CURRENT MISSION

Just finding my way :)

ABOUT ME

I take myself too seriously. Likes long walks, preferably in nature. I enjoy solitude, but I will enjoy your company (for a little while!)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I'm in Sweden for a year, on a work and study program. It's an amazing experience - I work as a business developer in a clean-tech startup. I love being far from my comfort zone and experiencing a different culture from the one I've grown up in.

The only draw back is that I don't get to travel that much - so CS is my way of seeing the world - If I can't go out to see it just yet, I sure as hell can invite it in. Välkommen!

PEOPLE I LIKE TO MEET

This section is important. Why'd they take it out!?

Anyway. I didn't fill this in previously because I didn't know. But now I've done this a bit I know better. I am not picky - even if you are not like me I still like to meet you. I think meeting new people and interacting with them is a great way to expand your world view - especially when said people have a differing opinion from what you currently believe in.

But for that exchange to happen, both parties have to be open and willing to share, and actually take the time to do so. On my part, I was raised to be a private person, but I'm really trying to be more open and honest with people I meet and the world in general. I would enjoy our encounter much better if you are willing to share and talk about your opinions about the world as well!

Interests

I'm an avid reader: Reading transports me out of my reality, much like travelling does!

I also get a lot of meaning from helping others: A life lived for yourself gets boring pretty quick, but when I'm working for a greater cause it feels like there is great purpose to my life. In Singapore, I volunteer at a soup kitchen for the elderly poor. I love the mind-numbing work! In Sweden they've got this interesting project during winter where they let homeless people with EU visas ballot for a place for the night. I help out with cooking dinners / manpower sometimes!

This "working with a greater cause" is closely tied with my immense job satisfaction at the moment (my company cleans the environment!) as well as my future job direction - I want to go to an emerging South East Asian country (currently eyeing Myanmar) and work in the local entrepreneurial scene - Venture Cap / Incubator function. Is this emblematic of the spoilt, arrogant pampered messiah syndrome kid? Possibly. Let's have a beer and discuss.

• culture
• architecture
• environment
• cooking
• recipes
• beer
• partying
• technology
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• drawing
• backpacking
• track and field
• business
• volunteering
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Music - pop, generally. Excuse my poor taste. Pop through the ages - from cyndi lauper (always) down to taylor swift (sometimes). Marginal preference for the older stuff. That said I generally like quite wide bunch of things - arctic monkeys, queen, hipster-indie-folkish shit that still sorta leans to pop ... pretty easy going.

Books - fiction fantasy is what I grew up devouring - think like 4 books a week. Then I found Terry Pratchett, who ruined me for the cheap paperbacks - they honestly don't have the depth of character and writing. It's just plot with those cheap paperbacks. Tom Holt is quite like T.P, so I like him too, Neil Gaiman is like T.P's elder emo twin and it's a bit scary how he can confront that human darkness and be so nonchalant about it. I think I'm a bit like T.P writes - I always lean to the positive and hope that humanity will save itself and things will work out in the end and good will triumph, even if good isn't what you think it is at first. And of course, that humans will be humans, but we're actually good inside.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Meeting people who have a different way of life from mine always refreshes my perspective and makes me re-think how I live my life.

Fresh out of national service (Singaporeans still serve conscription!), I scrimped together what little savings I had left over from my army days and splurged it on a backpacking trip through Europe with two friends. We wanted to see it all, to feel it all. Halfway through, in Spain, I started to get tired. Yes, Europe was amazing, the architecture, the way of life, the people I was meeting. But something was missing. One day, I took a break from my friends and our carefully planned itinerary to climb a nearby hill. On the hill, I met a German journey man. Once I got over the fear that he would do me harm, he shared how he had been away from home for a year and had to spend 2 more travelling. He shared how he survived on avocado and bread (the cheapest form of nutrition, apparently) and how he avoided cities, preferring small towns or isolated hills like the one we were on, because he could sleep undisturbed. His story really made me realise that travel could be dirt cheap, could still be an adventure, and could be life-changing.

Since then, I've been travelling Malaysia on a shoe-string, getting to know people and places off the beaten track!

Teach, Learn, Share

I love to cook - just not very good at it. I can do a decent Swedish Pancake, a quick but not very tasty steak. Oh, I love to bake too - but that's just about following recipes and trial and error. I've got a pretty good Swedish sticky choc cake recipe (Kladkakka).

Would be glad to cook together! My best recipes are taught to me by other people (or Google - but Google is just a way for "other people" to reach MORE other people, right? ;p )

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Singapore, Sweden