CURRENT MISSION

To try to understand and be compasionate.

ABOUT ME

I tend to be contemplative most of the time.
"Why" would be my favourite question.
I prefer to "be" rather than to "seem".
Wit over slapstick anytime.
Red wine over white.
Green tea over coffee.
Autumn over any other season.
Rain on a sunday morning.
Gently falling snow.
The sound of wind whistling in the trees before an impending storm.
Piano in the dark.
Wandering in cities and museums.
"Impressionists" and the "Post-impressionists".
Pottery and tea cups.

I enjoy travelling and meeting people who "seek" and are asking questions.

PHILOSOPHY

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan- like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.

H. D. Thoreau. "Walden"

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

It's been nothing short of incredible. It's not always easy, nor convenient, nor even cheaper than staying in a hostel. But that's not why I couchsurf. I couchsurf to have the opportunity to meet new friends, acquire new perspectives and world views, and gain insight in their diverse lives.

To be honest, I am more interested in culture, history and politics than how beer tastes different in different countries, or how American pop/club music sounds the same in clubs all around the world. I am NOT into big parties where people drink a lot of alcohol and get "wasted". So if that is your kind of thing, we probably won't get along too well. I'm not judging, but just so you know I'm not really into that. So if you ask me to go there, I'd probably say no.

Interests

Photography
http://fotologue.jp/raylight/
http://fotologue.jp/raymond-ang/

Impermanance
Music
Literature
Wandering
Beauty
Writing
Massages
Sketching
Watching movies
Climbing
Kayaking white water
Canoeing quiet rivers in the early morning
Trekking

Thinking.

• culture
• writing
• literature
• photography
• sketching
• beauty
• education
• cooking
• wine
• red wine
• beer
• coffee
• desserts
• partying
• drinking
• clubbing
• politics
• movies
• traveling
• socializing
• pottery
• music
• piano
• canoeing
• kayaking
• rock climbing
• teaching
• history
• lakes
• rivers

Music, Movies, and Books

The Bow (Kim Ki Duk)
The English Patient (A. Minghella)
Rhapsody in August (A. Kurosawa)
Bladerunner (R. Scott)
2046 (Wong Kar Wai)
American Beauty (S. Mendes)
Wings of Desire (W. Wenders)
Dead Poets Society (P Weir)
Love Letter (Shunji Iwai)
Cinema Paradiso (G Tornatore)
A Scene at the Sea (T. Kitano)
Marie de la Coiffeuse, Le (P. Le conte)
The Scent of Green Papayas (Anh Hung Tran)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (G. R. Hill)
A River Runs Through It (R. Redford)
Princess Mononoke (H. Miyazaki)
Leaving Las Vegas (M. Figgis)

The Razor's Edge (Maugham)
Midnight's Children (Rushdie)
The Old Man and the Sea, Fiesta (Hemingway)
Nine Stories (Salinger)
The Sorrow of War (Ninh)
Down and Out in Paris and London (Orwell)
The Lady and the Monk (Iyer)

Joe Hisaishi
Ryuchi Sakamoto
Norah Jones
Diana Krall
soundtrack from "Leaving Las Vegas"
Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata",
Chopin's "Nocturnes"
Carly Simon's rendition of "My Funny Valentine"

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

The 2001 Kalachakra on the Spiti Valley by H.H the 14th Dalai Lama. I bought a Vespa Scooter in Amritsar and rode it along the western Indian Himalayas.

Pink Flaingoes, white smoke, blue skies, green lakes and placidly chewing Llamas on the Bolivian Altiplano.

Teach, Learn, Share

Experiential Education. And I can cook for my hosts: Thai and Indian curries, rice and salads. and maybe even desserts.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, France, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Russian Federation, South Korea, Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Indonesia, Singapore

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