I must have inherited my travel bug from grandma who walked I don't know how many kms from China to Cambodia during the civil war in the 1930s. I grew up in this tiny place called Hong Kong and saw how big the world was when I first backpacked around Europe at 18. Haven't stopped traveling since whenever I can... Been to almost 60 countries now and the urge to move to see new places, meet new people, see how they live, and simply enjoy each free moment on the road has never been greater!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Nothing beats meeting locals who share with you their inside-out knowledge and feelings about their hometowns.

Interests

Thank God there are books! When I'm not traveling, I'm reading. I have a moderate-size library (currently packed up in a friend's garage space as I'm traveling), but stopped buying books about 5 years ago. Eco-consciousness slowly crept in and I have been trying to walk more and more, consume and spend less, being waste-conscious etc. Dance is the love of my life, but then I estranged myself from it after work took over. Am still trying to find a way to reconnect with my old flame! Just can't stop traveling: the world is so big and endlessly fascinating. More than the sights themselves, I am curious to see and feel how others live. Love classical and jazz music; can't live without it really. I wish I had continued to learn more languages. I speak a couple (cantonese, mandarin, english, french, japanese) and started learning more (Thai, Korean) but had to stop because of... well, work! Am dreaming of very, very, very, very early retirement! Oh, I'm a big fan of modern and contemporary arts as well: dance, sculpture, documentary, videography, stage design, lighting etc. etc. Museum and film buff. Francois Truffaut once said: I would watch 2 movies a day and read 3 books a week, or something like that. I have adopted it as my motto and am proud of doing better than Truffaut!

• writing
• books
• dancing
• traveling
• classical music
• hiking
• learning new languages
• dreaming
• meet new people
• art museums
• jazz music

Music, Movies, and Books

Chopin's Nocturnes
Debussy
Bach
Rachmaninov
Miles Davis
Stan Getz
Movies: most of the french new wave; the grand masters of Italian cinema and their descendents; indie filmmakers like John Cassavetes...
Recent good reads: Half a Life by Darin Strauss; A Life Full Of Holes by Driss Ben Hamed Charhadi (as told and written by Paul Bowles); Legend of a Suicide by David Vann; This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein; Losing Ground: American environmentalism at the close of the twentieth century by Mark Dowie; Gottland Mariusz Szczygieł; A Treatise on Shelling Beans by Wieslaw Mysliwski.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Staying free.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Travel and life experiences; research and writing (trained as a sociologist and have written a couple of books on human rights, gender, Japan, global health etc.); some Chinese cooking (not a chef really but committed to healthy home cooking and always willing to experiment and learn!); chores the host is not keen to do but is within my capacity!; sharing good laughs together; walks and hikes etc. Just enjoying good moments and life.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Luxembourg, Macao, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Palestine, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, Vatican City State, Viet Nam, Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, United States