This is me, a relaxed Marta, who just spent 4 days on a boat. And what four days...!
After the rush week, in which all of us spent hours and hours in the library and killed five exams in three days, a little four-day break popped-out. As soon as we finished the last exam, Wednesday at 4 pm, everyone (but me) had a few beers at the INSEAD cafeteria, and then headed home to pack for the little break.
22 of us decided to rent two sailing boats and spend the four-day break in Thai waters. We spent the first night on shore. We arrived in Phuket around 10/11 pm on that Wednesday, and took two big taxis to a little hostel by the beach. We were all thrilled that the exams were over, and had quite a few drinks and played some fun games before going to bed, almost dead from being so tired.
The next day, two groups had to wake up earlier than the others - the team of skippers and the grocery store heroes. The team of skippers headed to the boats, for a preparatory briefing. The grocery store heroes headed to Phuket's Tesco.
I was part of the grocery store heroes, which was in charge of planning the meals and buying food and house (or boat) supplies for 22 people for three days and a morning. We put up a list together on our way to the grocery store, and spent about 1h30 there, filling 5 shopping carts (alcohol excluded). We bought lots of veggies and fruit, tuna cans, plenty of eggs, yogurt, cereals, nuts, bread and pasta (for everyone but me), unhealthy snacks (way too many), countless bottles of water, ice, and then supplies such as sunscreen, shampoo, lighters, toilet paper, plastic cutlery and so on. The shopping bill was the longest I have ever seen (and paid).
We all met at the boats and were ready to leave before midday. The 22 of us got split into two boats of eleven, and then we left. Just so that you realize how cool and diverse our crew was, let me tell the names and nationalities of all of us. My boat's skipper was Vlad (Romanian), and the crew was Rodrigo (Peruvian/ French), Paulo (Belgium), Will and Bas (a married couple, Dutch), Leyre (Spanish), Miguel (Portuguese), Shai (Israeli), Inna (Russian), Luca (Italian), and me. The other boat's skipper was Henry (French), and the crew was Dimitri (French), João Jalles, João VB and Thomas (Portuguese), Molly (American/ Austrian), Tony (Lebanese), Marijn (Dutch), Alessandro (Italian), Robert and Constantin (German). Not bad, uh?
So what did we do for 3 days and a half? We did whatever we wanted. We were free like birds. We stopped pretty much where we wanted, we swam a lot, we read, we rested, we partied (some more than others, if you know what I mean), we slept facing the stars, we snacked all the time, we saw big fishes, we saw small fishes, we actually fished (not very successfully), we played cards, we cooked, we laughed, we sang, we danced, I worked out, we pulled cables, we had showers outside, we were barefoot all the time, we thought about life, we talked about life, we rested, we tanned, we were happy.
Our route was Phuket - some-random-private-island-in-the-middle-of-nowhere; some-random-private-island-in-the-middle-of-nowhere - Koh Phi Phi, stopping at the "Leonardo Di Caprio Beach"; Koh Phi Phi - Koh Hong; Koh Hong - Phuket. We barely touched land, though. We slept all three nights on the boat, and only had a meal outside, in Koh Phi Phi. That evening, while some went for a few drinks in a weird muay thai bar (Thailand is still under National Mourning, so music is not allowed in public places), a few of us opted to go for a after-dinner Thai massage. Sooooooo good!
To finish it in style, we spent Sunday afternoon in a beach club in Phuket (a little bit to corny and loud for my taste, but definitely a pleasant and fun afternoon).
I cannot explain how recharging and relaxing this trip was. We all dealt with each other perfectly. The trip could have hardly gone smoother.
I came back totally ready to kick-off a new period in style. And I am glad I did, as it is going to be an intense 6-week period, with 7 subjects and lots of work to do.
Will keep you posted on what P2 is about very soon.
But before that, let me welcome my Gorda Velha in Singapore TOMORROW!!!!!! Counting the minutes...
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