Unusually quiet and inanimate until you add alcohol to me.
The one most likely to come up with 'the plan' for group outings.

Initially on a year long overland trip from Asia to Europe but a few months in I realise that rushing through towns and cities and making short 'hi-byes' friends aren't working for me. So I'm breaking down my trip into a trilogy, you know? like all the epic books are in three parts.

I love to get to know the city I'm sleeping in by lacing up my old orange sneakers and running along the alleys, roads, beaches and forest!

So far I have ran in: Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, Cameroon Highlands, Penang, Bangkok, Koh Phra yam, Chiang Mai, Kanchanaburi, Siem Reap, Battambang, Sihanoukville, Kampot, Phnom Penh, Saigon, Vung Tau, Dalat, Nha Trang, Danang, Vang Vieng, Luang Prabang, Hanoi, ChengDu, Xi'an, Qing Dao, Seoul, Inagi, Yokohama, Kamakura, Hakone (and counting! :D)

PHILOSOPHY

I don't subscribe to major religions, although the one with the most virgins sounds downright tempting.

I do believe travel is a form of education because it takes you out of your comfort zone, whatever that means. I can't stand stillness and being ordinary, getting a job and start growing old really puts you in the right frame of mind to be just a number in the population.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I try to post my planned itineraries before going overseas and watch what happens. At the same time, I'll try to show fellow travellers around Singapore and try to get their hands dirty from curry and chili crabs.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I dropped by Saigon and wandered her streets with a few troopers in May 2012. Some food and weasel-pooped coffee later, I found the best bonding activity for fellow travellers - karaoke, preferably in a foreign language with subtitles.

Interests

Drinking all the local beer your country can offer.
Current ranking: 1. Guinness 2. Larue 3. Beer Lao 4. Lao Cai Beer 5. Tiger Beer

I enjoy cooking and the tastiest stuffs I can make are cheesy ham sandwiches, otah lemongrass chili spring rolls, pineapple chicken and scrambled eggs, bacon with cinnamon toast.

As a Singaporean, the pursue of good, cheap food is in my blood. If there is some delicious Khao Soi hidden in an alley in Luang Prabang, I'm sure to sniff it out.

I'm also known to write, though I have a hard time converting physical experience into literary reads due to writer's block. My travel diary is three... no four... no! five months (!) behind me on the road. X.X

• writing
• books
• education
• dining
• cooking
• recipes
• wine
• beer
• cocktails
• coffee
• vegetarian
• marathon
• running
• drinking
• boating
• traveling
• karaoke
• cycling
• backpacking
• hunting
• swimming
• teaching
• religion
• beaches
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies by Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater and Tarantino. I'm also a closet fan of cheap thrills Marvel movies.

My Ipod playlist is currently running Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, Maroon 5, Adele, The Kinks, The Carpenters, Air Supply and that awesome playlist from Guardians of the galaxy.

I believe the books you read shapes you. Which is why people who don't read are usually bland and predictable.

My favourite books are:
In Xanadu by William Darlymple
The Fire Never Dies by Richard Sterling
Sideways by Rex Pickett

I also like reading the Travellers' Tales series, Tom Holt for his humour, Ernest Hemingway for his bone dry yet soulful narration, John Le Carre and Haruki Murakami for his non-linear plots.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Besides leaving a dump along the train tracks down the Isthmus of Kra...
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On a cycling trip around Lu Gu Lake in Yunnan, China; I stopped and rested by the shady lakeside. My left shoe fell off my feet and before I knew it, I was in the crystal cold waters swimming with a backdrop of mountains and milky, whimsical clouds.
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I brought a Honda Win in the colour of House Targaryen, named her Rhaenys and rode from Hanoi to Saigon in May 2015.

It was an exhilarating journey of 2 weeks and 2164~km over mountains, slalom slopes, dusty road works, salty coastal roads and crowded cities with suicidal Vietnamese drivers hellbent on pushing up the traffic mortality rates.
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Huddling under a small hut by the Nam Song River in Luang Prabang, a Korean girl and I caught sight of a shooting star streaking across the universe and the Earth's atmosphere.
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I ran the frigid Chiang Mai Marathon (not for the warm blooded!) in the freezing winter of end 2014, the temperature at flag off was hovering near 10'C while everyone ran their best to kept themselves warm. You could see your puffs of breath misting the air like life leaving you as you ran.
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The best place to watch stars was an agonising few hours night train ride to the seaside port before hopping onto a ferry to Koh Samui, followed by another ferry ride westwards to the cluster of islands in the Ang Thong National Marine Park. The longtail boat couldn't stop right on the beach so you have to jump off into chest high waters and haul your backpack over your head a la bootcamp style and then set up your tent under a grove of trees to be terrorized by vegetarian monkeys with loose bowels. Oh and terrifying tropical storms!

But the view when you drink your cheap port wine on the deserted beach?
Priceless.
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The universal language of gestures never fail to surprise me.

I was in transit over the Cambodian-Thai border when I needed to tell my moto rider and a few friendly Thais that I wanted to go to Aranyaprathet Train Station.

After another round of blank stares, I resorted to the most shameless way of getting my words through.

I pumped my right fist up and down, and made 'Choo!Choo!' noises. I can neither confirm nor deny the allegations that my left hand joined in the fun by waving above my head to show the steam smoke trails. Everyone promptly laughed and the collective click when they all make the connection was so loud, they probably heard it in Laos.
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When on a trip to Pulau Tioman, Malaysia, we overshot the transit town of Mersing on the bus and had to jump off and walk back to town.

Sticking my thumb out for the fun of it, a Malaysian Kenari stopped for us and took us into town. :D first hitchhike achievement unlocked!
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When I ran my first overseas marathon in Penang, there was a very heavy rain halfway through the bridge that connects to Butterworth.

At 6a.m. dawn, running back to the island mass, the Muslim prayers rang out and envelope every tired runner and provided us with a nice, soothing background muzik to run on.
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Getting slightly high on alcoholic sheesha and questionable whiskey in The Purple Haze Rock Bar in Thamel, Nepal, I hobbled down the shaky spiral stairs and fumbled my way to the disk jock and requested he play Hendrix's Purple Haze. Then it's mmmm. Ahhh.
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Teach, Learn, Share

Planes < Train rides < 48 hours bus rides < Cycling. We appreciate our foreign surroundings more when we travel slower.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Secret recipes!
Improv cocktail mix! (ever heard of Huda CC?)

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan, Singapore, Thailand