Arambol

A very interesting mix of people are here and that suits me. An Ozzie couple Brad and Tracy are the best laugh. He is about six foot three and looks like a ZZ Top member with a very long gray beard and she is great fun and really nice but quite quiet, well for an Ozzie! We met the other night and when I left they were still going at it. Last night I chatted to a couple of lesbians and they were most entertaining. I have been walked home by an extremely beautiful Russian girl who insisted on seeing me make it safely back to my shack. I still managed somehow to get a nice little cut on my forehead though.
I wake up around nine or ten and go down to the beach passing a few shops just opening. First it's good morning sir "you want taxi?" Then all the motor bikes, hundreds of them and "you want bike sir?" I get to the German bakery ironically full of Israelis and have my chai and a good breakfast with the smell of incense permeating the air as they purify and get ready for the day ahead having first made Shiva happy.
I walk along the beach just past all the beds and go for a swim in the warmest sea I have ever swam in then wander back to my shack where I usually put the fan on and wait out the few hours until about four or five when we all congregate at The Sporting Heroes Bar where we never watch any sport. Drinking is the only sport there but the decor is the best and it's comfortable. I have now got to know and trust the owner and take my laptop which they plug in and play and it's nice to watch the resulting increase in drinking speed and people starting to dance. As well as Sporting heroes I have found another spot on the opposite end of the beach which is very chilled and a whole new crowd are there. Each bar has it's own community of revelers and I have now got to know a few.
I have had some really great food. Tuna steaks, king prawns and tender calamari are my favorite so far. The other night Paddy a sixty year old roadie who has worked with so many bands over the years picked me up on his scooter and took me further down the beach to an Indian restaurant with another crowd I have got to know. The food there was delicious but I nearly didn't live to tell the tale. On the way back he was so pissed he nearly crashed twice. I'm on the back saying "please don't kill me." We made it in one peace and had a good laugh about it. He was only doing about ten miles an hour though. Last night Brad, Tracy, two Germans with very little English and two Israelis and I went out to the Surf club which is owned by an English couple. The live music was excellent and we had a blast and all walked back along the beach stopping off along the way for a few more beers. We ended back at Sporting Heroes. We were back in our corner again and I heard a familiar voice. It was a friend I met in North India last time so we celebrated. Suddenly I turned and saw Brad lift his glasses and confront a guy who I had just been talking about saying what a prat he was. He had been trying it on with Tracy and suddenly I found myself getting really annoyed by this oaf and got up to have a go but Brad beat me to it and saw him off. No fists actually flew but it came very close.
Soon after this a plain clothed policeman came in and I decided to leave and go to bed.
There are a few stories developing with some of the characters but it is still a bit early to write about them as they are just beginning to unfold.