Omar Nok took a 46-hour prepare trip throughout Kazakhstan in a platzkart — a Soviet-era sleeping carriage that lacks the luxurious of privateness between beds — to get from the western a part of the nation to its capital, Astana.
Omar Nok
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Omar Nok
Omar Nok launched into a nine-month journey from Egypt to Japan with one rule: no planes.
The restriction, he discovered, turned out to be something however limiting. He camped on the Nice Wall of China, rode horseback via the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and “chilled” with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Taking different modes of transport, he stated, “allows you to see more of the world.”
“It’s more eventful. Things can happen on the way,” Nok stated. “I want to see as much of the world as I can and not skip anything.”
Nok, a 30-year-old Egyptian German based mostly in his native Cairo, stated he left a gradual job in finance so he may use the time (and the cash he saved up) to journey.
Earlier than this journey, he’d by no means traveled east of Egypt. This previous week — 275 days later — he made it to Tokyo, his end line capping a 28,700-mile zig-zag route that started in February.
To get there, he traveled by foot, hitchhiking, bus, prepare, ferry, bike, sea barge, cargo ship, bicycle, camel and horse. He is diligently documented his every day adventures on his Instagram account, which has ballooned to greater than 750,000 followers. His solely fixed was his backpack, no heavier than 28 kilos, stuffed with a couple of week’s price of garments.
Nok hitchhiked throughout the mountains of Tajikistan in early September. A truck driver who picked him up and drove him about 14 hours took this photograph of Nok throughout a break on the Pamir Freeway.
Courtesy of Omar Nok
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Courtesy of Omar Nok
A “no spoilers” journey plan
When it got here to planning the journey, Nok had his locations mapped out, however his every day itinerary was loosely plotted. He made some extent to not analysis each vacation spot. Maintaining himself in the dead of night a bit when touring, he stated, helps him restrict his expectations and keep open to new folks, locations and experiences.
“The places I have been impressed by the most have been places that I did not look at pictures of beforehand or maybe I looked at pictures but a long time ago,” he stated.
As an alternative, he places his belief within the locals — and himself.
“Let’s say I’m hosted by someone and I know that beforehand — then I don’t do any research. They can tell me what is there to see and do,” he stated. “Because I try as much as possible to, let’s say, avoid spoilers.”
On a go to to the Nice Wall of China, Nok spent the night time in a watchtower, seen within the background, situated in an unrestored part of the historic landmark.
Courtesy of Omar Nok
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Courtesy of Omar Nok
“If [I] find a place I want to see someday, I always save it on the map,” he added. “My map is full of bookmarks. Then I trust my past self that put the bookmark in the first place to go and see that place.”
Hospitality and connection in surprising locations
With some nations, he stated, it was unattainable for him to not are available with preconceived notions. His perceptions of some nations within the Center East and Central Asia, for instance, had been coloured by information protection that has lengthy forged the area as unsafe and conflict-ridden. However his precise experiences, he stated, upended these expectations.
He left with a distinct impression. What stood out to Nok throughout that stretch of his journey — to Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan — was the heat and generosity of the folks there.
“I think they share these similarities — that hospitality is like a code in their culture. Not just something nice — it’s more like of a code,” he stated. “In countries most people probably would be hesitant to visit, [they] actually have the friendliest people you could meet.”
A neighborhood household in Uzbekistan’s capital metropolis of Tashkent hosted Nok, middle, in August. The son of the couple pictured, who confirmed him across the metropolis, took this photograph at their residence.
Courtesy of Omar Nok
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Courtesy of Omar Nok
Aided by a language translation app, his first night time in Iran effectively illustrated that. He arrived throughout Nowruz, Persian New Yr — a peak time for resort stays and journey there.
“By the time I cleared customs immigration, it was 1 a.m.,” he recalled. “So, there is no accommodation place and I’m without internet because of internet restrictions there and so on. And I’m like, ‘OK, what now?’ “
He was sleepily backpacking the streets when an area stopped him: “He was curious and after just a couple of questions, he offered me to go into his car so that he would drive me somewhere with accommodation,” Nok stated.
“Obviously, it’s a big no for 99% of people,” he added. “But I followed my instincts and my instincts told me he’s a good person and just wanting to help.”
“He told me: Hey, why don’t you come sleep at my place? I’ll call my brother, I’ll call my friend, and we’ll make a nice night of it, evening out of it.”
After they shared a dinner collectively, his host insisted that Nok keep in his mattress whereas he took the sofa.
“That’s just like day one in Iran. So it was like, wow, what a welcome,” he stated. “And it was representative of also of the people I met there.”
Early on within the journey, Nok made his non-public account public after some nudging from buddies. He stated his posts have fueled a constructive dialogue within the feedback part.
“I could see it always, everywhere in the comments — the viewers of the journey were learning that there are good people everywhere. It doesn’t matter the country, race, religion. We as humans, we have more in common than we have differences.”
He hopes to show his on-line reputation into sponsorships to fund his future travels.
Having crossed his end line, he’ll return residence quickly to Cairo — with plans to relaxation up for his subsequent journey.
How will he get again residence?
“I booked the flight already,” he stated. “It was a weird feeling at first — it’s weird having traveled for that long and then, like, ‘How do I book a flight again?’ “
