“I’m 21 years old and I’m a trainee on this 364m long cargo ship, assisting with the operations, mooring and maintenance on board. I work with 23 other crew members, and they’re all like big brothers to me. You become quite close to the rest of the crew when on board, but the chances of seeing them again after one charter is quite low - given that we have over 28,000 crew members and we get assigned to different trips each time. What’s so unique about this job is that you get to experience all types of climates on one trip. You would go from -3 degrees in Europe to 35 degrees at the Suez Canal crossing. One time, when we were passing through the US, we came across a massive storm. The WiFi got disconnected, so for 10 days we were out at sea with no access to the internet or means to communicate with our family or friends except with a satellite phone. All I can say is it was an interesting experience!” 

「我今年21歲，喺呢隻364米長嘅貨櫃船上面做緊學徒，幫手處理船務、泊岸同埋船上面嘅維修。我同另外23個船員一齊做嘢，佢哋全部好似我嘅阿哥咁。喺船上面你會同其他船員變得好熟，但船期過咗就好少機會再見番大家，始終我哋有超過28,000個船員，每次都會派去唔同嘅地方。呢個工作最特別嘅，就係你喺一次旅程入面會經歷好多種天氣。你可以由負三度嘅歐洲駛去35度嘅蘇彝士運河。有一次我哋經過美國嗰陣，就遇上咗一個大風暴。冇咗Wi-Fi，嗰十日我哋喺個海度剩係得個衛星電話，冇得上網同家人朋友聯絡。只可以話果次嘅經歷好難忘！」

“I’m from Mumbai, a big, bustling, colourful city with lots of people. So being on board for the past 7 months with just a small group of people has been a big contrast. I always knew that I didn’t want a normal 9 to 5 desk job, that I wanted to do something different. But when I told my father that I wanted to train as a seafarer he got very angry and upset with me. I’m the only son and the youngest child in the family, so I guess he just wanted me to be close to him. I wanted to become a seafarer because I dreamt to travel around the world. Growing up, I’ve always been fond of the ocean. I have some great childhood memories of spending time with my family on beaches and going for long swims. So despite my father’s objections, I still went through with it because I wanted to pursue my dream.”

“I enjoy my job but also look forward to those three months off a year where I can really rest. I’ll be catching up on sleep, eating home-cooked food and spending time with friends and family. I also love to go on treks. Back in India, every weekend I would go trekking with my family. Because of the pandemic, we have not been able to get off the ship and we just get a glimpse of the cities where we dock from afar. Next time I’m in Hong Kong, I would love to also explore the mountains. I really enjoyed seeing the impressive mountain ranges when entering the Hong Kong waters. So far, the only other country that I’ve really visited is Sri Lanka, but I would love to see many more places - Prague, Los Angeles, Las Vegas...!”

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「我來自孟買，一個住好多人、好繁忙同好精彩嘅大城市。所以過去呢七個月喺船上對住廿幾個人，對我來講個感覺好唔同。我一直知道自己唔想做一份朝九晚五嘅寫字樓工，我想做第二啲嘢。但當我話俾爸爸知我想成為一個海員，佢反應好大同埋唔開心。我係屋企唯一嘅男仔同埋係最細嗰個，所以我諗佢想我陪佢多啲。我想做一個海員，因為我想環遊世界。由細到大，我都好鍾意個海。好記得細個同屋企人去沙灘玩，游水游好耐，真係好開心。所以雖然我爸爸唔支持，但係我都踏出咗第一步，因為我想追尋我嘅夢想。」

「我做嘢嘅時候好開心，但係都會期待嗰三個月假期，等我可以真正休息吓。到時我會瞓返多啲覺，食吓家鄉菜，同埋同屋企人朋友見面。我都好鍾意去行山㗎。喺印度嗰陣，我每個週末都會同屋企人去行山。疫情關係，我哋唔可以落船，只可以停靠岸邊，離遠望吓每一個停泊嘅城市。下次我再嚟香港嗰陣，我都希望去行吓山。駛入香港嗰陣，見到啲山脈，真係好靚。我目前淨係喺斯里蘭卡度落過地，但係我仲想去好多地方㗎，布拉格啦、洛杉磯、拉斯維加斯⋯⋯！」