During the winter university break in 2006, Leli stayed with my Aunty Joan and Uncle Noel in Byron Bay while backpacking up the east coast of Australia. Although I wasn't present, Aunty Joan instantly noticed that we would be a good match. Her suspicions were confirmed several months later, when we had our first date - a dinner cruise along the Yarra. We both got a pleasant surprise when an awesome series of fireworks went off just after dinner. Although they were probably set off to celebrate Diwali rather than our first date, we still reckon they were a good omen.

Before we met, Luke had spent a few years doing consulting contracts for the ILO Office in Jakarta. I was really happy when they called him up to spend another three months there in mid-2007. This opportunity gave us the chance to really become signficant parts of each other's lives. Interestingly, we ended up spending most of the three months going to weddings, averaging almost one a week! We attended weddings in Kuala Lumpur (Raiyan), Semarang (Dian), Surabaya (Olive) and Jakarta (Posan, Gita, Felicia and Marcia). It was definitely wedding season for our friends!

At the end of Luke's time in Jakarta, we managed to score a long-weekend without any weddings. We used this to visit one of the best diving spots in the world, Bunaken (North Sulawesi). Magnificent!

When Leli returned to Indonesia, I still had nine months to go of my Masters in London. We were both resigned to the fact that we probably wouldn't get a chance to see each other during this time. Then one night, several months later, in the midst of procrastinating while attempting to write an essay, I stumbled across a ridiculously cheap way of getting from London to Jakarta.

The only catch was that it involved more than fifty hours of travel time: from London to Cologne, Cologne to Cairo, Cairo to Dubai, Dubai to Colombo, Colombo to Singapore, then Singapore to Jakarta! What the heck, I thought, it would be worth it to spend a couple of weeks with her - especially if it involved getting her back for her surprise visit to Melbourne a year earlier.

I executed the plan during the summer break. I asked one of Leli's friends, Zanti, to arrange a dinner for the two of them near where Leli worked. Half-dead after spending more than two days on planes and in airports, I turned up at the restaurant to take Zanti's place. Seeing Leli walk in instantly woke me up - it was an indescribable feeling seeing her surprise. However, I did sense something strange about her initial reaction to seeing me. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, and would only come to realise a month later what exactly it was...

But being ahead of the game didn't last for long for me. Luke evened up the scores almost straight away, and I was actually happy about that!

After Luke finished his studies, we met in Singapore and then flew to Kunming to attend the wedding of one of Luke's close friends, Lei. I brought my mother along, since she grew up speaking Chinese but had never been to China. A couple of weeks before we all met up in Singapore, Luke had called me on my birthday and asked whether I would like a pair of earrings. I had agreed, and by the time we got to China I was wondering what had happened to my promised present.

Two days before we left Kunming, the three of us were walking in Green Lake (Cui Hu) Park. It was a beautiful setting, with willow trees arching over a series of ponds dotted with water lilies. Some elderly Chinese men were playing erhu in the background and there were some women dancing joyfully to the tunes. It was nearly dusk when my mum said that she was tired and wanted to sit down for a while. So she left and gave us the solitary moment that Luke had been waiting for all day. We were on the banks of the lake, with the Chinese orchestra playing the classic Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin in the background, when Luke said that he had a present for me. I said confidently, 'Yes, I know, it is the earrings, right?'.

I was right but I didn't expect what came after that. Luke kneeled down and asked, 'will you marry me?'. I will never forget the feeling that came over me as I said yes to Luke's request.

There we were, engaged in China, after meeting in Melbourne and growing closer in Europe and Jakarta. We decided to add another place to the mix and agreed that we would tie the knot in Bali.

It came as a surprise to me that my mum wasn't as shocked as I had expected. Apparently she already knew Luke had planned to propose because Luke had told her that morning. She kept the big news a secret from me. Now I know that surprises must run in the family!