As distances shrink, an increasing number of people are packing their bags and setting out to explore the world. Often, it is not hitting the tourist spots that makes travels memorable; rather it is destinations that are off the beaten track, and exploring them like a local would that makes a traveller tick.
Hakim H. Omer’s journeys across the globe have taken him diving in the Galapagos, cycling along the El Camino de La Muerte in Bolivia, and spending time with a head-hunting tribe in the Amazon.
A Malaysian who works as an IT consultant in Singapore, Hakim was in the city recently to soak in its sights and sounds, before heading to Munnar and Kochi. On his first trip to the country 10 years ago, he had visited Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, but the second time around, his destination was Kerala.
Hakim who visited the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple here and spent a day at Varkala, besides performing a Malaysian dance at Manaveeyam Veedhi, is an avid couch-surfer and a host. He feels the couch-surfing service provides him a rich palette of experiences. He has, in fact, been a travelling ambassador for it.
Travelling is not so much about places or sightseeing but about the people, says Hakim. “I’d never imagined that travelling could give me a new perspective on how I appreciated and dealt with life.”
Hakim has had a number of amazing experiences, but one unforgettable one has been travelling to Ecuador and spending three days with one of the head-hunting Amazonian tribes. Another time he crossed the Darien Gap in Panama on a boat belonging to human and drug traffickers. Though the border was a legal crossing, people were reluctant to cross it as between Panama and Columbia there is a swamp. Boats had to be taken. The area was an autonomous region controlled by guerillas from Colombia who were drug dealers during the time of Pablo Escobar, he says.
He’s had other exciting adventures too such as crossing the land border from Ethiopia to Sudan during a period of conflict. His Africa visit was part of a round trip of the world starting from Alaska and ending at Cairo. In between, he went to Ushuaia, the gateway to Antarctica; south American countries and Africa.
While hosting strangers or putting up with them may not be everyone’s cup of tea, Hakim says he’s never had an unpleasant experience despite travelling through disputed territories or war zones. “People in general are nice everywhere and if we are genuine, people are very helpful,” he says.
Hakim says his mother and his nephew too love hosting travellers.
In Munnar, Hakim hopes to to do some trekking, though he regrets missing the blooming of Neelakurinji, and watch Kathakali and Kalaripayattu in Kochi. He also loved ‘embracing a different faith and seeing how rituals are performed in Hinduism’ during his visit to the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple here.