CURRENT MISSION

To ride my bicycle in Myanmar, Bangladesh, Egypt, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Spain, Morocco, Uganda, Malawi, Togo, Benin, and Bolivia, (and hopefully some other fascinating places). These are a few of the countries that I've always dreamed of seeing for myself.

At the moment, my worldly possessions consist solely of a bicycle, a bicycle trailer, and whatever fits into the trailer. Sometimes it seems like too much stuff and sometimes like too little. But I'd like to keep things that way - keep my life simple, uncluttered, and untethered. I want to be a man that never buys another vacuum cleaner. One is enough per lifetime.

I'm currently in Sumatra, Indonesia, and the plan is to go from here up toward Myanmar and then beyond. I plan to ride my bicycle most of the time, but I'm not fanatical it. I like cycling and the freedom and independence it brings, but I'll take any form of transportation that makes sense.

So, I may or may not ride my bike all the way through Asia to Europe and Africa. That might be enjoyable and it might make the most sense. But I'm not sure yet. I'll see how it goes. If necessary, I don't mind throwing the bicycle onto a plane and flying over countries that have difficult visa restrictions or present other problems. Just have to see how it goes.

ABOUT ME

My name is Douglas Nienhuis. That's a Dutch surname, in case you were wondering. I was born in Canada, but both of my parents were born in the Netherlands and immigrated to Canada when they were young. Dutch people tend to be tall, and at over six feet, I follow in that proud tradition. Yet, I suck at basketball. Being Canadian, I also followed in the proud tradition of backyard ice rinks and playing hockey, which I also rather sucked at. I wasn't terrible, but I was certainly no Wayne Gretzky.

My surname is a lost cause as far as pronunciation goes, so I tell everyone to call me by my first name. Among English-speaking friends, I am just Doug. However, that always comes out badly in Asian accents ("Duck", "Dog" etc). Therefore, I go by Douglas. And that ends with people calling me Mr. Douglas. I've tried to put a stop to the formality of "Mr. Douglas", but it's hopeless. I've learned to live with it. In Asia, I am Mr. Douglas.

I went to university and got a degree in International Development. The idea was to work in NGOs around the world. However, that never materialized, and I've spent much of my life living and working in Asia. I was an English teacher and freelance writer in South Korea for a few years. Then in Taipei, Taiwan, I worked at an ESL publishing firm as an editor and writer. I always think I'm going to learn the local language of the countries I visit and/or live in, and then I almost never do. It's a bad habit I should change.

I enjoy keeping trip journals, and I put portions of my journals online as part of a blog. I also enjoy taking pictures, and a lot of those are on my blog and other places online. I love to read, and I used to read a lot. In recent years, reading has taken a back seat to watching TV shows and movies. I blame that on laptops getting smaller and lighter, so you can take them with you anywhere. Plus, the Internet has provided access to amazing television and movies from all over the world. It's almost too easy to feed my TV show binge-watching habit. But I do love it.

I think about things a lot, and I suppose I live inside my head too much. One might say too much thinking and not enough living. But travel helps remedy that to a certain extent. As I often tell people, a great advantage of travel is that you have no choice but to live and have adventures. Even if you try to hide, adventure finds you. Traveling on a bicycle aids in that immensely. You only have to make one crazy, brave decision per trip - get on your bicycle and ride - and adventures happen whether you want them to or not.

My blog is called The Cycling Canadian. I intended to do a lot with the blog, but the technical side utterly defeated me time and again. I now have an abiding hatred for WordPress, HTML, and anything else that runs the Internet. I think it's the first thing in my life that I was unable to learn despite investing thousands of frustrating hours.

Here's the link to my blog and some other links:

Blog: http://www.thecyclingcanadian.com/

Photo galleries on my blog: http://www.thecyclingcanadian.com/photo-galleries/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecyclingcanadian/

I also keep photos on SmugMug: https://thecyclingcanadian.smugmug.com/browse

Flickr, too, if that's your thing: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dougnienhuis/collections

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL2j3D5mb-GP5WB0v0Oof1g/videos

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I used to go to Couch Surfing events in and around Taipei. I hope to be more active in Couch Surfing in the future as I travel.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I'm a newish member of Couch Surfing. I went to a few events in Taipei, and they were great. I've never used Couch Surfing on the road before, but I think it's a great idea. I usually travel by bicycle, and I'm reluctant to show up at a host's door with a bicycle and a ton of camping gear. But I might give it a try soon. I'm going to Sumatra, Indonesia, soon and perhaps I can meet up with some Couch Surfing hosts there.

Interests

Great conversations over coffee; bike touring; snorkeling; museums; concerts; plays; film festivals; foreign films; photography; blogging; maps; technology and gadgets;

• writing
• photography
• concerts
• film festivals
• coffee
• technology
• movies
• traveling
• blogging
• cycling
• camping
• snorkeling
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

I rarely listen to music now. These days, I'm all about podcasts. But when I do turn to my music library, I prefer to listen to classic rock, pop rock, folky stuff, and singer/songwriters. Most of it is older, as you can tell. I find I'm suffering from a classic case of not "getting" what the kids are listening to. To me, it sounds bland and pointless. So my musical taste is firmly rooted in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and perhaps 90s.

U2 - Led Zeppelin - The Who - Bruce Springsteen - Guns N'Roses - AC/DC - Steve Miller Band - Boston - Supertramp - Dire Straits - Counting Crows - The Offspring - Michael Jackson - Green Day - Foreigner - Heart - Alan Parson's Project - Beck - David Bowie - Def Leppard - Talking Heads - Joe Jackson - The Kinks - Nazareth - Kansas - Nirvana - REM - Fleetwood Mac - Bob Seger - The Cars - Pink Floyd - Styx - Eurythmics - Aerosmith - Van Halen - The Flaming Lips - Blink 182 - Tom Petty - Creedence Clearwater Revival - Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young - Joan Baez - Bruce Cockburn - Cat Stevens - Neil Diamond - Billy Joel - Mike Oldfield - James Taylor - Joni Mitchell - Neil Young - Bob Dylan - Gordon Lightfoot - Rory Block - Camera Obscura - Beth Orton - Brenda Weiler - Sinead O'Connor - Indigo Girls - Alanis Morissette - Avril Lavigne - Madonna - Nick Drake - Cowboy Junkies - Tegan and Sara - Tracy Chapman - Sarah Harmer - Carly Simon - The Cranberries - Oasis - No Doubt - Matchbox Twenty - Live - Collective Soul - Bon Jovi - TLC - Bryan Adams - John Cougar Mellencamp - INXS - Tears for Fears - Journey - Enrique Iglesias - Bad Company - Blue Oyster Cult - The Moody Blues - REO Speedwagon - Joan Jett - Pat Benatar - Sheryl Crow - Shania Twain - Taylor Swift - Bjork - Pink - Britney Spears - Dido - Sarah McLachlan - Fiona Apple - Norah Jones - Aimee Mann - Lucinda Williams - Tool - Toto - Simple Minds - Electric Light Orchestra - ABBA -

I also enjoy a wide range of classical music. No matter how hard I've tried though, I've never been able to enjoy rap, reggae, or jazz. Rap, reggae, and jazz will usually send me out the door in search of a quiet place.

I love TV. These are some of my favorite shows from over the years:

13 Reasons Why - Almost Human - Angels in America - Animals - Archer - Arrested Development - Atlanta - Band of Brothers - Being Human - Better Call Saul - Big Love - Black Mirror - Bojack Horseman - Breaking Bad - Broadchurch - Californication - Columbo - Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee - Community - Curb Your Enthusiasm - Detectorists - Dexter - Downtown Abbey - Downward Dog - Fargo - Father Ted - Firefly - Fleabag - Flight of the Conchords - Freaks and Geeks - Game of Thrones - Getting On - Gilligan's Island - Girls - Glee - Glitch - Good Times - Gotham - Halt and Catch Fire - Happy Days - Happy Valley - Here's Lucy - Heroes - Hogan's Heroes - Homeland - Homicide: Life on the Street - Humans - I Dream of Jeannie - Ice Road Trucker - Justified - Kung Fu - Late Night with David Letterman - Life on Mars - Little House on the Prairie - Lost in Space - Mad About You - Mad Men - Marvel's Jessica Jones - MASH - Misfits - Monty Python's Flying Circus - Mozart in the Jungle - Mythbusters - New Girl - Northern Exposure - NYPD Blue - Olive Kitteridge - One Day at a Time - Orange Is the New Black - Orphan Black - Outsourced - OZ - Parks and Recreation - Preacher - Prime Suspect - Pushing Daisies - Quantum Leap - ReBoot - Rectify - Rick and Morty - Room 222 - Seinfeld - Silicon Valley - Six Feet Under - Skins - Star Trek - Star Trek: The Next Generation - Stranger Things - Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - The Addams Family - The Americans - The Banana Splits - The Beverly Hillbillies - The Big Bang Theory - The Brady Bunch - The Daily Show with Trevor Noah - The Expanse - The Extras - The Jim Jefferies Show - The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst - The Johnny Carson Show - The Killing - The L Word - The Leftovers - The Magicians - The Man in the High Castle - The Mary Tyler Moore Show - The Odd Couple - The Office - The Outer Limits - The Partridge Family - The Returned - The Simpsons - The Sopranos - The Three Stooges - The Twilight Zone - The Walking Dead - The Waltons - The West Wing - The Wire - The Wonder Years - The Wonderful World of Disney - The X-Files - This Is England '86 - This is England '88 - Three's Company - Top of the Lake - True Detective - Truth or Consequences - UnREAL - VEEP - Veronica Mars - Vikings - Weeds - Welcome Back, Kotter - Wild Kingdom - Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner - You're the Worst

I also love movies. I have far too many favorite movies to list, but here are a few of my all-time favorites that I can watch over and over again:

2001: A Space Odyssey - A Clockwork Orange - A Few Good Men - A Fistful of Dollars - A.I. Artificial Intelligence - Adaptation - Aguirre: The Wrath of God - Alien - Aliens - Almost Famous - Amadeus - American Beauty - An American Werewolf in London - Apocalypse Now - Arrival - Back to the Future - Being John Malkovich - Blade Runner - Brazil - Breakfast at Tiffany's - Broadcast News - Brokeback Mountain - Casablanca - City of God - Close Encounters of the Third Kind - Constantine - Contact - Cube - Dances with Wolves - Deliverance - Die Hard - District 9 - Diva - Do the Right Thing - Dog Day Afternoon - Donnie Darko - Dredd - Dune - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial - Edge of Tomorrow - Empire of the Sun - Erin Brockovich - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Fanny & Alexander - Fargo - Finding Nemo - For a Few Dollars More - Forrest Gump - Galaxy Quest - Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai - GoodFellas - Groundhog Day - Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse - Heat - Heathers - High Fidelity - Highlander - Howl's Moving Castle - I Am Legend - It's a Wonderful Life - Jaws - Jerry Maguire - Jumanji - Jurassic Park - King Kong - Koyaanisqatsi - Kung Fu Hustle - Lantana - Let the Right One In - Lethal Weapon - Lost in Translation - Mad Max - Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior - Marathon Man - MASH - Memento - Men in Black - Midnight Express - Moneyball - Natural Born Killers - New Waterford Girl - Night of the Living Dead - No Country for Old Men - Nobody's Fool - Nosferatu - Notting Hill- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Pi - Pitch Black - Pitch Perfect - Platoon - Poltergeist - Powaqqatsi - Pretty Woman - Pulp Fiction - Raiders of the Lost Ark - Rambo - Reservoir Dogs - Return of the Jedi - RoboCop - Rocky - Roman Holiday - Rushmore - Saving Private Ryan - Se7en - Shakespeare in Love - Shane - Shrek - Snowpiercer - Some Like It Hot - Spirited Away - Stand by Me - Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Star Wars - Starship Troopers - State and Main - Straw Dogs - Sunshine - Swimming to Cambodia - Taxi Driver - Terminator 2: Judgment Day - The Abyss - The African Queen - The Apartment - The Beach - The Big Blue - The Big Chill - The Breakfast Club - The Cabin in the Woods - The Color of Money - The Desperate Hours - The Empire Strikes Back - The Evil Dead - The Exorcist - The Fifth Element - The Fly - The Godfather - The Godfather: Part II - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly -The Hours - The Hunt for Red October - The Hustler - The Incredibles - The Iron Giant - The Killing Fields - The Last Picture Show - The Lion King - The Matrix - The Mexican - The Mist - The Mosquito Coast - The Motorcycle Diaries - The Night of the Hunter - The Outlaw Josey Wales - The Piano - The Princess Bride - The Rocky Horror Picture Show - The Seven Year Itch - The Shining - The Silence of the Lambs - The Sixth Sense - The Terminator - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - The Year of Living Dangerously - Three Kings - Trainspotting - Tsotsi - Unforgiven - Wall-E - When Harry Met Sally - X-Men - Zero Dark Thirty

Finally, podcasts. I've stopped trying to explain to people what podcasts are. If you listen to them, you know. If you don't, you won't understand. So when people ask me what I'm listening to, I always just say music even though I'm actually listening to a podcast. It's just easier that way.

Here are some of my regulars:

From NPR: Planet Money - Invisibilia - Pop Culture Happy Hour - Radiolab - Freakonimics - Documentary of the Week

This American Life - 99% Invisible - Stuff You Should Know - Serial - BBC World Service The Documentary - The Moth

From CBC Radio in Canada: Quirks & Quarks - Ideas - DNTO - Glasner on Film - Spark -

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

It was more than twenty years ago that I did a 4-week trek in the Annapurna region of Nepal. That experience still sticks with me, and I think often about going back there. When I was 18, I went on an exchange program between Canada and India, and I spent 3 months living in a small village in India. I've been dreaming lately of going back to India - this time by bicycle and traveling all over the country. By far, the most interesting trips I've gone on were multi-month bike trips - one across Canada, one down the west coast of the United States, one in Ethiopia, and one in Guinea. I've also gone on short bike trips to Cambodia and the Philippines - one month in each place. A lot of things left me awestruck in that time. I remember the first time I stuck my head underwater in the ocean and saw a coral reef. I remember being amazed at the trails of phosphorescent algae that lit up in the water at night when I moved my arms and legs. And every time I'm away from a city, deep in the dark countryside, I'm awestruck again by the depth and brightness of the stars. You forget that they're out there when you live in a big city most of the time.

Teach, Learn, Share

Bike touring; photography;

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, China, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Ecuador, South Korea, Taiwan