Bonding

One month ago, I went on a 3 nights trip to Bali with my fellow dragonboat team mates. Few months back, when I wanted to start planning for this trip, I had suggested Australia. It could be due to my previous experience, but I luuvvv Australia. I love the courtesy, the open cafes, the sunshine during winter, the autumn breeze, etc etc. Somehow, it went out of the girls' budget (apparently $2k is too much money to spend on a trip. wtf?!) and they decided that we should go Bali instead.

I have been to Bali, but it wasn't the most pleasant trip then. The person I went with was kind of dissatisfied with just my company and was commenting the whole time, "I wish our friends are here." So you can guess I didn't like Bali very much. I rejected the Bali idea but finally succumbed to their whining and pestering. And I would say, that it was a great decision made.

The Bali trip was supposed to be a trip for 4, stay in a nice villa, where we just lay on the beach chairs by the private pool, get massages, manicures and pedicures, DVD watching, etc. It was meant to be a true R & R trip.

As the news spread, many more got interested in the trip, and we ended up going in a group of 9. It was like back to the good, old school days where life is a lot more carefree. This trip turned out to be one of the best trips I ever had. We had fun from the airport to the plane, joked and laughed our way through Indonesian custom clearance, oohs and aahs at the beautiful villa with 4 bedrooms and a private pool, made fun of the guys who had to share beds with each other, admire the girls' collection of bikinis, soaked in a giant tub together, rafted through a pretty long stretch of treacherous river, surfed till sunburnt with abrasions on the knees (I was the clever one who opted out of surfing =P), got our massages and finally did all kinds of stupid stunts in the pool.

As I get older, a lot of fun that came from friends being all crazy and imaginative, kind of died down. Most people just matured, and didn't talk or behave the way they used to. More than once (I think), i have blogged about how friends seemed to have changed, and the conversational topics just aren't as interesting anymore. It depressed me a little, but i reckoned that had to do with the growing up. It is something I have to accept.

Now, I hang out with a bunch of 20+ to 30 year olds, and they still talked about being attached or single, their passions, their wanting to try many things, financial planning for retirement while also planning the next trip, etc etc. They dont talk so much about children (except other people's children), public vs private housing, CPF, etc etc. They talked about events going around the globe and not just in their homes. They talked about business strategies not restricted by international boundaries. They seemed to have this zest for life, which I so adore.

I had actually found new friends, whom I had gotten pretty close to, from dragon boating. It's something that I had never expected. Because of our passion for the sport, we spent a lot of time talking about how we can get better at it. It's built a bond for us so strong, that I'm pretty certain even if I were to leave the team for whatever reasons, the friendship is here to stay.

=)