(Sur)reality

The most surreal night last night, I can't do it justice in words.

I met the most eccentric person of my life: Mr Ood, The Teacher.

Mr Ood lives in a small hut with no doors just a little way into the mountain, with his dogs and his Plants and his tattoo books and he's the most amazing man you could meet.

He is without a doubt my own personal hero and he says if I come back to Phangan he will take me on as his student, in the art of tattoos. Apparently he is also a very talented jewellery maker too.

Mr An took us up to look at the plants, which are spectacular. Of course neither Rocker or myself are particularly interested in that way of life and have not sampled the local delights, but it is still interesting to go and see how the other half live and it's incredible.

So simple, but happy.

Mr Ood is a virtual recluse and only leaves his home to walk Mimi, his dog. He used to have an Italian girlfriend and was offered a business opportunity in Italy but turned it down for lack of good weed in the country. His girlfriend left him, and now he never leaves his home.

He still does tattoos, and he does those incredible ones that look like paintings. But he refuses to come down to the shop to do them (where I had mine done) and so sometimes the locals take one look at where he lives and chicken out. Understandably. And if the dogs don't like the people who come for tattoos, he refuses to do them, turning down thousands of baht in the process.

He's so eccentric, I can't believe it. I admire him so much because he is such an artist and he is so so friendly. When we arrived yesterday he shook Rocker's hand and smiled the loveliest smile at me. I told him I had heard that he was a big Clint Eastwood fan and he looked at me as though I was the cleverest girl in the world and said: "You like Clint Eastwood?".

I said, Yes, who doesn't? And we proceeded to discuss his body of work.

See? Surreal.

Then he showed me his tattoo books and has picked out a Geisha design for me, which I may or may not go for. His work is completely out of this world. He was featured in a few American tattoo magazines which he showed me.

He is called The Teacher because he's taught many people their tattoo skills. If I ever come back I would like to learn too.

Mr Ood is 47 and I might be a little bit madly in love with him...