Updates on Couchsurfing

I had received another request from a Couchsurfer, Marco. He’s an Italian Punk-Rock musician and will be coming to Ipoh some time next month. I replied to him saying that I would be able to host him so long that it’s after my trip to Jakarta & Bandung. His reply to this: ‘hope to see you soon.’

Of course, I did browse through his profile on couchsurfing.com. His description of himself really caught my attention, especially this line:

… have no desire to go back to Italy. I want to go anywhere and I want to help like-minded people to have a place to crash …

What a cool phrase! I do hope to be as magnanimous as him! So 豁达 (fut da) & 潇洒 (siu sa) ！

Having such a liberal & unconventional mindset wasn’t what I’ve been trained for. Although a very small part in my heart telling me to be like that, the reality set in and I have to resume to my role. The reason: my body and soul have been brainwashed for nearly a quarter of a century, to face up to the challenges in reality.

All the Couchsurfers that I hosted so far are generous minded as that. Like Ota the Czech for which I had my first experience of Couchsurfing, decided to retired from working despite only in the late twenties; Kit & Francesco, both taking some time out of works and studies, joined some soul-searching camp in India. All of them share a same goal: to step in to different territories and meet people. This is the same to the two Couchsurfers I hosted recently: Shar from Nevada USA & Simon from Uruguay

Shar is an American Fine Art graduate. After working a few years, she decided to go to Australia to work part time and earn enough for travel fund and for her graduate studies later on. She is a very polite and well-mannered person. Too bad, I didn’t have much time showing her around Ipoh. Luckily, both my sisters were in holiday that time and they had fun doing white water rafting in Kampar.

Simon, a skilled photographer, on the other hand, has not called a place home for few years. He has just begun to tour around half of the globe. It’s going to be another 2 years before reaching the final destination – Turkey. At the end of his trip, I am sure he would have met up and befriended with more than a hundred of Couchsurfers and locals in different coutries. I wish I could be like him; just leave everything behind for awhile and forget about the sense of belonging (归宿感) for a short period.

I am really looking forward to be hosted by any Couchsurfers in the future. Who wanna join me? However, I do feel weird to tumpang at some strangers’ house. This is something I need to get away with so as to happily enjoy the true spirit of Couchsurfing!