CURRENT MISSION

1) To be the best son, brother, and friend I can be to those I love.
2) To tackle climate change in my own small way, which currently is through my consulting business.
3) To continue cultivating a habitual spirit of awe, curiosity, and gratitude towards everything around me.

ABOUT ME

I grew up in Singapore, studied in the UK, and recently lived in the south of Spain for a few months. I'm now back in Singapore bootstrapping my own company, Entarctic, that provides refrigeration engineering consulting services.

I'm also a...
- Recovering over-thinker, chronic journaler, and an on-again-off-again meditator;
- Hobby-hopper, rusty street photographer (https://www.instagram.com/leonhlk/), and traumatised pianist
- Retired triathlete, divemaster trainee, and muaythai novice
- Coffee addict, professional scrambled egg maker, certified dish washer
- Obsessive list-maker

PHILOSOPHY

Everyone has a story that makes them who they are. It's coloured by their unique culture and beliefs but what's more amazing is how similar the human experience is underneath all that decoration. We've all experienced, love and loss, failure and success. Sharing that with someone on the other side of the world is incredible. That's what I live for.

“Live in a way that fulfils the possibilities of our humanity, that makes something out of the unearned gift of existence.” - Leon Kass

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've surfed, hosted, and day-tour guided! When I surf, I make sure to bring my host a little piece of Singapore's famous local cuisine. And when I host, I try to pay forward all the amazing surfing experiences I've had by making the surfers feel as at home as possible.

But it's probably best to let others speak for me. Here's what they say:
- "You have written the best request ever!" - Merill
- "great guy with gorgeous smile" - Barbara
- "excellent dishwasher" - Ana
- "How I was left behind after Leon's leaving: inspired by his attitude of spreading the humble lust for adventure, vivified by his vibrant character and perceiving the honest joy of just having met someone I simply click with." - Thomas
- "The time we passed talking together was like being with a long time friend." - Enrico
- "If you want to meet one of the most talented guys on this earth, try to get an appointment with this man! I cannot stop raving about him." - Theresa
- "Leon is an expeditioner with open heart and open intelligent mind as he encounters the wonders of the universe" - Eero

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE (a selection of highlights)

- Dasha | Savonlinna, Finland | 2014 - who brought my friend and I rowing around Olavinilla castle.
- Merill | Utsjoki, Finland | 2014 - with whom I ran across the tri-border between Finland, Sweden and Norway
- Eero | Rovaniemi, Finland | 2014 - we debate how to improve childhood education while jumping into a frozen lake at 4am
- Theresa | Castelrotto, Italy | 2015 - she challenged me to a drinking contest. I don't remember what happened next.
- Barbara | Singapore | 2014 - we tried to go to a club and ended up eating instead. Singapore's food is that good.

Interests

Scuba diving (becoming a Dive Master soon!), street and wildlife photography, football (A Red Devil through and through), sitcoms (Friends, Seinfeld, Louie), entrepreneurship (have started a social enterprise and am working on my next project), a good mug of hot chocolate, climbing mountains, triathlons, talking to random strangers on the street...

• wildlife
• culture
• singing
• photography
• chocolate
• traveling
• surfing
• scuba diving
• rock climbing
• soccer
• entrepreneurship
• languages
• tourism
• beaches
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Artists - Jacob Collier, Ben Bohmer, Blue Wednesday, Vulfpeck, John Mayer, Stu Larsen, Marvin Gaye, Coldplay, Jack Johnson, Sara Bareilles, Jason Mraz, Ed Sheeran, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, King Charles, Vampire Weekend

Movies - Everything Everywhere All At Once, Parasite, A Beautiful Mind, "Before" Trilogy, Her, Black Swan, Shawshank Redemption, Fight Club, Forrest Gump, Boyhood, Taken, Argo, Into the Wild

Books - The Alchemist, Siddhartha, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, Free Will, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Predictably Irrational, 1984, On Liberty, Things Fall Apart, Kite Runner, Sit Like A Buddha, The unbearable lightness of being, Waiting for Godot

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Climbed a deserted mountain alone, with just a compass and a map, in North Sweden.

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach:
- How to use chopsticks
- The beautiful symbolism of written Chinese characters
- The oft misunderstood politics of Singapore

Learn
- Everything about a place, but particularly its history and how my host's life has been influenced by it

Share
- Moments that make everyone involved feel like they are fulfilling the possibilities of their humanity, making the most out of their unearned gift of existence."

What I Can Share with Hosts

Attention. I've found that's somehow both an undervalued yet rare thing these days.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Belgium, Cambodia, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, Viet Nam, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom

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