Sentimental wanderer with a thirst for travelling off the beaten path.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Looking to meet people with wonderful stories to tell.

Interests

• writing
• football
• film
• society
• self-development

Music, Movies, and Books

70's - 80's Oldies

A Thousand Splendid Suns
Slumdog Millionaire
The Kite Runner

The Best of Youth
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
City of God

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I went to Vietnam to volunteer/teach at an English-language school for a couple of months. I went with the mindset of just staying in one place, impart my knowledge, and contribute to alleviating my students from poverty by giving them a valuable job skill.

The work was meaningful and I learnt a lot from teaching, and from my students but I had a thirst for travel. Over the 6 weeks I was at the school volunteering, I met so many travellers who hitched up at the school for a place to stay. (The school operated akin to a host on Couchsurfing) They were real travellers: never approaching any touristy areas and coming to Ha Giang, where almost no one knows about, to motorbike 400-500km up and down the dirt roads on the mountains. I kept hearing stories about how beautiful the landscapes were up on the mountains of Ha Giang, and how thrilling riding a motorbike on the shittiest, winding roads can be. I was entranced, and when a group of three backpackers who came to volunteer at the school offered an opportunity to let me travel with them, I didn't think twice.

I learnt to ride a motorbike on one of the worst terrains you can imagine to learn to ride a motorbike. The winding roads up on the mountains weren't paved at all: much was made of just loose rock and pebble. Of course, I crashed quite a few times, leaving a few scars I still have today, but the experience with the group of amazing backpackers I met and the liberating feeling of dirtroad travelling made them absolutely worth it. And yeah, the mountains were beautiful too. (A couple of my profile pictures are taken from that motorbike trip in Vietnam).

If there was ever a life-changing experience for me, motorbiking would be it.

What I Can Share with Hosts

A good conversation over a bottle of red wine.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Germany, Indonesia, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Italy, Malaysia, Thailand