CURRENT MISSION

To imbibe the beauty of the world, natural and human, on the never-ending path of discovering my true self via my relation to the world.

ABOUT ME

At my core I'm an explorer. I explore geography, culture, food, as well as philosophy and the human condition. I love to have new experiences and meet interesting people.

PHILOSOPHY

Be the person you want to be.
Carpe Diem.
The golden years are right now.
Always be open to the possibility that you might be wrong.
There are no monsters only monstrous acts.
Do not be quick to judge.
Be aware and conscientious.
Treat every place as if it were your home.
A little discomfort helps one to stay present.
Listen.
An open mind and an open heart are the bread and butter of enlightenment.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Even though I've had some amazing experiences on couchsurfing.org, ironically one of the best was completely unrelated with the site. I was waiting for the ferry at the small port in Bira, Indonesia
going to Selayar where I met an older woman who invited me to stay with her family and go to a festival on a remote island, even though she spoke no english and I only very poor indonesian. This led to making amazing friends, experiencing a wonderful festival, meeting Miss Sulewesi 2010 and dancing on stage with an indonesian pop star!

Interests

Reading, Circling, Spelunking/Caving, Rock climbing, (cave) diving, exploring the richness of this beautiful existence, philosophising, listening to music that makes you think and feel, tasting new frontiers, witnessing the magic of the universe, sharing beautiful experiences with wonderful people, maintaining positive karma.

• culture
• beauty
• festivals
• dining
• cooking
• reading
• magic
• music
• spelunking
• scuba diving
• rock climbing
• emergency services
• geography
• software
• glaciers

Music, Movies, and Books

Generally I like unique, non-cliche, stories that make you think.

Movies: Fight club, Korean Gangsta Films (Bittersweet Life), Old boy trilogy, "The Good, The Bad and the Wierd", Let the right one in, Tarantino Films, Miyazaki Films (Totoro, Spirited Away, Laputa, Howl's Moving Castle), The Watchmen, Lives of Others, Kubrick films (A clockwork Orange, AI, Full Metal Jacket, ...), Apocalypse Now, Devil's Advocate, Scar Face, Dark City, The Matrix, V for Vendetta, Ghost in the Shell, Akira, and so much more...

Music: NIN! Conscious hiphop (Immortal Technique, Dead Prez, Paris), RATM, Regina Spektor, Industrial music / EBM, Regenerator, Smashing Pumpkins, Monster Magnet, Florence and the Machine, Arctic Monkeys, Theater of Tragedy, Pink Floyd, Philip Glass, Jazz Liberators, Gotan Project, Akon, Shakira, ABBA

Books: Dystopia Novels (A Brave New World, 1984, We), Noam Chomsky, A People's History of the United States, John Steinbeck, Heinlein, Cyberpunk genre (Diamond Age), Three body problem series by Cixin Liu, Guns Germs and Steel (anything by Jared Diamond), Sapiens by Yuval Hariri, Taking the Risk Out of Democracy, Our Word is Our Weapon, The Selfish Gene, Fooled by Randomness, Bertrand Russel, Ishmael (anything by Daniel Quinn), and so much more...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Climbing to the 19000ft top of Misti, which provides a backdrop to Arequipa, and then not being able to breath. Avoiding crevasses on my way up the Athabasca glacier, next time I'm going all the way to the top. Getting picked up by the Cuban police and accused of being a spy after trying to get a view of Gitmo, and even after all that, I have to say the Cuban police are some of the nicest I've met. Hiked rim-to-rim of the Grand Canyon in one day, went to the precipice of a 120+m abyss in the deepest cave in Thailand, accidentally kicked a hibernating bear in a cave in the middle of nowhere and lived... Went to furthest north you can go by road in Alaska and Canada, all the way to the artic ocean! Beheld beautiful glacial caves.

Teach, Learn, Share

I love to learn things. Right now I'm interesting in becoming an experienced diver, spelunker, and rock climber. And though I'm not a good cook, I'd like to learn to cook all the amazing food I encounter. Also, a little known fact is that I'm a badass programmer, which I'd love to share with inquiring minds. But I can also help with the menial computer problems as well.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Love, conversations, stories, curiosity, cooking my goto lentil soup, oh and can help with tech issues.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Thailand

Countries I’ve Lived In

Indonesia, Peru, United States

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