Routines here

We just crossed the Equator a bit below India/Srilanka. We are finally in the south. We spend most of the day at the bridge – initially outside and then inside.

After Strait of Malacca, we do not see many vessels anymore – just 360° of ocean view – perhaps one or two yesterday. I would have killed before to have this view.

A small routine is building. I wake up around 5 am and am on the bridge in a few minutes with my laptop. I write an email to my family sitting at the bridge. The music plays in the background and the conversations happen between the Filippino crew in their mother tongue. Both are like white noise to me. I watch the sunrise and the moon setting before I go down for breakfast. The moon casts a silver band over the ocean.

We are lucky it is full moon… on the other hand, has the full moon been making the 1.3m high waves that cause the ship to sway? – We do not know.

The swaying causes a bit of wooliness in two of the passengers – M and R, both very thin (my interpretation). R takes her medicine – M holds out. I can feel the swaying – I think it has not yet affected me. I am not sure whether the bloated feeling in the tummy is sea sickness or just too much food.

Breakfast is typically European – I avoid egg. M avoids meat. He gets his vegetarian food. J, the messboy, is very nice. Yesterday, I told him that I would like to reduce my intake of food. Now he asks me whether the portion he brings me is too big. Typically, it is too large, and I do feel bad about having to ask him to reduce it. It is better than wasting it – I reason with myself.

After breakfast, I retire to the room – catch up on a power nap, exercise, shower and read before lunch. I am reading a book by Sarah Marquis – “Wild by nature”. I feel far less adventurous. After being on the ship, I would not even call myself vaguely adventurous even though I felt that way before boarding the ship. I am at the part where she walks in Mongolia and China and the encounters she has through the way. My encounters are all with the nicest crew one can be with – friendly, smiling and tolerating our hundreds of novice questions. The first album I listen to on the ship is “Zolgoyo Doo” by Altaie. A fitting music for the book.

At the breakfast table A & B, fellow passengers, talk about A’s and R’s travels through Laos, Cambodia and B talks about his younger adventurous travels. I come back to the room and fall asleep. I have my first dream where I am walking through rural areas in Asia, passing through different villages with their thatched huts, talking to villagers and encountering some challenging situations. The dream ends with me walking into a coffee corner where DL, my boss’s boss from my previous team is taking his coffee. He sees me there and is surprised that I am not on vacation. We move to a table to talk about the vacation. WD sees me as he crosses and raises his hands in happiness – my first dream and it sends with work environment. M says, so you have not yet forgotten SAP. I see a clear link between the dream, the book and the conversations at the breakfast table. They say that you can remember your dreams better when in the middle of the ocean.

Later in the afternoon, we retire to the bridge. The crew is busy with maintenance. M and R are busy looking at the horizon. M walks up and down alternating between reading his book and looking at horizon. It is too hot for me outside. The sea changes colours in the time we are here. The ocean is deep blue most of the afternoon. We await sunset – it interferes with the dinner time, now that the timezone has changed, so now we rush through dinner and back to the bridge. We change timezones every 2 days – we are supposed to get an extra hour of sleep every two days. We are happy we are travelling westward. We watch the sunset, and then post sunset effects before we retire – to read, to listen to music and sleep.

The above routine is broken by the extra activities onboard. We have the safety training one day, deck walk, firedrill, and so on. Today, there is a basketball game – competition with two teams. I should be down there watching that.

We have very limited and expensive internet connection. We try to preserve it for emails.