A Journey to Inner Realms

Ethan Maniam, a 22-year-old medical student shares stories of his solo travels and discovering new things about himself while in the process.

Story and Illustrations by: Saumya D/O Lakshmanan

Photos courtesy of: Ethan Maniam

"I would be a very boring person, to be honest,” says Ethan Maniam, 22, with a chuckle, when asked how different he would be if not for his travels.

Putting his clinical knowledge and skills to meaningful use, the medical student from the National University of Singapore has been travelling solo with two facades for the past year. One as a volunteer medical doctor and the other, leisurely exploring new destinations.

Ethan was attending school remotely in Singapore, while going through a rather rough breakup. The feeling of missing out in life had provided him the will to enrich his life experiences. Therefore, Ethan travelled to Spain last year as his first solo trip. 

"My girlfriend then was in France exploring, while I was having lessons on Zoom. I was restless.” His first solo trip, which was also a heartbreak healing trip, turned out to be a fiesta by itself. As a result, he learnt to be more confident in travelling alone and independently. 

Thereafter, Ethan’s travels continued to the northeast region of India, the Himalayas, where he volunteered as part of his university’s electives. Ethan volunteered in different organisations such as the Himalayan Health Exchange, Medical Volunteers International and African Impact. "I got to learn how these different organisations work with such limited resources and little charity funds.” 

He went on to travel to Greece and Africa for varied periods. From giving basic medical check-ups to people in India, he progressed to participating in house visits in Zambia, Africa, which he found to be the most interesting . “In Africa, people were taking care of one another and we got to see how their communities were structured.”

Ethan with the locals in Zambia, Africa

His time in Athens, Greece, turned out to be the “craziest one” yet, as the people he treated were, in fact, not Greeks. "They were refugees from the Middle East, Egypt, and Africa, who were on the move. That was when I felt like I could help people who needed it." This time, it was a little different, as he was the one who was being helped, while he joined another group of volunteers during his leisure time there. 

"The class was filled with 16 refugees who spoke Persian. They were teaching me to do backflips. And I thought to myself, ‘oh, the tables have turned! I was the one being coached and helped’.”

Ethan also learnt more about himself in the process of these solo trips. "The medical studies I learnt back home were very meaningful to the people. I wanted to do this more and more, taking it seriously.”

Ethan during his solo-trip in Spain

He was also progressively adapting well to being more independent. As the only Asian in most of his voluntary groups, he often felt inferior. "I did not have the ‘safety’ of home and felt really small back then," he adds. 

Along the way, Ethan made friends on the go. One such experience was with a mysterious stranger, who shared, “The fixed path is an accumulation of decisions that other people have made. There is no fixed path in the first place.”

Ethan with the ‘mystery’ friend he made in Spain

Since they demonstrated genuine human connections, he frequently impersonates some of the individuals he encountered on his travels.

"When I go overseas, people always tell me things I never really saw about myself. They share that I’m open, bubbly and friendly. I always thought that was just normal, but sometimes you take your good traits for granted,” shares Ethan. These adventures also made Ethan realise more things about himself from a third person's point of view. “I think I would be a lot less open as a person if I did not go on my travels,” he adds.

Even  though  starting  a journey of discovering oneself is as tough as boarding an airplane alone, for the first time, the first step would always be the hardest yet the most important.

"If you’re doing something that makes you feel a little uncomfortable, while also giving you the opportunity to connect with people with fresh ideas, I think that’s a fantastic way to learn about yourself.”