China. We decided to stop under the shade of some leafy trees near the river we were riding along. A few minutes after we stopped, we saw another couple on a similar tandem, stopping by near our trees for some shade and rest. And, hey, they did look kind of familiar. "Davide??" I hear, and that was Andrew right there!

After recovering from the shock for the pleasant surprise, we rode up the river together, we swam in it and took a bamboo rafting trip down the river again, telling each other the adventures we had since we last met. I'll never forget how random can be life in crossing the paths of people. And seeing how we keep crossing, we'll probably meet again guys!