The Roads Behind the Beach
We spent most of the time inland, on sun-baked lanes between rice fields, roadside houses and workshops. Monkeys sat on the power lines and watched the tuk-tuks go past. After a few weeks we knew which turning was which without checking.
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44Back to the Water Every Evening
The coast pulled us back at the end of every day. Surfboards lay in the sand, the beach dogs took the warm spots, and the sun spent a long time going down over the Indian Ocean before everything on the shoreline turned into a silhouette.
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73Flat Water Under the Palms
The lagoon sits a few minutes inland and never gets rough. We took a boat across it in the afternoons, through channels where the coconut palms close in on both sides and the water holds a full reflection.
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83Lagoon Surfhouse
The first base, close enough to the water that the drone was the only way to show it properly. Boards live by the door and the day is organised around the tide rather than the clock. This was the stay that set the pace for the rest of the six weeks.
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98Soras Studios
A studio rather than a room, which matters once you are staying for weeks and not days. We had our own kitchen and a table to work at, and the building stayed quiet enough that a morning could go by without hearing anybody else.
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115De Duck
The last of the three and the one built for the heat. Open sides, deep shade, and enough distance from the road that the only sound in the afternoon was the fan. We came back here after every beach day and stopped going out again.
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