I am Ramon,media trainercrisis wranglerdigital adventurerUNESCO Digital Heritagecat butler

I’m a Dutch writer, editor, translator, and media trainer based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia — where I live with my cats Fifty Shady and Chickpea and spend too much time hunting down the perfect bowl of noodles.

You might know me as the founder of the world’s first digital hospitality network, back in 2001 — after which people later called the Godfather of Couchsurfing. That site became UNESCO Digital Heritage. In 2020, I made the final fifty of NASA’s astronaut candidate programme. In between, I’ve run three art house cinemas in Cambodia, produced vegan cheese in Phnom Penh, opened an alcoholic cupcakery in Tbilisi, ran a cook book club in Casablanca, and helped hundreds of people reach the summit of Kilimanjaro.

These days, I divide my time between long-form writing and editing (with clients including Netflix and Penguin Books), advising executives and organisations across Southeast Asia on how to communicate clearly under pressure, and running LordPenh.com — Phnom Penh’s essential events guide since 2008.

This is my city

My words have appeared in The Guardian, De Volkskrant, Libération, Süddeutsche Zeitung, El País, and National Geographic.

Want the full story? Head to the bio. Or just drop me a message — I’m friendly. No, really.