Playing Pirates at Phu Quoc Island 4/20-4/23
Paradise awaits. The IDG Ventures Vietnam Retreat and Team Building.
On the other side of paradise, a bunch of perfectly normal people tore up some cloths and plastic to make pirate uniforms and flags. Instead of relaxing on the beach and sipping on a pefectly cold Saigon beer, we sat on a smelly old boat, fighting seasickness as we filled up hundreds of small plastic bags with salt water and food colors. Then one team took up position on this tiny island in the middle of nowhere, as the other team prepared for the Normandie-type beach landing from small fishing vessels.
The tiny island was surrounded by corals and sea urchins (which normally would make great uni, but today they are a pain in the butt, literally). In my cargo pants are dozens of “ammunition” which I could not wait to unleash on the flag holders of the defending force (the team with the cleanest flag wins). Next to me, my comrades, in equally silly-looking attires, looked very serious as we waded to shore. The other teams, having taken up positions along the beach, unleashed a barrage of colorful seawater baloons on us.
To make a long story short, this is what the leader of the other team (aka my boss) looks like after the invasion:
Then we had to build rafts to race back to the big island. This was a great team-building excercise.
Our team, the fearsome and awesome “Red Snapper”, got 1st place over all. To celebrate, we took very long showers to wash off the food colors, lay on the beach for a very long time to watch the sunset, and eat a lot of BBQ seafood.
Paradise are better when you are in good companies.
