Location : currently in Mainz 🇩🇪

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I'm from Singapore but am currently living in Mainz, a small city in Germany. I enjoy the freedom my mind gets when travelling - expanding my horizons and seeing how diverse life is like in different parts of the world, with pleasant surprises at every turn, is the most fulfilling part of travelling for me.

I'm a firm believer in 6 degrees of separation - that the world is connected one way or the other.
From cultural immersion to winging it like a local, I enjoy intellectual conversations, cooking, photography, and a variety of sports.

CURRENT MISSION
To experience and appreciate the magnificence of mother earth before it is all destroyed!! To connect with people, cultures, places.

PHILOSOPHY
"Everywhere you go, always take the weather with you" ~Crowded House.

Go Travelling. It's the best thing to happen in life. See the world and form individual opinions of it. Be open, tolerant and accepting of new cultures, sub-cultures, practices and traditions.

Pay it forward. Making a positive difference in other people's life. Make love, not war. and preferably not both at the same time.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I host, I surf couches, and join in the local CS events sometimes.

Here's a short film that we CSers in Singapore made for the 48 Hour Movie Contest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2vd9lvWYqA

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Surfed:
Polka Tinka (Phnom Penh)
Vichetr Uon (Kampong Speu)
Kie Tarie (Jakarta)
Van Anh Truong (Ho Chi Minh City)
Luky Hermawan (Jakarta)
Aline (Bandung)
DJ (Yogjakarta)
Cynthia Tabita (Yogjakarta - Wonosari)
Inten Utari (Bali)
Arya Anwar (Jakarta)
Matej (Prague)

Hosted:
Chris (US)
Ricky (Australia)
Jelena (US)
Ben (Cambodia)
Archie (Philippines)
Luky & Jenka (Indonesia)
Bastian (Germany)
Nancy Rombedatu (Indonesia)
and many more...

Interests

• culture
• cooking
• fitness
• meditation
• technology
• hiking
• economics
• languages
• science
• food
• nature
• spirituality
• traditions

Music, Movies, and Books

Non-fiction
- How We Got Here ~ Andy Kessler
http://www.andykessler.com/hwgh.html

Novels
- Sword of Truth series ~ Terry Goodkind

Movies
A good action/rom com/ thriller/mystery gets me going.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I don't think I've ever seen a profile with just one :p #justsaying #obsessedwithlists
That said, these are some excerpts from my collection of treasured memories:

Cambodia
~caught the sunrise at the Angkor Wat

Georgia
~glacier hiking at Mt. Shkara
~dipping in a waterfall in Ushguli

New Zealand
~shared fresh water from a stream with some wild horses in Waiouru

Taiwan
~hiked 72km over 4 days

Spain
~canyoning in a river near Cuenca

Portugal
~picked oysters from the seabed near Faro, schuck and slurp!

China
~climbed the little known Water Wall section of the Great Wall
~visited the famed Karst caves and mountains in Yangshuo, Guilin

Vietnam
~climbed the Elephant waterfall in Dalat

Also, a story about a hair raising experience below:

In Singapore, the 7th month of the Lunar calendar is the Taoist/Buddhist festival of Hungry Ghosts, and during this period one can find elaborate ceremonies right in the heart of the cemetery! It was quite a sight as this was my first time witnessing such a ceremony - Taoist mediums (supposedly possessed by protector gods from the underworld) would answer questions and bless effigies of the gods.

Adjacent to them, the Buddhist monks were chanting in a sing-song voice and some of them were playing musical instruments in accompaniment.

There were 2 huge, open cages stuffed full of colourful paper offerings, as well as several tables full of incense, fruits, cakes and sweets.

After the chanting/blessings, all the candies were tossed into the air to the bystanders who swiftly caught them, and the cakes made their rounds. A procession was then led by the monks, everyone walked 3 rounds around the cages and tables, holding incense in their hands.

And then the burning began. Incense sticks and candles were tossed into the cages with shouts of "Huat ah!" (prosperity), and a 5 meter high wall of fire rose from the cages, consuming all the offerings within a matter of minutes.

Pictures? nope, didn't think I'll want to take any!

Teach, Learn, Share

I can share

... Southeast Asian recipes, travel tips, life hacks etc..

... and I would like to learn some words in the local language of everywhere I go. So far I've picked up some words in Indonesian, Vietnamese, Japanese, Cambodian, Polish languages.

What I Can Share with Hosts

food, culture, travel stories

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Czech Republic, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, Singapore

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