Omar Nok, a 30-year-old Egyptian who grew up in Cairo, moved to Luxembourg in 2016 to work as a financial analyst for e-commerce giant Amazon, based in Kirchberg. “I don’t come from a wealthy background, so traveling wasn’t really on the agenda in our family,” he explains. “But when I started traveling after moving to Luxembourg, each trip became more adventurous than the last. And the rest is history.”
Camping on the Great Wall of China
His move to the Grand Duchy therefore gave him a taste for travel. Last February, Omar embarked on a nine-month journey, without even taking a single plane. His journey began with a ferry crossing from Egypt to Saudi Arabia, from where he crossed the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan , China and South Korea before reaching its final destination, Tokyo, Japan, six weeks ago, after 286 days of travel.
“The two biggest moments were horseback trekking in the Kyrgyz mountains and camping on the Great Wall of China,” says Omar. “It is in Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia that I received the best hospitality. This region in particular surprised me with its welcome. They have this commonality in their cultures: the guest is treated like a king or queen. It’s like a code in their culture.”
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Omar set out with a 12 kilo backpack and a tent. He set himself a tight budget, lived on his savings, and slept either in his tent, in yurts in the wilds of Central Asia, in guesthouses in mountain villages, or in buses and night trains, or in shared rooms in youth hostels.
One day or another, return to Luxembourg
He traveled on foot, by ferry, by camel, on horseback, by barge, by cargo ship, by bicycle or by bus and hitchhiked part of the way. During his journey, he crossed much of Kazakhstan on horseback, sandboarded the dunes of Iran, trained all night to keep warm while camping in the desert. He hiked in the Kyrgyz Alai Mountains, broke down in the mountains of Tajikistan with a muscle car American and hitchhiked to Mecca.
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Before this trip, he had never traveled east of Egypt and chose Japan as the easternmost country in Asia. Omar added the challenge of reaching Tokyo without flying, because he wanted to see and experience as much as possible along the way.
Regarding the four years he lived in Luxembourg, Omar Nok said he had good memories of the country. “It’s almost the exact opposite of Cairo, where I’m from, in every way,” he said. “But I liked the work, the feeling that the government cares about the people, the international character and the many friends from several countries, and the extreme security here. In any case, I think I’ll come back one day.”
This article was originally published on the website of Luxembourg Times.
Adaptation: Simon Martin
