CURRENT MISSION

Show up. Pay Attention. Tell the truth. Be open to the outcome.

ABOUT ME

I am drawn to the natural world. If people around me more-or-less mirror me, then let me say that I have a trekking group, diving groups, backpack-traveling group, and birdwatching group (I'm a perpetual student with the latter though, which, if you think about it, is exactly how it's supposed to be). Sometimes, I remember to share my shenanigans online.

PHILOSOPHY

Go out into the world. Do things for the first time. Be a student of life. Find the authentic experience. Show up. Pay attention. Tell the truth. Be open to the outcome. Consume less. Share more. Live simply. Everything is interconnected. Remember the salmon (you know, swimming uphill to spawn -- er, more the swimming-uphill bit than the spawning bit, you understand)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Show up for CS Manila get-togethers (from drinks in the city to dives out-of-town). Co-moderate Manila Couch Divers, created October 15, 2007. (Check out photos of the MCD inaugural dive in Anilao, Mabini here) and the follow-dive at Subic here)--all in its first month of inception!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Before I knew about CouchSurfing, I've stayed in friends' houses in Singapore, Beijing, Hong Kong, NYC, and of course various places in the Philippines. I like how I'm given the opportunity to see a new place the way a true local does -- as opposed to being herded in a booked tour (although the dynamic of that can get interesting too).

Interests

Beaches; scuba diving (since 2001, advance certification mostly because I didn't want to miss the night diving on liveaboards); marine life; trekking; peaks (my hiking group, before its members semi-retired to start making babies, has notched the country's 3 highest: Mt. Pulag, Mt. Apo, and Mt. Kanlaon; plus South East Asia's highest: Malaysia's Mt. Kinabalu); cats (I live with 3 when in Manila; they've trained me); nature and travel literature; biodiversity conservation (what you love, you'd want to protect, right?)

• cats
• literature
• instructor
• drinking
• traveling
• hiking
• backpacking
• scuba diving
• swimming
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

I suppose I could give a list of what's in my iPod (from Nina Simone to Nick Cave to Radiohead to Afro-Brazilian percussive rhythms) or on my shelves (from Amelie to Eat Drink Man Woman to Almost Famous to Cinema Paradiso; from Dianne Ackerman to David Quammen to Tim Cahill to Jon Krakauer) but let's just say, if it captures the imagination, I'll give it a go. I would want to go beyond what I think I like.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Just one? Swimming with a whaleshark -- talk about giving you perspective (one, you're tiny beside it; and two, you're underwater/not in your usual element). Being in the same space as manta rays and thresher sharks closely bids for that One Amazing Thing too.

Teach, Learn, Share

Let's go scuba diving! And I say that as a diving buddy, I'm not an instructor :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Brunei Darussalam, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Philippines, United States

•