CURRENT MISSION

See new places. Meet new faces. Explore good music of the world. Dive as many places as I can. And spread the word that Malaysia is a beautiful country everyone should go see!

ABOUT ME

I'm an easy-going, super-friendly, dreamy and generally happy person who has a constant itch to see new places and meet new people. I get really fidgety and restless if I don't get to go somewhere away from home every 2-3 months. Even if it's a short weekend getaway somewhere close by, as long as it takes me someplace interesting and beautiful, I'm happy! Oh and I think budget airlines are a godsend!

I used to work full-time with a multinational company as a HR Executive. Somewhere along those years I also decided to take the plunge and do something I've always dreamt: I bought a book cafe and started operating it along with some friends! It pretty much robbed me of all my free time, because I do my 9-5 job and then I'm at the cafe until closing time, but I loved every moment of it!

In October 2010 however I decided to leave the corporate world behind. I also sold my cafe, let go of any financial commitments I had and pretty much walked out of the 'comfortable' life of your average young professional. I took some months off to travel, and then picked up work as a part-time barista (because I loooove coffee!). In May 2011 I packed up and left the city I live in to locate myself on Perhentian Island, where I took up training to become a Divemaster and worked as a shop manager for the dive center I trained at. 5 years on, I'm still working in the scuba diving business and loving every moment of it :)

PHILOSOPHY

Firm believer that you have to make the most of what limited time you have in this world. Treat others the way you want them to treat you, appreciate all the love you have, and strive to give more than what you take

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm looking forward to meeting people from all different cultures and countries, and making new lasting, meaningful friendships, wherever that takes place.. at home or abroad. I think a lot of people in this world hold on to too many misconceptions about things they are not familiar with... and traveling is one of the ways I use to avoid this in myself. I like to keep an open mind and let others show me what their people is all about, what their land is all about. I think if more people feel this way, the world would be a better place.

More than happy to host anyone visiting my area if I'm around, or just meet up for a drink, or give you advice on where to go and what to do if you plan on coming :)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Most of my 'couch surfing' experiences were never from any formal arrangements or websites. I've done a few random 'sleepovers' in people's living rooms, like in Stockholm, Abu Dhabi, Singapore... all via the usual network of 'friend of a friend of a friend' type thing! Enjoyed all of these experiences... I don't think you can ever go wrong with meeting new friendly folk who are as keen to know more about the world as you are.

I've also hosted a fair share of people in my family home, be it those who requested via CouchSurfing, or those who myself or any of my family members randomly met whilst traveling. They've all come bringing so many different experiences and fun moments it's hard to list! Check out the references posted on my profile for some of the recaps ;)

Interests

Madly passionate about life, having a laugh, music, books, traveling, diving, social improvement, charity work, and intercultural understanding

• culture
• books
• dining
• coffee
• drinking
• shopping
• politics
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• guitar
• piano
• drums
• surfing
• scuba diving
• skydiving
• rock climbing
• geography
• history
• law
• parks

Music, Movies, and Books

Music is my life. I play guitar, drums, and piano.. not a maestro or anything but okay-ish! I get by :D Love rock in general but anything goes as long as it's good music. Faves include Queen, Culture Club, The Cure, Incubus, Deftones, From Autumn to Ashes, Mogwai, Love Me Butch, SevenCollar T-Shirt, Man Under Zero Effort, Elisabelle Tears, Sgt Weener Arms, Damn Dirty Apes, The Get Up Kids, Interpol, Snow Patrol, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Mew, Take That (yes, a boyband!), Ticker Tape Parade, ENVY, hopesfall, At The Drive In, Sparta, As Tall As Lions, Explosions in the Sky, Double Take, Mae, Dogs Die in Hot Cars, Dave Matthews Band, Garbage, Alexisonfire, Patrick Wolfe, A Fine Frenzy, Red Sparowes, Broken Social Scene, Goodnight Electric, The Perishers, Aqualung, The Stars, list goes on... I would travel just for the sake of catching a favourite artist perform live whenever I get the chance!

As for books, definitely too many to list. I'm a bit of a Book Slut. Ultimate favourite authors include Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Dave Barry, Philip Ardagh, Jeffrey Archer.

There are a lot of good movies out there, but in general I love my movies with lots of intelligent, dry humor in them. Would enjoy anything else if it has a good plot and script... but I stay the hell away from horror movies. I hate horror movies, I just get so piss scared. So no ghosts/blood/gore for me, thank you.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Way too many to choose from! Even the smallest excitement seem significant.. but if I had to choose a handful would be... climbing Mount Kinabalu (despite not being a trained climber!), meeting Incubus (my rock idols!), skydiving, riding on as many rollercoasters I could get on across theme parks in the US, fulfilling my dream of going to Monkey Mia to see the dolphins, and diving with beautiful creatures of the oceans :)

Teach, Learn, Share

I could probably teach some basic music playing on the guitar/drums/piano! Also some Malay language for anyone interested. I'm quite acquainted with anything Malaysian, so if you're interested about my country's history (I'm not a great historian but I do know the general story!), culture, food, people, geography, then I hope I can help you out on that.

I'm keen on finding out about the local music scene whenever I visit a new place so anyone who is as passionate and can share this with me, I'll hang by your every word!

Aside from that, I'm just happy to learn something new everyday. Politics, history, humanity, law, film, entertainment, travel... no information is useless information. The more people have to share with me the more I'm enthralled.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Happiness! lol

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Maldives, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Timor-Leste (East Timor), United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Malaysia, New Zealand, Oman, Timor-Leste (East Timor), United Kingdom

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