British, but lived in Asia (Korea, Singapore) for more than a decade.

Still live in Singapore, but am also in/out of the UK, on a long term trip/holiday back to London for the last 6months of 2015 or so.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I am (?was?) a relative newbie on CouchSurfing (hosted three sets of guests so far)
So please forgive me if I am still learning the Dos & Donts ;-)

Am "Paying it forward".... ....hopefully, one good turn will deserve another.
(& if it turns out 'karma' exists, I hope not to return to earth as a slug or dungbettle in my next life ;-) )

Also, from a more practical point of view; my partner is away for a few months, & I have a relatively quiet period at work over the next few weeks, ...so have a bit more freetime than normal. During this period I thought its a good time to join the CS club & see how "hosting" goes. .....maybe I will become a "guest" in the future.

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Interests

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A good giggle, some banter ...plus the occasional 'intellectual(ish)' discussion.

My favorite joke at the moment is:
Dr Pavlov was drinking in his local pub
At 11pm the barman rang the pub's bell to call 'last drinks orders please'
Dr Pavlov jumped up & exclaimed; "Damn I forgot to feed the dogs !"

....too obscure?

Things I like to do:

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Bars/Clubbing (enjoy these as an occasional treat, but gone are the days of double-header Fri+Sat consecutive nights out boozing. Enjoy EDM, Dubstep, D&B, ....& I'd go anywhere to see Depeche Mode, or Go!Team, & even better would be a night dancing to their remixes etc)

Am big fan of local food (esp the perfect "Beef Rendang" & "yellow chicken curry" - both Malay/Singaporean dishes).

Very into regular exercise, so am happy to show you some beautiful running routes (e.g.; around the city's Marina Bay, & the nearby jungle filled national park & reservoir with lots of monkeys, etc). Can also bring you as a free-guest to my local gym (which has a very nice 50m swimming pool). Catching some rays on a sunny afternoon never gets old. :-)

LOVE love standup comedy (but there's not much in SG sadly, typically weekly).

ARThouse/interesting/thought-provoking movies (nearby non-profit enthusiasts art house cinema has opened).

Economics (yes, the dismal science isn't so, in my humble opinion anyway)

Psychology (especially evolutionary psych)

Cycle Touring (know a couple of very nice routes from SG to Malaysia that take 1-3days)

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• dogs
• arts
• dancing
• dining
• exercise
• triathlon
• running
• drinking
• clubbing
• pub crawls
• movies
• billiards
• cycling
• swimming
• economics
• engineering
• psychology
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Florence & the Machine, Depeche Mode (& ooooh so many of their EDM remixes), The XX, The The, Massive Attack, Goldfrapp, Bloc Party, Stranglers,

Movies: As Good As it Gets, Moon, Gatacca, Zoolander, Choke, all Kubrick movies, almost anything with Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn & Sam Rockwell.

Books/Mags: Classic Fiction (Hemingway, Orwell), some modern Fiction (Martin Amis) ....But, mostly read non-fiction; Guns Germs & Steel, The Red Queen, Fooled By Randomness, Black Swan, AntiFragile, The Brain that Changes Itself, Economist,

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

We can only choose one.....? ;-)

Hmmmm, not sure its amazing.... but I "escaped" from Alcatraz to San Francisco
(ie; swam from the island to the city shore....along with quite a few others as part of a Triathlon race)

Oh, & I was abducted & probed by Aliens once, butt, I don't like to talk about that ;-)

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Teach, Learn, Share

Happy to show you around my very interesting neighborhood (which is kind of a microcosm for the whole country).

Happy to explain more about how Singapore 'works' (fascinating government/economic system & social engineering...although I understand not everyone find these topics as interesting as I ;-)).

Am a scientist, turned marketeer, by training. So if (*yawn*) you have some techy Q's we could go down that path ;-)

Thinking of creating a start-up company which would require outsourcing manufacturing of small/mid-sized mechanical products, so if anyone has experience in that area would be great to pick your brains, & learn from you....especially relating to manufacturing hardware in China.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I spend my life doing the things I listed in the "my interests" section, & so you'd be welcome to join me on any of them (repeated below):

Bars/Clubbing (enjoy these as an occasional treat, but gone are the days of double-header Fri+Sat consecutive nights out boozing. Enjoy EDM, Dubstep, D&B, ....& I'd go anywhere to see Depeche Mode, or even better a night dancing to their remixes etc)

Am big fan of local food (esp the perfect "Beef Rendang" & "yellow chicken curry" - both Malay/Singaporean dishes).

Very into regular exercise, so am happy to show you some beautiful running routes (e.g.; around the city's Marina Bay, & the nearby jungle filled national park & reservoir with lots of monkeys, etc). Can also bring you as a free-guest to my local gym (which has a very nice 50m swimming pool). Catching some rays on a sunny afternoon never gets old. :-)

LOVE love standup comedy (but there's not much in SG sadly, typically weekly).

ARThouse/interesting/thought-provoking movies (nearby non-profit enthusiasts art house cinema has opened).

Economics (yes, the dismal science isn't so, in my humble opinion anyway)

Psychology (especially evolutionary psych)

Cycle Touring (know a couple of very nice routes from SG to Malaysia that take 1-3days)

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, China, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Laos, Malaysia, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Korea, Norway, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Romania, Scotland, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States, Viet Nam, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

Singapore, South Korea, United Kingdom, United States