CURRENT MISSION

To enjoy life with my brand new baby daughter

ABOUT ME

I like to think that I am reasonably easy going and my mother says I am actually quite friendly. I have a love for Asia, with a big appetite for Tibetan buddhist art and Japanese samurai movies. But I like beer too.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have done most of my longer travels years before the conception of couch surfing. Still, I have met many a happy and gentle person along the way who opended up his or her door to me. If this site would have existed back then, it would have made travelling a lot easier. So hail to the inventor of couchsurfing!
I've just hosted my first guests, and I haven't been robbed yet. And I have done a lot of couchsurfing during my previous Japan trip, and I haven't robbed any of them either, so I guess it works!

Interests

I am a great fan of traditional Japanese martial arts, notably Katori Shinto-ryu kenjutsu. It keeps me off the street, but also interferes with my longtime plans to write the Mother of All Himalayan Travelogues, so I might have to lay down my sword one of these days after all.

• education
• traveling
• music
• martial arts
• buddhism
• motorcycling
• kobudo
• buddhist art

Music, Movies, and Books

I loved Hesse's 'Knulp', 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', Hilton's 'Lost Horizon' and Harvey's 'A Journey in Ladakh' and books on buddhas or on historical Japanese swordschools in general. I divoured Hopkirk's books on Central Asia explorers, and my bookcase is full of old Asian travalogues.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I spent two days hitchhiking along route 66 underneath a huge sign saying: "don't take any hitchhikers, they might be escaped convicts!" and got a ride with a beautiful Mexican woman.

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, China, India, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russian Federation, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, United States, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan, Netherlands