The Backpacker Intern

Terima kasih Oceans 5 Dive

Traveling is just like life; you get ups and downs. I had both in two days at my internship at Oceans 5 Dive on Gili Air, Indonesia. A beautiful resort just in front of the main harbour of the island.

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The owner, Sander Buis, welcomed me to his park and gave me the keys to my private room. I could use the (infinity) swimmingpool for free and the other accommodations as well. The same evening we went out to get some diner. As a dessert, Sander showed us a drinking ritual they usually do. It’s called: ‘Vodka Joss’. It’s powder with the same amount of taurine in it as 4 cans of Red Bull. You put the powder in your mouth and add some vodka. Then you shake until the powder is gone and swallow it. It’s a weird explosion in your mouth and mind after that. Probably because you get awake and drunk at the same time.

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The next morning I got this neat piece of breakfast from the Oceans 5 Dive kitchen: ‘Dive Masters Benedict’. Two poached eggs, tempeh, spinach and some kind of awesomesauce. Great hangover material.

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With a satisfied stomach I started working on my project for them. They didn’t had a short film about their resort yet, so the whole day I was shooting video’s and even got into the deep with a GoPro3+ (with Red-filter) for a free fun dive and underwater footage! I’m so glad that I got my PADI on Ko Tao. This was my first real fun dive and I must say that diving is truly addictive…

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That was the ‘up’. Here’s the ‘down’:

That evening I was starting to shiver and feel really dizzy. I got like goose bumps all over. Could be the street food that I had for lunch. I got back to my room and had the worst night ever. It felt like my stomach was turning inside out. Over. Over. And over again.

The next day (second day of my internship) I spend all day in bed. With some necessary pit stops (a.k.a. shit stops) on the toilet. After a while and a lot of ORS I got some energy to go outside and spoke with one of the dive masters. He recognized my symptoms and advised me to go to the doctor.

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There was no one there when we arrived, except the gardener of the ‘clinic’. He took his bike and 15 minutes later there was the doctor. After some checks I got a lot of medicine like antibiotics and painkillers. It probably was so called ‘Bali-Belly’. Luckily I was traveling with an awesome girl from the Netherlands who transformed into a private nurse. Thanks a lot Karlijn, you rock big time!

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And thanks Oceans 5 Dive, for this amazing internship experience! I will send you guys the short film as soon as possible. Sampai jumpa lagi!

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After Indonesia I flew to Taipei for a two-day stop-over. It was like I was back in China again. Everybody is really nice but you have to use body language and hand signals to get around because nobody speaks English. But that’s okay. I experienced a lot of things in one day but won’t bother you guys with that. I do want to share this picture of a random guy I met, because I think he looks like some kind of awesome wizard.

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From Taipei I flew via Tokyo to another paradise: Hawaii. The Aloha State of Mind. The island where I will do another internship with ‘water’ as an important element. Not as deep as I did at Oceans 5 Dive on Gili Air. More on sea level. And hopefully a bit higher now and then. My next internship is at Hawaiian Surf Adventures! They teach people how to Surf, Stand Up Paddle and Double-Hull Canoe in East Oahu. I’m gonna help them out with their branding and marketing. Above my normal ‘payment’ they offered me as many free surf lessons as I want. Wait… What? Free surf lessons? Yes. Aloha #FreeSurfLessons baby!

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