CURRENT MISSION

Just been travelling 🧳 autumn 🍂 in Europe after taking a hiatus (not travelling) since 2019 and been trying to utilise the Couchsurfing 🛋️ platform after not touching it in over 10 years 😂

Been in Helsingborg, Skåne county, southern Sweden 🇸🇪 most of September visiting family there and now I’m in the Baltics for the first time. Was just in Estonia 🇪🇪 and then possibly Latvia 🇱🇻 also before heading to Finland 🇫🇮 afterwards (catching up with old and new buddies) before returning to Sweden but might also squeeze in a quick trip to Norway 🇳🇴 to visit an old friend (sounds hectic I know!). Southern Europe in November as I haven’t been to France 🇫🇷 , Spain 🇪🇸 or Portugal 🇵🇹 . Will like to revisit Germany 🇩🇪 also.

📍Greater Bay Area 🇭🇰🇲🇴🇨🇳 back in China for sometime sorting out errands and life admin. Will be visiting my uncle and aunty in HK so will be between HK, Macau, Zhuhai and may visit Foshan and Guangzhou as I haven’t spent much time there. Need to visit the public hospital 🏥 and check out the public health care in Macau. I may or may not head up to Shanghai after Guangdong province.

Check me out on Instagram via my stories @ewenkahryu as I post a lot of stories of my travels. I haven’t made a physical post for over 5 years as I’ve been in Australia for the past 5 years 😂 and don’t have anything remarkable to post

ABOUT ME

Open and easy going dude with a wide range of interests and hobbies.
My heritage is Chinese however I was born in Macau 🇲🇴 during the Portuguese 🇵🇹 administration back in 86.

Both my parents are from Shanghai, mainland China 🇨🇳 but I immigrated to New Zealand 🇳🇿 when I was 7 so I grew up there and would often return to Macau, Zhuhai, Hong Kong and Shanghai to visit relatives and family but long story short - none actually live there anymore!

Have been living in Australia 🇦🇺 for the past 5 years so I’m pretty much Australian (even though I hate to admit it) and have applied for my Aussie citizenship.

I work as tradie aka tradesmen 🧑‍🔧🔨🔧🪛 in Melbourne but have also dabbled a little bit in market research + analytical data science when I was studying in university in Auckland, NZ. I’m also very interested in psychology, anthropology, humanity, history, human behaviour, biology, culture, societies past and present, language and linguistics, geopolitics, some basic Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy.

My stepdad is Swedish 🇸🇪 so have European 🇪🇺 family and relatives. However, I’m not too familiar with Europe as I’ve only spent a very brief amount of time travelling 🧭 in the EU - so I’m just kind of exploring a bit now.

My extended family is a bit spread out globally - Hong Kong 🇭🇰, Japan 🇯🇵, United States 🇺🇸, Canada 🇨🇦, Australia 🇦🇺 but so not much in New Zealand anymore apart from old friends.

Coincidentally - I made a considerable amount of European friends while living in Shanghai (as it’s the economical + financial hub of China but also it’s the most European city in mainland China) from 2015. So I’m just working my way through Europe visiting old and new friends.

PHILOSOPHY

You get what you put in!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

At this stage, mainly just hosting my couch for surfing and engaging with all the surfers I meet along the way. Been trying to get engaged in the local Couchsurfing community through hangouts and meetups.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Haven't had any specific CS experience as of yet as a surfer but will try now!

Have slept on numerous couches and random beds 🛌 in my life.

October 2015 update ‼️ - had one 1 couchsurfing experience in Tallinn, Estonia so far and it’s been excellent!

Also a couple of hangout sessions which has been very positive!

Interests

Photography, art, design, music, motorcycling, cycling, good eats, sustainable living, reading, lingustics, good company, animals , pets (cats 🐈 and doggos 🐕), films, movie, cinematography

• arts
• culture
• architecture
• design
• photography
• concerts
• dining
• politics
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• music
• cycling
• hiking
• surfing
• geopolitics
• history
• cultural immersion
• mountains
• cinema
• nature
• ballet
• holistic health
• biking
• wellbeing
• conversation
• nomad
• cinematography
• art museums
• sustainable living
• bikepacking
• food lover
• health and fitness
• liberalism
• history and culture

Music, Movies, and Books

Films + directors- Taxi Driver, Pulp Fiction, Godfather, The Warriors (1979), City of God, Delicatessen, Amelie, Blade Runner, Django, Clock Work Orange, Kung Fu Hustle, Tanpopo, Studio Ghibli films (Hayao Miyazaki ), Wong Kar Wai films, Akira Kurosawa, Cohen brothers, Quentin Tarantino, Stanley Kubrick, Francis Ford Coppola, Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, Wes Anderson, Ang Lee, Taika Waititi, Sofia Coppola

Cinematographer - Roger Deakings

Music - lots of old school funk, motown, Cuban, latin, indie, reggae, punk rock 🤘 during my high school years as I was playing the electric bass extensively through out my high school years.

Bands - Radiohead, Deerhunter, Pink Floyd, Tame Impala, Pond, Hives, Hellacopters, Rage against the machine, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The White Stripes, Von Bondies, Silversun pickups, Smashing Pumpkins, Interpol, The Smiths, Joy Division, The Mars Volta, Queens of the Stone Age, Nile Rogers, Daft Punk, CHIC, Prince, David Bowie, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Crowded House, Chaka Khan, Madonna, Oasis, Blur, Stone Roses

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Tried cycling (and failed) 2000 + km in Japan 🇯🇵 within 10-14 days (The Japanese Odyssey) in 2016 with two typhoons going at the same time.

Visiting Kyrgyzstan 🇰🇬 back in 2019 was one of the most unique countries I’ve ever been to. 70% mountainous and very wild, untouched and rugged . Nomadic people with their past Soviet/Russian history. I went there because one of my old cycling friends from Shanghai, Nelson Trees started an ultra endurance cycling event called the Silk Road Mountain Race. Now it’s expanded to the Atlas Mountain Race (Morocco 🇲🇦 ) and Hellenic Mountain Race (Greece 🇬🇷) and the Taurus Mountain Race is in the works (Turkey 🇹🇷)

Visiting the most western (Xinjiang) province of China was also an incredible experience. I did a land border crossing (designed for trucks) from a border check point pass from Kyrgyzstan which I walked over the no man’s land. You would have heard about the Uyghur (ethinic Turkic people) that make up the majority of Xinjiang.

Teach, Learn, Share

I like to nerd out on stuff!

What I Can Share with Hosts

Food/cooking 🍲 🍱 🥘 , jokes, stories, conversations , banter, my manual labour

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Cambodia, China, Croatia, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Macao, Malaysia, Montenegro, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, China, Hong Kong, Macao, New Zealand

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