The best place on Earth - Arambol, North Goa

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Well well well...

Arambol, or used to be known as Harmal, is located 17km north of Anjuna. It's well known for it's hippie vibe and I'm not surprised; saw all the various kinds of hippies from the original to wannabe; and also traveller like me who just want to enjoy his getaway with a cup of tchai.

With my bag-pack and stuff, I tried walking down along Glatonsbury St to find Chillies Guesthouse. I called up Derrick Fernandez the day before, and booked a room. He quoted 300Rps, well couldn't ask for a much better deal. To my dismay, he kinda forgot to reserve a room for me, despite the reservation I made the day before. A guy brought me down to a small alley nearby the German Bakery, and asked me if I'm looking at huts. I told him, well there's nothing much I could do, and honestly, I'm not the kind of person who likes to argue. I viewed the hut, without any bathroom with a working fan and light and for 200Rps in Goa? That's good enough.

I paid in full for my stay of 14 days, exactly two weeks. After putting down my pack and stuff, I freshen up and went to the German Bakery to have coffee, and walked along Glatonsbury St. I even hired a bike and venture around Arambol and even went to Querim Beach & Mandrem Beach. I realise that Mandrem is much quieter than Arambol and less touristy, but I still find Arambol lovely at the end of the day. It's definitely a nice place to people watch and have tchai and who knows, you might even make some friends along the way!

After a whole day riding my bike(or scooter :P) I decided to park it nearby the German Bakery, and guess who acknowledge me? Helen from England!

"Han! Glad to see you here!"
"OMG, what are you doing here? I thought you were in Madgaon?"
"Yeah, I was but pretty horrible and it was bit expensive and full of nonsense!"
"I see, well you want to grab a drink or beer somewhere and we could talk more?"
"Sure!"

We went to the nearest bar by the main beach, and Helen ordered a Papaya Lassi where I ordered my usual Kingfisher beer. We talked about our travelling adventures and all of sudden we talked about food, when Helen mentioned Thailand. Think about juicy mango and papaya salad, with a hot bowl of Tom Yam Goong, Pad Thai.. ohh! All these thoughts are making me salivate. Hungry, we paid the bill, and went to Outback Bar & Restaurant, about 10 minutes walk from the main beach. We ordered Gyentuk, Momos in soup, because we kinda got sick of all the curries and masala, so need something more simpler and subtle to please our taste palate.

We spent quite a long time in Outback, talking about our lives back home. Helen works in a publishing company, and told me they have a branch/company in Singapore too. Well, for me, I hate my job as a merchandiser. It's too dramatic for me, and I'm not a drama kind of guy. I'm more laid-back. I quit my job and went to India. Definitely one good choice made. In the end, we went on our separate ways; Helen's going back to Mandrem beach because she stayed there, and here I am, still alone.

My stay in Arambol was really a pleasant one. Even the owner of the huts (which I rent from him) told me that I was a good man who didn't give him any problems? I'm like WTF? Well, a few days back, I heard a commotion that a guest of his huts lost about 5000Rps. I mean come on, you knew that there isn't any attached bathroom.. and it's a straw hut, I mean it's plain stupid to leave your belongings unattended. I always bring my essential belongings whenever I go to the toilet, even though I lock my hut. It's basic common sense!

Anyways, I always frequent to this German Bakery (not the one nearby the main beach, if you guys knew that there's this restaurant in Arambol, along Glatonsbury St, where there's this Israeli chef? He's really good) owned by this pair of Nepali brother: Sean and Kumar? They're really adorable and sweet, I mean I was sick the other time after having Fish Masala from a restaurant nearby the beach, and they actually make me Mint Tea and Instant Noodles (I know, but that's like the only thing I'm able to eat :P) And I always go there because it's like the only place where it closes at 4am and open at 6am! It's really a nice laidback atmosphere, to a point where all of their customers know me because I'm always there! :P and that's where I met Juliette Evans, from UK. We talked, and eventually became friends. It's amazing how you make friends when you're on a trip; it seems that you've been friends for a long period of time.

Jools, as she preferred, introduced me to Lisa and Linnea. I must tell you, they're one happening trios, reminds me of my girlfriends back then in Singapore; Zurah, Hudah and Dayana. They rented a house in Arambol, for about 14000 Rps per month, with a kitchen and gas stove. That's really decent, since they have a kitchen, and you spent less on eating out. They even have hot water!! Can you imagine.. gosh it's so difficult to find a place with hot water. Since then, we always hang around, and cook dinner.

I remembered Jools told me a story about her experience with the train.

"You know hun, the trains here are really unpredictable. Sometimes, they stop for like few seconds, and when they stop to another train station, they stop for few minutes... and sometimes to half an hour! So there was one time where the train stop.. we were from Varanasi.. on our way to Agra.. and I happily went down to get some chai. The next thing I knew, the train started to move! I was like, 'OMG no fucking way!" and the locals saw me with my paranoid look and asked me to RUN! I was running towards my cabin and they were like "Give me your hand!" I wasn't really sure why at that spur moment I trusted these locals and offered my arm, and they grabbed me! Suddenly, I was like, "OMG I feel like I'm in the movies!" Upon hearing that we were bursting into laughters in the German bakery. I guess everyone have their own stories of their experiences in India! :X

And so one day, I got to know that Zohra, whom I met in Pondicherry, is making her way down to Arambol. We met up, and I introduced her to Jools, Lisa and Linnea and we enjoyed our time together. Life in Arambol isn't complete without the trios, they made my stay in Arambol enjoyable; in fact, I was sad to leave Arambol because I felt like it was time to move on, but I still love the company. Jools and Lisa were trying their best to make me stay! :P

"Aww hun do you really have to go? Jodhpur is horrible bla bla bla!"

Yeah! They tried to psycho me but in the end I decided to give it a shot. It was a sad moment to leave them. We exchanged emails and facebook! :p

In conclusion, Arambol is definitely one of the nicest place I ended up; in fact, much better than Anjuna. I guess it's the laid-back hype, less hassle etc. I'm definitely coming back here in future! :P

So where's my next stop? Bombay.. although I didn't intend to stay there.. just a mere transit point to get to Jodhpur! :S

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Comments

[Mark Donkin]

Thanks
Great read. I'm going travelling alone in July so its nice to read that you met lots of people even in the dhort 14 days you spent there. Thanks for bringing back fond memories of Goa.

[farnwahab]

RE: Thanks
Wow that's great! Well I actually spent two months in India. so there are still more post.. just that it takes a lot of my time even though I'm bumming around for now. Just keep on checking, I'm currently updating my post on Bombay and so on. :) All the best mate, send my love to India.