Monday evening, Canal 33 offers us the opportunity to travel around the world accompanying Tom Waes, one of the most popular television figures in Belgium. You can catch up on some of his Unusual Trips on the 3Cat platform. Season 7 is complete, with episodes dedicated to Dubai, São Paulo, Bombay, Nairobi, London, or Los Angeles, among others. And from season 5, you can still catch the three magnificent episodes of a long journey that crosses Japan from south to north over three weeks. It's worth it. If you're not flying anywhere this summer, it's an excuse to discover the world. And if you happen to be in one of his destinations, you'll find options not listed in the usual guides.
Tom Waes became famous twenty years ago thanks to the typical challenge show where incredible feats must be overcome and lives risked. Tomtesterom is a word game that combines his name, the concept of putting oneself to the test, and the phonetics of the term testosterone, which already hints at the kind of masculinity we will find in the presenter. He is also one of the protagonists of the Netflix series Undercover.
In his unusual journeys, however, he tones down the intensity a bit and adopts the role of a curious traveler. Still, there are moments when he can't help but let the beast within him out and participate in over-the-top traditions and rituals. In Japan, Waes ends up dressed in the fundoshi, the white loincloth to cover the genitals, to participate in the Hadaka Matsuri, a competition of naked men who have to catch two small pieces of wood thrown over the sweaty and violent human mass. Whoever catches one amidst the madness of domesticated males will have good luck for the whole year. The camera takes us to the epicenter of this suffocating barbarity, and the viewer appreciates the tranquility of their living room and the coolness of the fan. Television can be a magnificent window to see the world without suffering its hardships and inconveniences. Waes doesn't want to be the classic tourist guide. He chooses local characters with a similar disposition to his to show him little-visited places, unique characters, and restaurants that tourists don't reach. In Japan, he stays in a hotel where you are forced to share your privacy through YouTube. In Dubai, we witness a camel race from the car that runs alongside the beast to operate the remote control attached to its hump, a robot with a whip that mistreats the animal to make it run faster than the others. A cruel race that reveals the kind of characters behind this business. With Waes, everything we see is not always idyllic. We will find grand landscapes, monumental works, ridiculous or humorous curiosities, and endearing people, but he also ensures that the values of dictatorships and the consequences of wars emerge discreetly from the narrative. The presenter mentions it out of responsibility, but without dwelling on it, with the indulgence of someone who doesn't want their adventure spoiled or to put the guides in any compromising situation. He leaves the judgment, in any case, to the audience.
