For the young, the road is life

Cant help but to copy and paste an interesting article by Johan Jaaffar from NST online.

SEEK AN ADVENTURE: Don't let life and responsibilities hold you back from discovering what the world offers

WHEN is the best time to travel? When you are young, of course. No, I am not talking about those guided tours where you join a group of tired and bored tourists being dragged from one destination to another or staying in those tourist hotels. What I mean is really travelling the world, backpacking and hopping on a bus, ride a bicycle or just walk, and write about the experience.

Few of our young are actually taking the risk of losing jobs and careers to seek adventures.

It reminds me of someone I met in Afghanistan in the spring of 1989. He was a photojournalist from a newspaper company. He smuggled into Afghanistan and was bowled over by the bravery of the Mujahidin; he joined a group operating from Kabul and Herat. There were times when they were ambushed by president Najibullah's army. He stayed on for six months, lost his job, but did not regret it. He was a changed man after the experience.

One of Indonesia's best-known travel writer today is a young woman known only as Trinity. Her "NakedTraveller" series is a hit in Indonesia. Her first three books were about her travels to 44 countries and 30 provinces in Indonesia. She is somewhere in Brazil now, on a grand tour of Latin America. She sets a new standard in travel writing in her country; more importantly, a young woman travelling alone. And she travelled cheap. It cost her RM3,400 or RM566 a month or RM18 a day to travel in Europe for six month.

I did a bit of travelling after I lost my job as editor of a newspaper in 1998. I was almost 45 then. I wish I had been travelling the entire Indian sub-continent or took the trans-Siberian railway when I was younger. But the adventures awakened me. I was simply spending too much time working for others. I was not doing much to achieve my own dream: to see the world.

Wahab Hamzah was 48 when he journeyed through 21 countries in 113 days searching for birth places of Muslim scholars, thinkers and artisans. He spent all his savings (RM30,000) and he was very much enlightened by his experience. He took another leave and travelled through India early this year.

I wish many of our young can follow the footsteps of Mahandas Nagappan and Magendran Munisamy, who summited the highest mountain in the world in 1997. No Malaysians had done that before them. And we should all be envious of Muhamad Mugharabbin Mokhtaruddin or Qobin, who had climbed Everest in 2004. He lusted to conquer all the seven peaks in seven continents, which he did. His next quest is to climb all the hills and mountains mentioned in the Quran.

And of course there is Mohd Noor Mat Amin, the photojournalist from Utusan Melayu who had done something thought humanly impossible. To commemorate Malaysia's 50th independence in 2007, he attempted to climb Gunung Kinabalu 50 times in 50 days. He did it in 60 days due to bad weather and sickness.

In 2009, he did something even crazier -- he climbed Kinabalu 111 times in 111 days. He wasn't that young but his spirit and dedication should be an inspiration to the young. You don't expect Adnan Osman, at 70, doing the works for you -- cycling all the way to the Beijing and London Olympics or completing the Marathon of the Sands in the Sahara desert.

Many young people do dream of travelling, I am sure. But many of those dreams never materialised. Perhaps adventurism is not part of our trait. And travel literature as a genre is under-developed here. Or we are too comfortable to even think of succumbing to difficulties in foreign lands. I have always been encouraging the young to travel, climb mountains, ride a bicycle, go the Kon-Tiki way, cover a war, walk the entire distance of Australia or the Sahara, whatever.

When you are young, you are in total control of your life -- no worries, no responsibilities. Travelling opens your horizon, your worldview and your compassion for others. It is an opportunity to experience different cultures, meeting new people and understanding others. The world is an incredible place.

Forget about the comfort of your homes, your favourite mamak stalls or your familiar surroundings. It is about places and people in faraway lands.

So, no excuses, young men! Go see the world!

Original source here

Nota kaki 

This is so true and i'm not that young anymore to travel the world. Kan. The trans-Siberian railway... hmmm...