CURRENT MISSION

is to replicate the adventures of Indiana Jones

ABOUT ME

I intend to write my autobiography in a few decades titled 'The Amazing Adventures of the Fantastic Mr Shaw'. Until then I'm trying to figure out the plot while casting myself as the hero in every situation I encounter (in my imagination that is, the reality is very, very different...)

PHILOSOPHY

I once spent a week at a Buddhist monastry that only served to assure me that I should never become a monk, of any denomination.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Convinced on the Warsaw-Vilnius bus trip to join Couchsurfing by a devout advocate - since which I have had a lot of fun and met some amazingly-awesomely super-cool people!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I go way back with the Couchsurfing philosophy. Prior to coming across this site I had invented my own form of sourcing accommodation. I invented 'Resort Surfing' (which is completely illegal) at a Bali resort after my wallet had been stolen, for which I had to bluff the resort workers for a whole weekend as to who I was and which room I was in. Couch surfing is a lot more enjoyable and less stressful, mind you

Interests

I'm currently trying to find a sport I can excell at (I'm not a good Kiwi bloke, for some reason I can't play rugby to save myself). I have gone through all main-stream sports and am now up to fencing, and flailing away with an epee has proved better than my cricketing career(5 years playing and one boundary to my name - that's very unimpressive!). Otherwise, interests are whatever is on offer. History, reading and debate are constant features, though.

• reading
• surfing
• hinduism
• sports
• fencing
• rugby
• history
• medicine
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Any and all, unless it involves yodelling. I am one of the worst singers you will ever encounter, though.

I'm a massive consumer of all things reading - and have spent far more than I should of my annual pay check on amazon.com.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Stealing a taxi in Morocco in self-defence against some knife-welding theives... little did I know that I was completely over-reacting, and nearly knocked over the legit driver! (but it makes for a good story, none-the-less, unless your the poor taxi driver)

I've also been stalked by tigers in the Malaysian jungle, which was surprisingly anti-climactic (thankfully!), been sniffed at by a wolf in the foot-hills of the Hindu Kush, visited a witch-doctor in Timor and to top it off have couch-surfed in Europe (the scariest undertaking of them all!)

Teach, Learn, Share

My aim is to learn another language - I am really interested in learning Russian, but for the fact that all efforts to date have crashed and burnt even more spectacularly than a Zeppelin flight with Indiana Jones aboard.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, United Arab Emirates, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Afghanistan, New Zealand, Timor-Leste (East Timor)

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